SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2217, 1 August 1914, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

:\ "DODO THE SECOND." . ; It must .be now a good twenty and more years since Mr. -E. F: Benson captured the novel-reaiding public by that briskly told story, "Dodo." >For eome. months the story was on everybody's tongue. Oldsters who could re-? member Mrs. Lynn Linton's famous at- : tack on "The Girl of the Period" : in : ,the "Saturday Beview," recalled thai satiric triumph and made comparisons between the article and' the novel. Mr. .Benson, now gives as /"Dodo the Second" (Hodder and Sfcughton; per S. and W. Mackay), 'and although he can hardly expect the storj'.tio'rival the succes of its famous prooecessor, he -niust fairly be congratulated upon interesting hisreaders almost,, if not quite-as much, in a Dodo whoJmviis to forty-four as brilliant, but whimsically erratic, young lady of less than half of that age.. "Dodo the'Second" , is tho original Dodo's daughter. Nadine, whose father, Prince Waldenech, is stupid sot .who had been Dodo's second husband. Her first husband, Lord Chesterford' -had died, and the Prince> she had divorced. Nadine, or Dodo the Second,- ca'n and does 'say almost as many flippantly, smart things as Dodo the First was wont. to do twenty years ago. She .is interesting enough in her way,, and'deserves a , better . husband than Mr.-Benson duly gives her in'the, last, chapter. But she is not a little ielfish, and most readers will plump tor the. original .Dodo, the matron of forty-four, as being easily the most fas-cinating-figure in the story. Even ai forty-jfour,' wlien-the most flighty of once young ladies ought to have learned 'to behave themselves sedately—the natural diablerie of Dodo the First finds amusing presentment, and ,she■Jβ..on the stage there' will be:no stifled yawn from the audience., ..It is the old, the original Dodo,', who is still, first, favourite, although: it , is only fair, to the, daughter *to admit there, are times';when she runs her mother very dose. Mr. -Benson, writes of,' ultra '.'smart" society, butjhe always remembers! that lie is the son of an Archbjsh'op,; and his heroines, mother and .daughter, rarely, say or do anything which-will very severely shock what I understand! is the author's ever faithful "country vica'rage audience:" As for Dodo, the resurrected Dodo'the First) j-all who make her acquaintance will wish.her every happiness with her' "third," who, by the way, is a cousin of her "first" and Dodo the Second, impresses ' so much as the story proceeds that we hope to meet-her again in yet another Dodo etory. ;. ,

"QUINNEY'S." '

I. have read more than one good, novel by > Horace Annesley Vachell— "The Hill" as a story of public school life, is;almost a classic—but in "QuinI rieyV (John Murray; per Whitcombe and Tombs), we have Mr. Vaohell at his best. Frankly, it is a pleasure to commend such a distinctly original and excellent story. \Tlie social milieu 'of 'thestorj, that of a clever,- and for a N time unscrupulous,'dealers in old' furniture and articles of-"bigotry , and virtue,"; his family, his business associ■ajtejparid Tni is , depicted with a; realism which'never oe'eomee' tedious. . Tie/human interest .'of the story, the combat which goes on in Joseph Quin.nfy.'s; heart:- between. :affectiqn.. for. his pet" ..pieces' and: love "of ~h"is >ife' arid' latter /finally, and happily ihe reader quite early, in,the hook,' and holds us,firmly to the end. ■ In Joe: Quinnoy, the uneducatedj but wonderfully shrewd, dealer,; who courageously. defies. the ."ring" in London, and, though sadly buffered at times, comes out victorious, .with Pierpont Morgan, or someone very much iike him, as his devoted- client, Mr. Vachell has drawn ( a singularly fascinating charabter. Many readers , will enjoy the. curious and humorous sidelights which Mr. .Vachell throws on .the tricks. and devices of picture and curio dealers, but to my mind it is , the human interest of. the stpry which, is its- strongest point. The .final scene, in which a. rascal is .-outwitted, ~"a daughter is saved from ruin,' and an , estranged wife is reconciled, to her husband, is one of the most'strikingly.effective bits, of domestic comedy that I have come acrose in a novel this many a long -. By allimeans put "Quinney's" m the next list you eend" to your bookseller. '■:

TWO NEWv"AMERICANS." • "The Glory of the Conquered," by Suiau Glaspell (A. ,L. Burt and.Coy., i New. York; per Whitcombe and Tombs), ' is an Americiin novel of much more than average merit.' The,chief figures are a :-young -German-Americaji scient-' ist, ; Paul-Hubers,:and his wife, Ernestine,-: a; young artist, whose, work, previous to her marriage,' has been full, of promise. The; wife's father had been a scientist, •' and as a_ mere child stie' had been quick to notice how the. deep engrossment of Dr. Stanley, in: his work had kept husband and wife far apart. Ernestine's husband loves./her dearly and passionately, _ but he, tod, begins to place his -scientific work before his home lije, although.rto-do him justice, he is quite unconscious of any neglect of his wife. Then comes an awful day when Karl- Hubers Joses. his sight and' has to relinquish his practical laboratory work. The wife now heroically sac-rifices-'her art. interests and becomes her husband's' assistant, but the reljuqnis'liment of her great. passion for art, at the call of idve, is almost too much for her. ■ Finally, however, death releases her by taking the , long-tortured husband, land-.the wife is-free to 'resume her painting, 'iiie motif of the story is 'celf-sacrifice. It is a. indtiftianslated::into,.very beautiful language. ■Both husband and wife are drawn with a firm,'but •sympathetic, pen.' The minor characters'and the university environment generally are equally well dwie.. Miss Glaspell'e'pathos rings/true and she shows,-too, at times, that she has, a command of equally genuine humour. But it is ns a love story, a story of true, self-sacrificing love, and yet a/story free from any mere mawkish 'sentiment, that '-'The Glory of .the Conquered" is specially successful. .' :

"A Knight in -Denim,".. by llameay Benson. (Charles Scribnere and Sons, per.George Robertson), is an agreeablytoldj if not particularly exciting, story of life in tho farming state of Nebraska. The hero is a. simple-minded, and—hr worldly matters—just a'trifle weak witted old fellow, Bill llarbaugh, one:of "that vast body of soldiery which melted back so wonderfully into civil life" at ■ tho. close of the ' great war. Bill makes his appearance one day among the. farmers of Atro Valley, and works cheerfully, and hard for no pay, save his keep. Jeered at by some as a fool, but beloved by many for his unfailing good nature, and his kindness to women and children, Bill plays the part of a "Knight in Denim"—to a: down-trodden woman, the Mistress of Throstlewood, -whoso husband, an Englishman by birth, is a selfish tyrant. Bill is a humorous fellow with a vein of quiet Yankee philosophy which is expressed in very quaiiit language, and no paladin of ancient times was a more truly gallant knight to his lady fair than this humble farm labourer. A wholesome, pleasant story. j •"'

SHORTER NOTICES. ' Rachel Haywanl, author of that queer but clover book "The Hippodrome," gives us in her new story "Letters from La Bas" (William'Heinemaiin; per George Robertson and Co.) a very original study of morbid femininity. The- story is told in Jotters, the narrator being the granddaughter, of an old archaeologist, with, whom, her parents being dead, she lives for some time, first at Lyons, and afterwards at a mining centre', Calyairo, not far from the busy manufacturing town of Lille. The. vapidity of existence in a dingy flat, with a selfish, ever-preoccupied and stingy relative, drives the girl to seek a change,' and she becomes an assist-, aut in some tea-rooms at Nice. Later ,on, she rejoins her grandfather, and goes to Calvaire. The letters are written to an English gentleman, a wealthy mining speculator, who is her devoted admirer, but with whom the heroine, ■■with her literary and artistic and strongly-Bohemian tastes, has but little iu common. The pair, become .engaged, but a handsome and interesting Russian exile (the girl's mother had been a Russian) attracts her, and eventually carries her off to Paris. The heroine will vastly shock some readers by the ultra-moderiuty '. of ' certain of ' her opinions upon life, especially the sexual aide of life, but there is no denying tile wit .and humour > with .which she hits off the salient features of her often very Bohemian existence. Perhaps, here and tHere, Miss Hay ward is too palpably jout to "©pater les bourgeois," but she 'is decidedly amusing. • ' Three new additions to John Long's "Colonial Library" (John Long; per Whitcombo and Tombs), are "Desmond O'Connor," by George Jessop; . "Angels in Wales," by Margam Jones; and "Sylvia," by'Upton Sinclair. ,Mr. Jes.sop's story relates the adventures'. in the French Army (Louie Quatorze period) of a; young Irishman. There-is much' desoriptioir of'the gallant -exploits of the famous Irish Brigade, and a . pretty love story, the heroine of which; in order to escape marriage with a profligate German' nobleman," disguises herself as a page. \Such prominent and ' historical • figures as John Churchillj' Duke of Marlborough, and Marshal Villars' appear in the story which has much picturesque historical colour, and is.a very readable production.

There is a strong sectarian .flavour about.Margam Jones's "Angels.in Wales," but the'story is spun out to'an inordinate length, and is a, somewhat dull and uninspiring' production. Its chief value is' the light is throws upon the narrow-mindedness of Welsh sectar'ianism..' .1 ' '"■'"■• ' <

", A lengthy review of the American edition of Upton Sinclair's a somewhat "daring" novel American critics have considered it—appeared in these columns some months ago, and it is unnecessary to do,more than note the inclusion, of tho book in Long's Colonial Library.', , . Despite its somewhat" unpleasant motif, "Sylvia" has considerable literary merits, and no one can doubt'the evident-sincerity of the author's attack upon certain disagree-able-phases of presenirday society." (

Matrimony and the artistic temperament are often a, misfit. The popular actress who marries and leaves the apt to regret her absence from the-'.scene of her past triumphs, and resisting a husband'e entreaties, te return thereto. Such ie the experience of the heroine, Victory Law, of "The Playground" (Mills and Boon, per Whitcombe and Tombs). She marries a ' rising- young •American lawyer and poli.tician, aWd for a , 'time "at'least, regrets having quitted the stage., The story is well written and throws some interesting sidelights on theatrical life in New York. The call of .the stage is,' for a time, irresistible,. but in the end it is the husband who gains: a double ".Vic•tory-!''■'■.■.'■ ■" ■,'-;' -; '.! ■•.•■'■ : -- -';:■'. ''. .= >:.'-.'