HELL AND PARADISE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 124, 19 February 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

HELL AND PARADISE

A Book Of Rugged Force And Beauty

“Morwyn,” by John Cowper Powys (London: Cassell).

The theme of Mr. Powys’s latest novel is not a new one; it has fascinated man from tlie beginning of the human race, and it' is to the author's credit that he lias produced a work of rugged force and fine sensibility, considering the ambitiousness of his project—■ to present the idea of Hell along with the idea of Paradise. This is an audacious attempt to do for our modern age what was done in their different historic epochs by Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton. His main contention is that cruelty is I he only sin worthy of Hell, and that tlie worst kind of cruelty is the cruelty of the sadistic impulse when it justifies itself by religious, political or scientific fanaticism. The polished prose of Mr. Powys provides, an excellent medium for a terrifying story that is full of dramatic power and compelling interest. It is an imaginative and startling story of a man, a woman and a dog, plunged by a meteoric catastrophe into the infernal regions. The author’s indication of his own deepest convictions of good and evil in this world are expressed with the grim reality of Swift and the deadly irony of Voltaire. The description of Hell’s landscape and scenery, together with the punishments inflicted by the damned on themselves, make up a drama of pity and terror not easily forgotten. Though a writer's view of his own work cannot be considered conclusive, it has its significance, and “Morwyn, or the Vengeance of God,” is considered by Mr. Powys to be the best book he has ever written.