THE STRUGGLE IN CHINA

Southland Times, Issue 23840, 10 June 1939, Page 14

THE STRUGGLE IN CHINA

IMPORTANT NOVEL BY PEARL BUCK

THE PATRIOT. By Pearl Buck. Methuen & Co., London. Price 7/6. If Pearl Buck had never written “The Good Earth” this latest novel would still justify her inclusion in the list of Nobel prize winners. It tells with imaginative and intellectual integrity

the story of a young Chinese whose life can be said to epitomize the strivings of a revived national spirit within an ancient civilization. Wu I-Wan is the son of a wealthy banker in Shanghai. While at the university he becomes a communist, at first because he has been attracted by the passionate sincerity of a poor student named Enlan, but later with a growing conviction that only a revolution can save the people. He attempts to organize mill workers against “the day,” and is so active that when Chiang Kai-shek comes to Shanghai after his triumphant struggle with the war lords his name is on the death list handed to the nationalist leader. I-Wan’s . father manages to pack him off to Japan while his youthful comrades are being herded into the prisons and executed in a wholesale purge of the communists.

In Japan he lives with the Muraki family and begins to forget his sorrows under the influence of a gracious environment. He falls in love’ with Tama, the daughter of the house, whose father wishes her to marry an elderly general. In spite of stern opposition the young lover prevails, and after many heart ; aches is able to settle down in his own home with a Japanese wife. For a time his happiness is unclouded. But presently there are rumours of war, and his new brother-in-law goes off to fight the Chinese. When he returns, and speaks unguardedly of what he han seen and done in a brutal campaign, I-Wan begins to understand that his own love for his country is still strongly alive and that he must now face a struggle between conflicting loyalties. It is Tama who shows him that there can be only one duty, and at the end of the book he is back in China, fighting at the side of En-lan in the guerrilla campaigns of the southern provinces.' No outline of this story can give an adequate impression' of its strength of ideas, its inner richness and economy •of expression. Certain passages are memorable. = Few readers will be able to forget the love story of I-Wan and Tama, told with delicacy and tact and a remarkable understanding of divergent racial outlooks. The earthquake and the interviews with Chiang Kaishek stand out from many incidents that have dramatic and psychological truth, and all the characters are shown with the utmost clearness. When it is remembered that these people of _ the Far East are presented by an American writer the achievement can be given its proper valuation. Few novels in these times deserve the name of greatness. But “The Patriot” has qualities, and above all a unity of design and a pervading beauty, that entitle it to a high place among the novels of this generation. MURDER IN THE COMMONS DEATH IN THE HOUSE. By Anthony Berkeley. Hodder & Stoughton, London, through W. S. Smart. Price 7/6. “Death In The House” is not in the same class as Mr Berkeley’s brilliant story, “Trial And Error,” but an unusual setting gives it some distinction. Three Ministers—the Secretary of State for India, the Colonial Secretary and the President of the Board of Trade — are murdered in turn, on the floor of j the British House of Commons, as they i attempt to move the second reading ; of a Bill designed to apply strongly coercive measures in India. Before the Bill was first introduced the Prime Minister and his colleagues received a warning, signed by “The Brown Hand,” of the fate that would befall any Minister who sponsored it; and before each of the two subsequent murders the warning was repeated. But it was vital for the Government that the Bill should proceed, and even after three murders had been committed there was still a volunteer for the dangerous task. The behind-the-scenes view of the Cabinet under the strain of the murders is very good indeed. Although Indian agents are believed to be re- | sponsible for the murders, members of | the Cabinet are by no means free from . suspicion: “The Brown Hand,” for instance, has an uncanny way of knowing who is next to introduce the Bill J almost as soon as the Cabinet itself. Before the mystery is solved, in the very last pages, by a clever young Un-der-Secretary, Mr Berkeley presents—after the manner of Ellery Queen —a challenge to the reader to name the murderer, the agent of death and the j! facts behind the crimes. Few readers > will be able to give the full set of answers, although the clues are fairly stated.