SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 4, 29 September 1917, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

A Russian Gentleman, "A Russian Gentleman," by Sergo Aksakoff (London, Edward Arnold), is a novel which, originally published as it j was so long ago as 1856, still retains its. popularity with the Russian reading public It is a story which was well worth , translating-into''English, which is more than can bo said of so much or tho Russian fiction with which English readers arc- nowadays being asked to make acquaintance. It deals with Russian country life- in the days of the Empress Ca hcr'ino, tho chief figure, btopan Mihailo,vitch, a well-to-do landowner, having ; been drawn,, it is understood, from tho , author's grandfather, Mihilai ovitch Ho is at once a most formidable, but lovable old gentleman. Tho story is, indeed, a kind of family history and as I such is rich in realistic character skct-j dies. So many Russian novels deal with ?'~«'tiordid life of tho city workers, or! with tho equally repulsive- extravagances | and riches of a pleasure-seeking axis ocracy or corupt officialdom, that Aksa-, koffVpictures of the clean and whole-, some 1 fo W the old-time country gentry , and their families of" the Caucasus pro-, vinces comos as a welcome and ajree- ; able contrast. There w hero nonoo. tho .

sernionisli)<r of Tolstoy, the cynicism of Turgeniev, or the pessimism of Dostoevsky. Aksakoff's stories deserve to be bettor known to English readers than they are, and I am glad to see that a second instalment of his memoirs, his "Recollections" of school and college, will shortly be published. In tho opinion of.so high an authority on Russian, literature as Mr. Maurice Baring, "A Russian Gentleman" is "as vivid and interesting as any novel, as any of tho novels of Russian lmtors of genius, and it lias the additional advantage of being true." Thorgills of Treadholt. . Mr. Maurice Hewlett has gone to an Icelandic Saga for the plot of his latest novel, "Thorgills of Treadholt" (Ward, Lock and Co.; per Whitcoinbe and Tombs). I cannot say that I care very much, as a rule, for Mr. Howlett"a stories of the Icelandic berserkers, but he is a novelist who never fails, no matter the period or scenario of his stories, to interest his reader, and if he will not givo us another "Forest Lovers,' or "Richard Yea or Nay," or, in his kter Meredithian ■ manner, another "Stooping Lady" or "Open Country," well,' then we must be content with .such ns "Thorgills of Treadholt." It is an excellent yarn of its kind, with enough single combats and pitched battles and' stirring scenes generally by land and sea to safety th© most exacting lover of dramatic action. Tho hero is a very fine follow, worthy of a long lino of doughty ancestors, although he does desert tho ancient family worship of Thor and become a Christian, and thoreby be lost for a tinva to his people, who regard him as a very incomprehensible creature. The clear-cut,' vigorous felyle in which the tale is told adds greatly to its general charm. The Ford. "Tho Iford," by Mrs. Arthur Stallard (Eveleigh Nash, per Whitconibe and Tombs) is a story of Irish country life, tho author's object being, so a publisher's iioto on. tho cover of tho book informs the reader, "to roveal.much that Irishmen and womon generally endeavour to conceal.". Tho story is full of conventional typos, some of which are well enough drawn, but Mrs. Stallard certainly does not do justice to the many good trails of the national character. Most-of letIrish characters act very foolishly; indeed, they act as bo Irishman it has been my fortune to meet could possibly act. Also they are most of them arrant suobs. Now, snobbery is far from being common in Ireland. Her English characters, who are evidently meant to appear in pleasing contrast to the Irish figures in the story, are a priggish, self-conceited lot of people, who apparently regard tho Irish characters as being miles beneath, them in birth, mnnnors, and ordinary intelligence. Tlio author has a very stodgy style, and the sentimental interest is of tho penny novelette description.. A very disappointing novel.. !