POWYS, POWYS, AND POWYS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21732, 14 March 1936, Page 19

POWYS, POWYS, AND POWYS

Letters. By maoaalHall. *B4pp. (linßß*4« The Powys family is the most re* maskable, probably the xaos* ta> ented, family practising literature* v-;V Four brothers anemone tfstef *re ; eminent, and other brother* an*. \ , sisters are not tmdistingaished. John Cowper Powys wrote, fWoIU Solent" and **A .Glastonbury, .Bom* ance"; T. F. Powys * wrote &*.; ,• Weston's Good* Wine* .and "Mr • Tasker's Gods"; Llewelyn , Powys wrote:"Black Laughter'* * and "The Verdict of Bridlegoose"; "A. R. Powys is a famous architect and. wrote "The English House"; Philippa Powys is a poet, A' fifth brother was a headmaster, a sixth is an East African farmer,, and another sister is a business woman* Their sons and daughters have begun to write. All have talent, # all are plainly members of. a family* [The titles ' assigned above to the first three brothers are the best known. They do not represent the best work of J.C. and TJF., and are only, in each instance* two names of books chosen from a long list.j What manner of man was the sire of such a line? He is described fully in J, C. Powys's "Autobiography," not in Mr MarlowV work. He was a man of large and rugged frame, simple speech, stern i convictions, and he dominated his family, but he was the source of , the famous "Powys solidarity." The i mother was a sensitive, melancholy I woman, who gave her children the . genius upon which the father's transmitted force could act; In their characters and abilities there are also the hereditary influences of - Donne and Cowper, All are ro«: maritic, melancholy, brutal, unbalanced, sensual, obsessed. Each is, so far as these named,,qualities are concerned, a humorist No more surprising demonstration or the power of heredity, could be found than the writings of these brothers* Almost every piece of work they have created is preoccupied, with cruelty. TJV has hia sinister Innocents and persecuted innocents and his filthy sensuaßstsj Llewelyn is, in the literary meanings tt»ttes&sen* ■ suous; J.C. made his *Autobiography", an epic of emotional'maso- _/ chism. They are strange men, un- . canny even in the photographs that admirably portray them in this book. J.C> clutching his grotesque r stick and roughly dressed, Llewelyn , < emaciated and saint-like, William profoundly impressive in handsome strength', T.F. restrained and' possessed and of them bear their resemblance to the father who rules his family even in the photograph taken 35, years ago. Those who. know the brothers'books will agree that T.F. is the greatest writer, able to realise all , his intentions,* strong in character, -...- rich in invention, moving the ~ highest pitch' of compassion and horror, and withal a master of that Biblical expression which, every few generations, is achieved by an English writer. Llewelyn is best known as a stylist, caring for words as rhythms as few men do in our . time, but also endowed with the seeing eye and the understanding heart. J.C. is the man of imagination and sensibility,- self-obsessed. . Mr Marlow believes, and his belief can be accepted, that J. C. Powys is the greatest romantic orator, of these days. From the pages of his . books emerge a fierce personality and impassioned rhetoric. T.F., in , style as in other qualities, seems to have drawn the best from.his par- ; ents: their simple speech, their truthfulness, and their uncompromising courage. Mr Marlow has known his sub-, ..." jects intimately and affectionately for 30 years. "Affectionately" needs ,: qualification. Between -.-J.C.,» and Louis Marlow there * have been rivalry and antipathy, arid Littleton; ; the schoolmaster, does not entirely ,; approve of his commentator, but no, . one else could have done the.biographer's work so well. Himself a ,► writer of'some note, he has had, where a Powys is concerned, a Bos* weMan retentiveness of material. ,' spoken or -written. From the letters, he has kept, from encounters, and.' from diaries he has been permitted to read, he ,has shown how his , people became writers, how their ; genius found its vent, how they - subdued circumstance, arid how they were at times brought down by . excess. All have .unusual vitality . of mind, heart, and body; each 1 is '•'•-- devoted to the others; all but one despise worldliness. In actual roa- • terial printed by Mr Marlow the f ' best portions are the letters/of T.F. and Llewelyn's diary,, J.C.'s letters are too exuberant and fantastic!. , and uncontrolled to hold interest, but T.F. is curiously businesslike in • his most affectionate moods, he withholds part of himself, and his. letters are literature. Like, .his brothers, T.F. found himself com- . paratively late in life, and.his let- ; ters show him making his style his own. JLlewelyn's story of his fear of death conquered, of his emotional storms in a Swiss sanatorium, and of his African and American wan- .. derings is brilliant autobiography. - ri Mr Mariow's proper study of his men is so vivid—thanks to the great- ■«* ness of , the Powys - § f he who has hot-read a word they ~:'* have written will be excited to read •-•*«; about them. - v*