SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3006, 17 February 1917, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

Xlngu, by Edith Wharton (Macmillan and Co.). "Xingu" is the title of a collection of short stories from tho brilliant pen gave us four novels, "The House of which gave 11s those fine novels, "The House of Mirth}" "The Reef," and "The Custom of tho Country." Grotesque comedy, drama, and tragedy , are each reflected in tlieso stories, all written with that epigramatic terseness and consummate clarity which make the author's style so attractive; The title story, "Xingu 1 ' (the slightest in interest, and lightest in touch of the collection), is an amus-. iug skit upon tho American woman who "takes up" Culture as she would clum work or 'a crusade in favour of whole-meal bread, and makes herself supromely ridiculous by an ill-direced and often sham enthusiasm. Threo other stories deal with the question of divorce and how it is regarded by American society, a subject upon which Mrs. Wharton, as it will be remembered," was so scathingly .satirical ill that excellent hovel "The .Custom of the Country." 'In "Coming',Honife,"' a pathetic" and repellantly suggestive study of a young Frenchman's experiences when he returns to his home after the chateau had been visited by the Huns,, there is a distinct suggestion of a De Maupassant influence, and "Keri'ol" is an excellent if somewhat ghastly "ghost-Btory." The gom of the collection, however, is a poignantly pathetic study, "The Bunner Sisters," of genteel poverty in Ncwl York. All the stories aro much more than merely readable, but, nevertheless I hardly think Mrs. Wharton is at her strongest and best in this particular form of fiction.

The, Honey Bee, by Samuel Mervin (Hveleigh Nash, per Whitcombe and Tombs). This is an exceptionally well-written study of Parisian life and character, as seen through American glasses. As a rule, American novels dealing with Parisian life have for their principal figures American art students,'but in this case tho story deals with the ex- 1 . perienees -of a shrewdj masterful woman,: in tlie early thirties, who goes to the French capital from a big American; departmental store, v Spending a holiday in ''Paris,'sho'meets some compatriots of her oSvn, including some variety'theatre performers and a prizefighter. With the latter, who, despite his profession, is a well-educated man, who reserves all his brutality for the ring, she falls in love. Another and older lover, however, still: exercises a oertain influence over her, but u proved to be a weak, unworthy creature. and after spending some time in unselfishly assisting a weak-willed and worthless dancer, and nursing tho hitter's sick child, she returns to America, cured of any desire to marry, and ready and eager to resume her old place in tho strenuous life of the store. The complex character of the heroine is portrayed with a fine insight into feminine psychology, but I refuse to believe in the reality of the prize-fighter lover. The Parisian background is skilfully, described. A very readable story.

The Cuiding Thread, V Beatrice Harraden (Methnen and Co.). It is a far cry now to the days when Miss Tlarradon raado such n striking hit with her once famous "Ships that T'nss in the'. Night." ' Since, then she has given us several novels, but Ims never 'quite reached the high standard of her initial effort Her latest story, however, has an exceptionally likeable and interesting heroine, a young village girl who is married and educated bv a historian who specialises in the Italian Renascence, and, trains bis wife to become .bis literary assistant. The historian is an eccentric,-sel-fish creature, and behaves abominably to bis wife, who eventually leaves him, and coes tn New York, where she is driven, in the end, to accept employment at the very same class of literary work wTiich slm liad previouslv crown to loathe. In the end she returns to TCnrrlnH to find her repentant husband very ill, and there is a reconciliation. Tim minor characters are well drawn, and th" 7'iiirn innocence of the heroine, which leads hpr lo accent the assistance of sonic decidedlv shady people, is cleverlv suggested. The blot on the hook is the principal male character, the historian, a most objectionable, person.

Tiie tlcrfp.mntion of r,raoe MUroy,< by Oarlf«n Tlf>we (John Lane):'. • is a well-written novel, in which are set forth tho sensetional experiences which are the lot of a handsome young lady who, after spending some months in gaol, as the result, of a cruel conspiracy, goes up to ■ London to begin, life afresh. She first falls into the hands of some villainous "white slave" traders, from whose clutches she only escapes lo become lndv help in a household tho head of which is, ostensibly, a highly respectable city merchant. He is Kiallv, however, a most accomplished scoundrel, the head of a gang of

swindlers and criminals generally. Fortunately for the heroine, she finds warm friends in some people of humble station, and in a highly 'amusing, though rather stagey "comic Irishman." Towards tho end of the story, Mr. Dawo displays a tendency to drift into melodrama, but tho much-tried heroine omorges successfully froi(i her misadventures, happy in tho love of a very pleasant young barrister, who succeeds in establishing her innocence of the charge upon which she had been convicted. .

Tho Financing of Fiona, by Dorothea Conyers (George Allen and Ull- - is a brightly -written, interesting story, tho heroine of which, a young Irish lady, who has boon broiight up to consider herself a rich heiress, suddenly discovers, upon the death of her uncle, that sbo is largely depondant upon a cousin who is a most objectionable bounder. Fortunately, however, tho diseoveij of a codicil, the existence of which is known to the cousin, who meanly keeps it a secret-, sots matters right for tho very jolly young heroine. As in Miss ConyerV previous stories, there is plenty of hunting, some very pleasant Love-making, artd an abundance of Irish humour in tho novel, which makes uncommonly good reading.