RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22084, 14 October 1933, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

“The, Rash Act.'' By Ford Madox Ford. (Capp.) , .. A Prince of the Captivity.”, By John JSuchah.. (Hod'der and Stoughton.)- . V“/ j' o rthcomlhg Marrlagos.” By Mary Lutyens. (Mtirrey.)' "Where the Plain Begins." By John Truran. (Angus • and Bobertson; 6s 6d net.) A;‘Vthe Balcony.” ,By B.‘G. Coulson. (Murray.)'-,-’ " -V'.’-' • - Clacking - Shuttles.” By Florence Bone. ■(Paul.); > , ’ ■ ■ • “Missing.”, By F. E. Mills .Toting. (Bodley Head.)' V.- . " Self-Made Woman." - By Faith , Baldwin. ■’(Sampson. Low.) * v.,«i The ’Continuous Star." By Marjorie M. 'Price.'' (Mills and'Boon.) Vr"After,. Battle." By David Leannonth. ■(Hutchlhsoh.) ■ i ’ii Sea-Chance." > By Lady Kitty Vincent. (Jenkins.) ' ■ -v" Mlnus X.” By Sinclair Gluck. (Mills and Boon,) ~ • . . - , , ’ : (Each Ts net,, unless otherwise stated.) Name of Smith • - The • principal men in Ford Madox Ford’*:*! The Rash Act ” are named Smith, Henry, Martin, and Hugh, Monckton of that ilk. -They are, both .cosmopolitan, presentable, educated, and scions of wealthy families. And both are tired of life. Henry Martin is tired because his father, a candy king in Springfield, Ohio, will ’’not' support him abroad, Hugh Monckton because his head hurts from a war wound and the glamorous being whom he . adores will' not fly with him to the Islands of the Blest. In ’a cafe on theCote .d’Azur -they - meet ‘on the 'evening each : ha® planned to be-bis last. _ Henry Martin pays Hugh Monckton’s bill with his last lew’ francs, then goes with him to his hotel. - He is too much engrossed with thoughts of his own suicide to realise that- : Monckton is revealing the arrangements lor. his. _ Next morning Henry Martin goes boating, as he conj siders, drowning- a decent .death. But_ a storm i comes up, and, without thought, lie concentrates on riding his boat, through it. ■ As he -reaches haven he receives a shattering blow from the yard arm, and .staggers blindly whore. Hugh Monckton s plans'had been more successful, and when Henry Martin stumbles on his body he is. pavibpa.' It is scarcely from any desire tovbecbme a millionaire that he permits his rescuers to assume he i_s Hugh Monckton,: but because his head is hiirtinjr now add he wants, rest. With a new identity implacably fastened on to him by Deatiny,. Henry Martin acquires: new responsibilities, • including two rather charming young “ poules.” Life remains , bitter, i .because of the injured head he ‘ . has, as it were, inherited from Hugh •Monckton,; but not as bitter as before, jince he has also inherited fortune. Henry Martin ■ further defers plans for his suicide. Ford Madox Ford tells this .int genious parable in his own way, most scene# coming to the reader through Henry Martin’s recollections of them. “The Rash Act ” is an autobiography of Henry Martin, but it also at times, as in the incident of the :.Btorm, achieves more selfconsciousfiess as h dramatic; narrative. Mr Ford 'believes there is ‘ not much hope for the,; world, and none for Henry Martin’s generation, but the convection does notworry him much. He-seems to be sentimentally sorry, however, that' there are no young men to-day on whose graves might he - carved the inscription from the tombstone of a Roman dancer at Antibes: ‘ “ Saltavit. Placuit. - ..Mortuus . est.” Men- still dance and die, thinks Mr Ford, but they : give no pleasure.

. The Author i \. ■ Ford Madox Ford, Merton, a son of the-late Dr Hneffer, one time, music, critic of The Times. He com-menced-writing verse when he was 15, the first' volume appearing in 1897. In the following year Conrad suggested a collaboration with him, the association continuing for ten years, and yielding “Romance,” “The Inheritors," and other works. In- 1908 he founded the English Review, some of his early contributors . being Hardy, Conrad, and Galsworthy, and. he later ran the Transatlantic Review.: He was a force among young English writers in the pre-war period. During the war he served in France, and I was gassed, His writings consist of poems, critical essays, and fiction, and two years ago .appeared a - volume of reminiscences, -‘f Return to Yesterday.” He divides his • time- between . France and the United States, and considers himself "one of the last Tories.” He changed his name after the ' war. - , 1 ■

Mr Buchan's Philosophy : From- the philosophy, of futility of Mr Ford we pass to the militant faith of Mr Buchan without conscious uplift, but with some relief- that' all noveliste.de not find in life, to-day the , end' of living.. Mr Buchan,.'ae becomes his reputation in fiction, is lavish with, incident, and as is meet 'in an historian; parliamentarian, and social economist, he is generous in ideas.. To correlate the two roles in-one novel is- a .difficult task, 'but Mr Buchan makes more than a fair j?b of it. If his book.loses something as fiction through its topical analj'eis of world disorder, the analysis is engaging and vigorous, and the plot ie exciting enough, Adam Mel* fort, the hero, is a man cleansed of personal ambition and lusts. He has gone to gaol to shield his wife from an indictment, and there he gains proficiency in languages which fits him for war work in the Secret Service. In dangerous occupations'in Belgium, Germany, and behind the Turkish lines he distinguishes himself while his last claims to individual arrogance , are stripped from him. After the K War He completes-his regeneration by a visit to the Arctic in search of am American explorer. Adam at first sees little to inspire hope, and little to which to attach his faith, ‘ in • the turbulent postwar, days, but his altruism is unbounded, and his Continued, search for leaders—for' England and for the world —brings him in touch'with the realities in Britain and.abroad, and, at last, to greater understanding. Mr. Buchan, for all his impatience at the progress of the world today, the mis-direction of effort, has a firm belief ha' the ultimate goodness and rightness of-humanity. His apprehensions and his faith arc‘expounded in his study of Adam with; a sincerity that.may disappoint'admirers, of some of his earlier, unequivocal'“thrillers,” but will, attract others •’to his work. •

The Author ' John Buchan; C.H., was born in 1575, the son of the Rev. John Buchan, and educated, at Glasgow University and Brasenoae. College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize in 1898, and was president of the Union. He was admitted to the Bar in 1901, and immediately thereafter'.went, to South Africa with Lord Milner. , Hie first novels were published at this time. During the war he was attached to GJ3.Q. in France, and Director of Information in the year before the Armistice, His most successful novels, “ The Thirty-Nine ' Steps ” and its companions, belong to this period, later 'fiction works including “The Dancing Floor. “ The Blanket- of the' Dark;’-’ and Midwinter,”, hut he Has also published a history;'of the war, several volumes of biography, a study of the Kirk in Scotland, and economic treatises. He ws elected’M-P. for the Scottish Universities in 1927; and'now divides his time between London and’ Oxford, where, in the weekends, he -writes his. hooks. He is married, and has four children. V, • ■ . - • '• • - - Preludes to Marriage -By way of contrast to Mr Buchan’s uncompromising' earnestness comes ‘‘ Forthcoming Marriages ” "'by Mary _ Lutyens Thie,. a- first book, has the distinction, of being reprinted in the month of publication' and' favoured with a, blessing by the Book ’ Society'. Miss Lutyens .provides as,‘introductions to her .nine tales engagement or-marriage notices, and in one case a feiitiinalion of engagement notice, purporting'to come from The Times. The protagonists are, for-the most_part, memberg, of the indeterminate section of Englikh 'Society ;khown as the bright young people, and they do not appear, generally speaking, to'.i'go- into marriage in the earnest and passionate spirit which is prescribed' by the ' popular lady novelists. There" are'usually considerations of social salvation, as in the case of Valerie, the bishop’s‘daughter, whose reputation was not unsullied: dr ambition, as in the case of Sir Miles. Shaw, who had to discard Dinah in favour, of a worldly match; but there are others, too, such as James and Rosemary, who seck in marriage all the virtues with which romantics invest that *tate, and: have every chance of finding

them. "Forthcoming Marriages” is a lively book, and hag considerable variety considering the quite restricted basis of situation. It should be read, preferably, jn chapters, when there is little danger of readers becoming bored with the matrimonial handicaps described. J. M.

Australians? John Truran’s second novel of Australian life, “ Where the Plain Begins,” is concerned with a district named Conroy’s Flat. The name is fictitious, the people are, Mr Truran suggests, not so. It is reassuring to know, however, that while he has not, he states, consciously exaggerated, he. will not claim that Conroy’s Flat and its dwellers are typical of the Commonwealth. It is as well go, for Mr Truran’a characters are not, for the most part, admirable. It may be doubted whether the hard conditions of living which he describes make for nobility or character, v However, it is a full canvas that he uses, with' some contrasting figures in it to relieve the sombre, mean shades , which represent the majority of the inhabitants of Conroy’s Flat. Mr Truran writes ably, and with less reliance upon picturesque invective. on the part of his characters than is usual in Australian authors—it is a hopeful indication that the life of the country districts will be depicted by the novelist realistically instead of in cartoon and caricature. In. his descriptions , of . the sights and sounds of the country, which he evidently knows and loves, Mr Truran should guard against too grandiose a style.

‘‘ The Balcony ” Mr R. G. Coulson, the author,of an interesting study of an , aspect of postwar unrest in Europe, rf The Uneasy Triangle,” has turned novelist with a book, “ The Balcony," which has greater implications than are fulfilled, but marks him am an author worth future regard. Charles Brock, an Englishman by conviction and upbringing, is the heir to a large estatp in Esthonia, and, mainly because he finds business life in London unexciting, goes to claim it when he hears that the Government is confiscating private properties. It is not Mr Coulson’s desire to embroil his hero... in dashing adventures, and Brock’s encounters with the Esthonian authorities have no element of • the dramatic. He finds his estate decrepit, and occupied by impoverished relations in-keeping with the scene. The only romantic element in an adventure which is a fiasco is a Russian emigre, but here, too, frustration is his experience,

“Clacking Shuttles’* . j .changes which accompanied the industrial development of England and the resultant transition from the old aristocracy of government to the more democratic, ideas: of later days have been a fruitful source for the novelists "whose plots are formed on 'historical developments. “ Clacking ' Shuttles ” is a story in which we are shown the endeavours of the old aristocracy of the land to hold their position in face of .the newer forces represented by the manufacturing interests. The heroine is Pamela Willow, who to h® the daughter of William Willow, brother of Richard and Harriet. By the lastmamed brother and sister she is adopted. Richard Willow represents the manufacturing interest. On the other hand Sir Piers Pumphrey is the landed gentleman of the district. The plot centres round an election day on which it is to be decided whether the electorate shall continue to be represented by a landowner or by a commercial man. Iraneis, son of Sir Piers, is the candidate for the gentry. He has fallen in love with Pamela and, come weal, come woe, is prepared for whatever may be his lot provided Pamela shares it. The story is interesting though not out of the ordinary.

Strange Disappearance Robert Hastings, after having spent six bored years of married life, suddenly disappears, leaving no trace whatever, and ?!?.,-» though realising the incompatibmty °f their natures, makes a determined, almost desperate, search for him. Just when the mystery is at its height •Jim Smith, whose features correspond in e\ ery detail with those of the missing man, quietly marries a city typist in a registry office. . The problem for the reader to solve is whether Smith is Hastings, but the author has handled her plot with such adroitness that it will be an astute person who is able to adduce any strong evidence in support of whatever theory he formulates. This book, “ Missing ” (from Whitcombe and Tombs), is easily one of the best Miss Young has written.

Independent Womanhood Cathleen M‘Elroy has reached the age of 30 years and achieved a considerable success as a real estate agent in the manner beloved of the American public when she, begins to wonder whether business achievements should constitute her only' ambition. Two men then enter her life, — one an easy-going, agreeable dilettante, the other a successful. ice-box manufacturer — and with characteristic decision she makes her choice, but is Unwilling to relinquish the independence that has been so hardly won. A too rigid. self-assertiveness is scarcely compatible with marital bliss, however, and pride has to humble itself a little before true happiness is attained. A wide diversity of viewpoints combine in this book, “Self-niade Woman” (from Whitcombe and Tombs), to present an intimate picture of several types of American home life.

Inconstant Star , V. , /, . Marjorie Price has', stiff to write a distinguished novel,, though she might yet accomplish the labour.- Meanwhile her books retain a crispness often lacking in romantic fiction. In the latest, “The Continuous Star,” she takes the relations between an agreeable actor, Michael Meredith, and his son Chris, for her study. Chris has not inherited the balance of his famous parent, but he has a similar attraction for women, and uses it as Michael would never have deigned to do. It is mainly the sWry of his caddishness which Miss Price relates, but out of evil good comes, and we are, in the end, pleasantly surprised to learn of Chris’s essential decency.

" After the Battle ” A story of soldiers, “After,the Battle” opens with the British army of occupation on the Rhine, and thereafter gives glimpses of service in England and in Belfast when that city was in the throes of religious turmoil. The book, however, bears the stamp of very inexpert craftsmanship; its general trend and meaning are extremely vague throughout, the character depiction is poor, and the whole thing leaves the reader with an impression of aimlessness and lack of purpose.

“ Sea-Change ” : Lady Kitty Vincent writes with a gaiety-that is communicable of an Atlantic crossing in a “luxury liner.” Her characters are numerous, and cursorily but amusingly sketched, and the little excitements and incidents that make even a dull voyage memorable for some pas-

soagera, are suggested convincingly enough. Romances are not rare on shipboard, and two are enacted in “ BeaChange,” one of them dramatic and diverting. Mr Gluck's Latest Further confirmation of the fact that Mr Gluck has few peers in the business of thrill-mongering is to be found in the first few pages of “Minus X,” Following his usual custom, he presents a mystery in the first chapter, and. gradually adds to it until, a seemingly hopeless tangle is reached, , Then enlightenment comes swiftly. To those whose, tastes lie in the direction of the of American gang stories, “ Minus X ” can be recommended. V. V. L.