A "DUTCH INTERIOR."

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2241, 29 August 1914, Page 5

A "DUTCH INTERIOR."

Another recently published novel, bj a ".foreign author, and dealing with phases of life unfamiliar tc the' average,' English . reader,' is entitled,, "Small' Souls" . (Heitiemann; per George Robertson). The author is Louis CoiVp'erus, a Dutch novelist of considerable fame in his native country, and the' English translation be- ' ing by' Mr. A. Teixiera ■ de Mattos, , Vhose translations of-certain of Maetor- ■ linck's works haive been 60 widely, commended. ; ''Small Souls" ia a fine novel, the interest in which is primarily, in■i deed, predominantly psychological. It deals with the struggle of a woman, a member of the-uppet middle'class society of The Hague, to rehabilitate herself iii the respect of her own circle; The heroine, Constance Tan Lowe', is married, to a. man of sixty. She has an intrigue with a young diplomat; 1 is divorced, and then marries, in london, the partner in hoi: disgrace. The pair go out to the- Dutch East Indies, and, after somo years''.■ stay .there, return to Holland with ' their' son Adrian. Then commences a long fight for rehabilitation by the great family to which ;the wife belongs,, people bound tight in tho bonds of conventional propriety and relentless contempt for one who offends, even under gravest provocation, against their rigid traditions of an impeccable morality "Small Souls" indeed are these Van Lowes, and Van Sietsjaas, Naghels, and others who lookf.'askance at poor Constance, and thor is unsparing of hie quiet, but nono "the less biting, satire. "Small Souls" is a story which, in its accentuation of the importance of seemingly insignificant detail, reminds ono of a "Dutch Interior," by, say, Vormeer.of Dalit, or Pieter Van-Der Hooch. It is no story for the novel dovourer, but in the vividity and strength of its characterisation it is a story, of far above average merit. , "Small Souls" is the first or a-series of four novels descirbing- the fortunes of the- Van Lowe family, and known in Holland as "The Books of the Small Souls," Mr. de Mattos, the translator, informs us, in his preface, that the;remainder- will be. translated and published if and as the antecedent volumes' find favour with English and American readers. For. my own part, although as a rule. I do not care much for sequels; I shall 'await a further instalment of Mr. Couper'ns's fine work with • pleasurable anticipation.