BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 38, 8 November 1919, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(BX LlBBB.)

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Tho Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"Tho Four Hojsemen of tlio Apocalypse," by Vincente Blasco Ibanra (Constable and Co., per W'hitcombo and Tomhs), is a novel vlncli toth in U\o orisiinal Spanish and in French, Italian, and English translations lias enjoyed a widespread vogue. In America alone, so it is stated, over 200.000 copies of the book have been solo'. For some time the English version was procurable only in a rather expensive American edition, but copies of a now English editiou are now available in New Zealand at a moderate price. It is certainly a most remarkable novel, perhaps tho most remhrkoblo war novel ever written since Zola's "The Dabactci" But Ibauez'a 6tory is, in some ways, a greater book than Zola's powerful but dreary story of France's downfall in 1870. It is less elaborately "documented." and it deals not solely with war. The gentler passions are also represented. The story commences in Paris, where live the wealthy ex-Argen-tine family, of French extraction, the Desnovers. Tho real genesis of tho storv is laid in the where a wealthy ranchman, Julio Jladriaga, lias two daughters. One marries Marcel PesJioyers, a Frenchman, one of tho ranchman's 6uperintcnaente; the other a leuton named Hartrott, who had been kick-1 ed out of the German Army for fraud, | had emigrated to South America, and, j like Desnovers. had been befriended by Jladriaga. On tho death of the latter his | colossal fortune is divided. Hartrott returns to Germany, taking his wife with him. nno: gradually builds up a new and high social position in Berlin. Desnoyers. too. after a timo, rotnrns to France, where his only son, a dilettante artist, is leading an idle and vicious life. I lie war breaks out, and Desnovers, who has beguiled bis leisure by collecting • valuable pictures and artistic bric-a-brac, sees his splendid chateau on tho Marno ruthlesslv ransacked by the Huns. He himself, defying a brutal German oth'cer. narrowly escapes being shot. Meanwhile, his wastrel son, who has become involved in an intrigue with a young married woman, is reproached by nor tor his nttituoe of detachment as regards the war. Ho enlists, serves at tho front, and is killed. Alongside this narrative of the sorrows of the Desnovers, Ibanez gives us the story of tho other, or German branch of tho old Argentinian's family. Hnrtrott's 60n also meeting death on the battlefield. To Ibanez war is just simply hell, a hideous thing'unaCcompanied by one single redeeming feature. Ihe jrrief of the Desnoyers, of the father, who cannot bolievo that his boy can possibly bo killed, and of the bravo old mother Chiea, is depioted in passages ot compelling poivor The one Desnoyers daughter, Chichi, a butterfly creature, who is ongaged to a French senator also has her own personal sorrow apart from Hint caused by Julio's death- In all modern fiction I know of no more poignantly pathetic a chapter than that in which Ibanez describes the ireary old father's search on the lor tho cross which marks the last restingplace of his son. , , _ Tombs • • • tombs on all sides! The white locusts ot death were Bwarmiug over the entire countrymdo. There was no corner free from their .ruivormß vines. The recently-ploughed[earth, .the vollowing roads, tho dark woodland, everything was pulsating in unresting unfluUtions. The soil seemed to bo c.lnrnourimr, and its words were the vibrations of tlio restless little flags. ■ • . The father was staring at the rustic craves in dumb amazement. His son was thero, there for ever . and he would never see hint again! HO imagined him sleeping uiiHhrouded below, in direct contact with tho earth, just as Death hart surprised him in biß miserable and heroic old uniform.

The oariier Argontino scenes aro so fresh, so vigorously picturesque, as to make ono wish Ibancz would dovote a story solely to the wild life of the pampas ranchmen. When the background is Paris, the impression of reality is scarcely 60 convincing, but fcho grim desolation, the sordid horrors which aro siiflerod by an invaded country in latterday warfare aro portrayed ns few writers have yet painted them. The story, which if not exactly a work of genius, comes very closo to being so, is undoubtedly a most fascinating one if, in places, a repellently realistic, pictureof war and its attendant miseries and horrors. It owes its title to those four grim figures, the Apocalyptic horsemen, War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death, riding rough-shod over a helpless world

May Sinclair's Latest. Miss May Sinclair's latest novel, "Mary Oliver- A Life" (CasoeL and Co., per S. and W. Mackay) deserves a much longer notice than space limits will permit. It is the life atory, from infancy to the age of forty-five, of a girl and woman who is a born rebel against convention, and whoso natural abilrfecs aro "cribbed, cabinnd, and confined" in a singularly unsympathetic environment. She tees one member after another of the family fail in lifo and pass away, until she is left alone with a mother with whom she had always been as littlo in sympathy as with her selfish, domineering, and. towards the close of his career, drunkon, father, flow, late in life, lovo comes to Mary Ol'.vier; how, through a .sense of duty she loses her fiance; how, -Inter still, she challenges {society and finds temporary happ uess in an unlicensed attachment; and how, finally, her much-tried rebellious spirit finds Bol.ice in the joys of successful authorship, and in n spiritual calm born of the discovery that for some women the lovo passion is not the only thing in life h set forth by Miss Sinclair in a Story which : s, in literary quality, far nbovo tlio average everyday fiction.!

"The Moonlit Way." Mt. Robert W. Chambers i 6 a prolific and, with a large class of readers, perennially popular writer. His latest story, "Tho Moonlit Way" (Applelon and Co.; per Whiteombe and Tombs), is a war romance, the principal figures being a young American artist, Garrett Barres, n cosmopolitan stage-favourite, N'hln Quellen, of mingled' Georgian and RusFian blood, and a pretty young .American girl, Dtilcio Soamo. Also, ns tho three chief villains of the pi mo. we aro introducwl to a German secret agent, Max Freund, a scoundrelly Turk, Forte Hey, and a-corrupt French Senator, who sells his country's secrets for the Kaiwr's grfd. Tho seon« » laid first in Cimf-tan-tinoplo. next in Paris, nnd finally in New York, whore, to complicate the plot, a Rinn Fein conspiracy to blow up the locks on the Wollniul Cannl is introduced. Mr. Chambers is more prodigal tlion over in his supply of sensation, duly nJtemiitwl, of course, by some Ir'ghlv saccharine sentiment. Those who like ii'iis kind <\f fi"Hon will no doubt like "Tho Moonlit Way." as wr-'l ns or better than anything the novelist Ims already given them in this genre.

"Nomads of the North." In his latest story, "Nomads of lilio North'" (Eoddor and. Stoughton), Mr. Jama- Oliver Garwood takes his loaders yet again into the donso forests of the Camiiiian Knrl'lirWest, reintroducing our old iriond the wolfhound Miki and his iriend, Kcowa, tho block benrcub. Also, there reappears the stalwart, resourceful, and fearless trapper, Gimllonor. Tho story deals with the sufferings of Miki at tho hands of a brutal French halfbrecd, whoso wife, Nnnelte, of half French-vnyagcur, half Cree Indian blood, has long been loved by Challoner. Tho adventures of the bear-cub nnd his faithful dog-friend across tho frozen wastes', whero the trappers seek their prey, are told with all that vigour and dramatic feeling which make Mr. Garwood's stories such excellent rending. Perhaps, like the la to .Tack London, Mr. Curwood strains our powers of belief a littlo in attributing an almost human reasoning capacity to Neowa and Miki, but tho novelist must bo allowed a cor-

Give a man a pipe ht can smoke, Give a man a booh he can read; And his home it bright with a calm delight Though the room he poor indeed:

I-JAHE3 THOHSOM.

bin. freedom or exaggeration in his imaginative powers, which might be denied to writers who deal only with tho actual facts of animal life. ■ As for Mr. Curwood's trappers and Indians, his pictures of tho wild life of tho frontier outposts—in all this 'die has few equals amongst present-day American and Canadian novelists.

"The Rising of the Tide." Hitherto ono has associated the name .of Miss Ida M. Tarbell with v historical and economic studies. Her amply docu-1 mou'ted and sensational exposure or tho , devious and dubious commercial methods of the Standard Oil Company/ will, in particular, ba recalled. Miss Tarbell now comes forward in the, for her, new role of a novelist ' "The Kising of tho j Tide.", "The Story of Sabiusport" (Now' York and Melbourne: Tho Macmillan Co.) is in many ways a remarkable book, in which Miss Tarbell shows how the war affected tho people of a rising industrial town in one of the Middlo Western States. Tho two principal characters aro a young journalist, an honest, courageous champion of all that is best in democracy, and his friend and ally in many a good fight for right versus might, a young clergyman. Sabinsport ]ias a large alipn element in its population, Germans, Slavs, Italians, and Greeks all being represented. As tho war proceeds tho author shows vs how succeeding events in Europe have their effect upon the public mind of this American town, nod, .how it is. viewed from many and very different standpoints. The gradual awakening of tho national conscience, the erowfcli of the feeling of national and individual duty, and how this affects tho various sections of Sabinsport's population are very ingeniously worked out. A double interest runs through tho story, which includes many strongly-drawn characters.

"The Processionals." That clever novelist, Mrs. Elinor Mordaunt, gives us, in her latest story, "Tho Processionals" (Cassell and Co., per S. and W. Maekay), a dotailed and convincing study of a well-to-do, utterly solfish family, the D'Atks, head, a g'onial, midiliwiyed country squire, supposed to lie suffering from iucurablo heart-disease, iu induced to make over his fortune- by deed of gift to his children aud relatives, and so rulicvo them of prospective death duties, '.['lie squire, who is looked upon by tlio family as an incubus, sets off for a Gorman spa,' but in London meets an old cliuih, a doctor practising in a slum district in tlio East End. The medico friend challenges tho.doath decrco passed by an eminent and fashionable specialist, end D'Ath, becoming interested in the. new world in which ho finds himself, remains in Loudon, recovers Ms health and spirits, and is happier than ho has been for many years. Meanwhile, tlio family squabble over tho division of the spoils, and when the war breaks out aro iti soro perplexity over tho supposed death of tho squire at the German health resort ho lias never reached. Eventually the missing man is encountered by 'accident, in a London fctrnot, by his youngest daughter, tho ono member'of the family who really loves him, and returns to his homo to inaugurate an entirely now regime, in which ho exhibits a firmness and decision which considerably astonish "his relatives. Tile deed of gift is destroyed by mutual consent, <uid the squiro instals hh a new mistress of his home, tho very scnsiblo and charming woman ho has met and married in London. Mrs. Mordaunl's satiric portraits of tho various members of tho ])'Ath family circle aro sharply etched, Tho squire is a capital fellow, and his J.-ondon friend, the shim doctor, and his eccentric patients provide somo excellent light comedy.

Wild West Fiction. Perennially popular with tho American novel reading public, awl with a no small section of Australasian lovers of fiction, is what may bo called tho AVild West story. Two unusually good efforts in this particular class of fiction aro "Tho Sngebrushers"' by Emerson Hough (New York: Appleton and Co.), and "The Untamed," by Max Brand (N.Y.: # ff. P. Putnam and Sons), copies of which I received per Messrs. Wlvitcombe and Tombs. Tho heroine of Mr. Hough'B story is a pretty but almost penniless girl from an Eastern city, who goes to a far-away Montana ranch in answer to a matrimonial advertisement, Sdm Gage, tho ranchman upon whoso behalf a friend has inserted tho "ad.," is a fino fellow, rough in manner and speech, but as brave i.s a lion, warm-hearted, and the soul of honour. A special featuro of tho story is its description of the I.W.W. movement. Mr. Hough provides his readers with a rich feast of sensation, and his characters aro rrioro carefully drawn than is customary in' novels of this class.

Max Brand's story, "Untamed," lntrodmps three strange comrades. "Whistling Dan;" a man of wild and rccklesn mood and uncontrollable passions, but (Capable,, on occasion, of a certain nobility of motivo and action; his Mack stallion, Satan, and a savage, but to Don most devoted, wolf dog, Black Bart. Whistling Dan is onamouTed of a handsome, spirited girl, but lias for rival ono Jim Silent, a "lone rider" and outlaw. As Dan, is a crack revolver shot and Jim equally handy with his "gun," thero is some prettv tall "shooting up" in tlio story. Jim Silent la seconded in his feud bv comrade who are as anxious to secure the famous stallion end "get that black devil of a dot" as is Jim to oust their owner in the affections of tho cirl. Mr. Brand's story simply teems with exciting incidents. Pistols crack, "bad men" aro "shot up," sheriff's oflieeT.s pursue desperadoes—<ill the stock-in-trade of the cowboy drama playwright, is libsrally drawn upon, but the story possesses not a few original and attractive features which raise it above Iho ruck of "Wild West" melodrama. The reader who is fond of thrills will here get excellent value for his monoy.

"Uncle Akner." The chief .figura in Melville Posfs story, "Uncle Abn<\r" (Applolon and Co., per'- Whit-combo and Tombs) is a hardbitten old Virginian mountaineer whose speciality is tlie. detection of crimes and solving "of mysteries by methods somewhat akin to those employed by our old friend Sherlock Holmes. To this crusty but kind-hearted'..ld man are brought many strange problems' for solution. There, is, for example, the curious case of a. man who is killed while alone in a room, with ev?ry door and window bo]toft from the inside: llie myslory of a miser's vanishing pot of gold; the solving of a murder mystery by a chess pawn; a. round dozen of episodes are described in which TJnelo Aimer's eleni umlerstnmlini! and logical reasoning are responsihlo .for tho truth being laid hare. It is not ver.V easy nowadays for a novelist who essays the detective' story to find any very novel variant of tho "criminal investigator' type. "Uncle _Aimer" is, however, in many -"-ays a decidedly original conception. Tho local colour of the yarns, Hie background for which is tho lonely mountain of Virginia, is agreeably fresh and picturesque.

"Nixola of Wall Street." "Nixola of Wall Street," by Felix Graidon (N.Y., Tho Century Co., per Whitcomuo and Tombs), is a romnnco of the business world of I\ T ew York, with a handsomo and clever, and not n littlo ambitious private secretary as heroine, and her wealthy employer, jus a very pleasant hero. Employer and employee- do not understand each oilier aright for Homo time and tho path of true love is found,' even by a millionaire, to bo by no menus rill "gel her rose-strewn. There are many interesting scenes in "Wall Street, at a country house and elsewhere, and im attempted "abduction threatening at ono time to provido something approaching tragedy. Hut in the end-

well, how could 6uch a story, especially a story by un American novelist, end otherwise tlmn tho approved fairy talcs always do?