7ooks an
IF WINTER CORES
(By G. D. E.)
Some two months ago various Am-
erican critics raised a terrific din over
A. S. M. Hutchinson's'new novel, "If
Winter Comes" (Little, Brown). The
country resounded from end to end.
with their laudations. The book was
extolled as an equal to Hamsun's
"Growth of the Soil" and Jacob Was-
sermann's "World's Illusion." William
Lyon Phelps, who praises everything
and everyone except those who do not
praise everything and everyone, said,
"It is an important work of art," which
is about what he says of nearly every
book. I advise him to buy a rubber
stamp when he sends to Sears-Roebuck
for his next case of lollypops.
What, in brief, is the reaction of my
narrow, pessimistic, and pig-headed
mind to this book by Hutchinson?
What have I, young upstart and ignor-
amus, to say of this tome which Hey-
wood Broun calls "the best novel in
English which has come from the
war?" Namely, that it is second, or
even third rate.
True, it is vastly above the current
nincompooperies of both England and
America; true, it pictures perfectly a
shrewish wife, a sneaky business man,
and the reaction of a mediocre mind
to the patriotic pishposh which war
gives birth to. It moreover gives us
an excellent portrait of "a good Christ-
ian boy who never said a bad word or,
had a bad thought."
-It does all of thisnand more. It pic-
"tures in true fashion the awe in which
people stand of conventions; it pic-
tures the swinish thoughts and fears
of the average addlepate, which is to
say, of the average man.
But at the story's end is a sobby
close-up, of which Harold Bell Wright
or the movies might be proud. And
all through the latter half of the book
runs the maudlin strain of "God save
old England," "the honorable thing to
Uurchil or Rooert unambers. "If nant warnings of a pestiferous aunt,
Winter Comes" is surely no worse than his way proves in the long run as good
i AuthorS Wells' "Mr. Britling Seesit Through,"as any.
and Wells at his worst is better than There is nothing especially out 'of
any of three Americans mentioned. In the ordinary about either of the two
do," "have you enlisted yet?" "For fact both of these novels are in the Roses. The first marries a cold-blood-
God, king and country," and so forth. same class, which is to say, second or ed young gentleman who is greatly
And so forth. And so forth, third, concerned about postage stamps, elec-
Yet the book is not entirely bad. Far - trio lights, and similar economies. She
from it. Outside of the spiritual pish- ROSE AND ROSE stands him as long as possible and
posh, the picture throughout is fairly then runs away with an earlier lover,
clear, fairly portrayed, and I have no E. - ucasten ru r ith angater love
kick because the author shows his sub- (By R. D. S.) brought up hy Br. Greville. Again the
jects prey to all the paralogies which E. V. Lucas, the prolific and versa- position of parent Is forced upon the
men fall before, tile English writer, relates his new willing physician, again the tragedies
I do object, however, to the sexless novel, "Rose and Rose" (Doran), in and comedies of childhood are enacted,
protagonist, not on moral orimmoral the person of Dr. Julius Greville, an and again the marriage question comes
grounds, but because I have never unconventional and genial country up. Rose, the second, decides on an
known or heard of such outside of the doctor who becomes foster father to a artistic career and Is ahout to go to
psychiatric wards. I do object to the lively youngster named Rose. London when her mother returns from
mawkish spirit which envelopes not The story concerns the growth of her exile. There is a brief respite in
only the characters but the whole Rose and, later, that of her daughter, which relationships are readjusted, and
story. I do object to the love story. Jt is, however, no mushy conte of the the story ends happily and more or
It is as stale as a summer sausage. kind-hearted old bachelor and the less logically.
Somehow or other, perspective is sweet little girl. Undeniably Greville "Rose and Rose" Is not a novel for
lacking. There is a too obvious siding- is an indulgent guardian, and .the superlative and elaborate epithets, yet
in with the poor hero, a too evident charm of the two Roses is no less in its quiet way, its is a reasonably
upholding of his stupidity. The fault deniable. But Lucas usually steers good one. The reader drifts along from
of "If Winter Comes' is the fault of clear of sentimentality, for neither scene to scene without realizing that
Ibsen's Brand, though the latter "Rose the more" nor "Rose the less" much is happening, and it is only when
writer saved} himself before his theme is without a touch of worldliness, while he has finished he realizes that a great
was done. I'll get the hemlock for the doctor is refreshingly cynical. deal has happened In this short novel.
this, but here you have the truth of Apparently the two Roses are sup It is admittedly light reading, but it Is
the matter; bere, for all the hebetudin- posed to be the central figurer, but it considerably shove the average, It has
ous criticism's, old and new, is the is neither of them who plays the larg- a grace of diction-enough to commend
fault of many a book; here, for all est part. The doctor himself, the nar- i goate attetion-fnboth th super-
the professorial blather, present and rator, becomtes unconsciusly the hero. i to the attention of both the super-
past, is the root of many an artist's His reactions to the Various stages of
faux pas. development of his foster children are
If you would see what I mean, read amusingly inconsistent. His iniperson- eneken's Book Outlined Abroad
such books as Hauptmann's "The Fool al outlook, horn of his professional ex- HLMokns"rjdcs is
in Christy" or Wasserman's "World's perience, and his policy of laisser faire H. L. Mencken's "Prejudices:First
Illusion," which are botli without this are hardly consonant with his childish Series," recently republished in Enk-
fault, which are both soundly artistic. seeking of advice from the widow 0'- land, is now the center of a critical
Compare them with "If Winter Comes." Gorman, a neighboring woman who is storm there, and all of the chief liter-
The same sympathy, the same wide ever ready with an abundant supply of ary journals have published long re-
understanding is in all three, but piquant common sense. The conver- views of it, many of them violently
Hauptann and Wassermann refrain sations between these two are the best denunciatory. But the London -cor-
from washing the hero's shirts, from things in the book. respondent of the Publisher's Weekly
darning his socks, from giving him a The role of parent, as played by reports that is among the non fiction
cookie when he is good, from paddling Greville, is rather an unusual one. best-sellers of the month, along with
him with the hair brush when he is Since he is a thorough believer in un- Norman Angell's "The Fruits of Vic-
bad. . hampered nature and is not overly tory" and George Bernard Shaw's
But pray do not get the idea that troubled by the conventions, he makes "Back to Methuselah." .A London edi-
Hutchinson is an English William Al- restraint ths least of the Roses' tion of "Prejudices: Second Series" is
len White, an Anglican Winston troubles, And, in spite of the Indig- announced for immediate publication.
It's come---
and a beauty
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