THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Bridges
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Indolence
IN REVIEW
l Masterful Work Not Great
PRISONER WHO SANG. Byl FIDELIA. By Edwin Balmer. Pub-t
han Boger; uImdied by Century, lished by Rodd, Bead. $2.00.
1;. Reviewed by Murchison Mabie.
viewed by Robert S. Mansfield Someone has said that there isn't a
novel worthy of the name has at j very high fence separating the sub-
appeared, and Bojer has more lime from the ridiculous. Reading
fulfilled the promise of his "Fidelia," by Edwin Balmer, will con-
er writings in the most powerful vince anyone that the fence is a low
k of his career. "The Prisoner one indeed-one on which a book may
Sang," is undoubtedly destined sit with a foot touching the ground on
old a high place in the list of either side. For in "Fidelia" these
emporary literature. All of the two elements are mingled to a sur-
erful portrayal of character em- prising degree. Perhaps it is the
ed in "The Last of The Vikings," author's deadly seriousness, and his
all of the oneness of motive and astonishing lack of any feeling for the
ne of "The Great Hunger" have ridiculous in certain situations, which
1 combined to make this latest has caused this continual stepping
e great Norwegian a book worth from one side of the fence to the other.
ful reading. Perhaps it is something else. The
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A CUARE OF SOULS. By May Sinclair.
Published by Macmillan. $2.50.
Reviewed by Priscilla Peabody.
A complacent, selfish, indolent man,
entirely sufficient unto himself. Such
is Canon Chamberlain. the principal
character in "A Cure of Souls," a new
novel by May Sinclair.
In spite of his indifference to the
people of his parish. and his total
disregard for their feelings and wel-
fare, the Canon is several times ob-
liged, much against his own wishes,
to give spiritual advice to certain of
them; to "Cure Souls." He turns out
to be a miserable failure at this sort
of thing, and his intluence proves to
be completely disastrous to two lives.
As a result of his exalted willfulness,
and' his perpetual care for his own
peace and comfort, there is a great
deal of unhappiness among his paris-
toners.
May Sinclair has devoted the whole
novel to the portrayal of CanonE
Chamberlain. The portrait is clear
cut and vivid, and the other charact-
ers are cleverly introduced to set it
off. The author's method of getting
an effect through contrast of charact-
ers has been .used to great advantage
in drawing. Canon Chamberlain; herl
work is skillful and well done. The
minor characters are realistically
drawn and are not smothered in a
mass of detail. Miss Sinclair has the
art of selecting only significant de-
tails.f
Especially good are the characterTE
sketchesrof the pitful Agnes Lambert,. T EIO E
Curate Jackman, so very earnest in
his beliefs, and the delightful Kitty That America, after the hearty sup-'
Hancock. iport which has been vouchsafed so!
Like much of her work "Canon many of the British poets, should be
Chamberlain" is a vehicle for the ex- as little acquainted with the present
pounding of philosophical views. The laureate of the island empire as it
story is one rather well adapted to the is, can be called little less than a'
Introduction of the view that the Chri- blatant display of our national ten-
tian idea of a god-made man should
be changed to the idea of a man-mnoi-
God. It is Jackman's belief that "God
is not the great 'I am.' He is the
great 'I shall be.' " There are also
several passages devoted to her views
on "mystic experience." Miss Sinclair
has the knack of discussing philosophy.
and religion in her work without re-
ducing for a moment the interest in
the story.
Although the plot is not unusual, it
is masterfully executed; and the
subtle humor which runs through the
whole story makes many of the situa-'
tions most amusing. It is a novel de-{
cidedly worth reading, and, although,
Eit may be rather depthless, it is some-
thing exceedingly well (lone.
Mon tross Again
I HALF GODS. By Lynn Ionitross;
published by Doran, $2.00.
Reviewed by Hippias de Long. j
Having written a book of episodes'
of college life in "Town and Gown,"
Lynn Montross has attempted to
dency toward the modern trend ofI
literary work. Mr. Bridges is a poet9
of antiquity, he writes of older sub-
jects, finding in them the truer and
more thoughtful views of life, and'
writes as one inspired of the old!
Greek gods and the more primitivel
and vastly more cultured days of the
Golden Age.
G Mr. Bridges' ascent to the position
of poet laureate of England at death
of Alfred Austin was a proof of his
literary worth. Rudyard Kipling was
his greatest rival, but while some
have thought that the bard of the Eng-
lish forces was better fitted for the;
post, the depth and serenity of the
older man won for him the coveted
" " / 1 man and with a minister, of "the death
LAUREATE of her ather, and of her decision to
-marry one of the two men in ques-
position. MIr. Bridges has written tion chiefly, as far as I can see, be-
miasques in the Greek< manner and on'cause the other one has not made any
Grecian subjects. He has written proposal of marriage. Mr. Montross
Latin verse, and has published five has done one considerable thing in
I writing "Half Gods."-he has avoided
books of lyric poetry. Since the r~e-brnignscdaorptclry
lease of these five books in 1894, he bringing in scandal or particularly
has made two more. one, "'New immoral actions on the part of his
Poems" in 1899. and "Later Poems"~ characters, and for that I would thank
in 1914. The same style and manner him. Very few of the modern writers
of writing is maintained throughout are capable of handling such sitna-
all of the books, characterized by a tions in a way calculated to bring
power to make clear and logical credit to themselves or to the con-
statements of his philosophy. temporry novel, and Mr. Montross has
- evidently had sufficient grace to rea-
A wel-known critic says of him: lize that as yet he has not mastered
"Mr. Bridges is a poet apart from all that art.
current conception of the poet, and
his defence, if it be adequate, muist I have discarded the book as un-
take an unexepected direction. Per- worthy of a second reading. It con-
haps the correct point of departure is tains nothing from which I can hope
indicated by the following pronounce- saeefiran a seaittleor an o tere d
ment: No trouble will ever be en-' save for a vain search for a plot and
countered In liking the poems of Mr. p'irpose. Mr. Montross may have had
Bridges, where there is any taste for a plot in mind when he wrote "Half
the more artistic traditions of English Gods," but ht has failed to present
poetry."1
t,
Dealing almost entirely with one
aracter, Bojer has made of him a'
ing man, and a most unusual one.
dreas Berget is a man with a
lendid mind, too splendid, in fact,
r his own well being, and his re-
arkable power of mimicry coupled
th his agile brain make of him a
ange and interesting personality.
Johan Bojer does not mince words.
e makes his statements directly, al-
>st bluntly, and unerringly to the
pnt. The fact that his hero is an'
egitimate child is brought out in one
ie in. the first of the book, and is
en'tioned only once thereafter in
ssing. The fact is not played up at
1. All vulgarity is gracefully elimi-
ted by the. masterful style of they
thor. The background is Nor-
egian, and the life of the people is
scribed as only a Norwegian can
scribe it. Bojer knows the people
d the life they lead from first hand
formation. He might be called the
rd of the Norwegians, were he to
rite in verse.,
The plot of "The Prisoner Whol
ng" isnondescriptsas a whole. The
taracter of Andreas IBerget consist-
tly holds the center of the stage,
ad Bojer builds what plot there is
oundb him. The author has the gift
making a little plot go a long way,
d yet he has never lost sight of the
iethod of condensing such meaningI
.to few' words. Every paragraph in
ie book deserves and demands care-
.1 reading, as each one contains a"
ought as applicable to all mankind
s to the character dealt with in the
ory.
It would 'be futile for me to quote
assages and refer to parts of the
ory as representative of the power
'hich lies in the pages of "The Pris-I
ner Who Sang." I feel that it ranks
Lsily with the best books I have ever
ad, and so far surpasses many of
ir later works as to be in a class by
self. A master of simplicity and
rength, Bojer shows the rugged pow-'
r and keen insight, coupled with an
idomitable optimism, of the great
®rthern race.,
fact remains that many fine passages
are reduced to bathos by the treat-
ment which he gives them.
convinced, failed in the attempt, "Half
cods" is a story of several members F
of a suburban city, and particularly of
a girl who returns to the city after a'
year's absence. The plot is obscure,
and neither incidents nor characters
are capable of carrying the reader's
interest..
Just what purpose MIr. Montross
The first dozen chapters are dis-
couraging. One feels that this is the'
sort of story that Max Beerbohm
wanted to parody when he wrote'
Zulcika Dobson. With Fidelia the' in-
comparable, who comes to North-
western university and succeeds, in.
winning every male heart in the place,
and with Dave, the very personification
of manly virtue-"tall, straight, with
brown hair, seriously attentive to' the
ilecture"-it is hard to foresee any
other than that tragic end which the
redoubtable Zuleika forced on the
whole University of Oxford. One ful-
ly expects the entire male student
body of Northwestern to march dolor-
ously down to Lake Michigan, and
drown itself en masse.
Perhaps the fault lies in the fact
that the author has made the import-
ant characters just as important to
the whole student body as they are to
himself. Everybody knows that Alice
and David are engaged; and every--
body gloats over the.fact. Then
'when F'idelia come's, evnerybod~y
knows about it. And when Fidelia
meets David everybody, by some
strange mass intuition, becomes ex-
cited and' worried. And when David
breaks his engagement with Oie
everybody takes sides on the ques-
tion. Oh, it's all very much over one.
But when the story finally gets out
of this artificial college atmosphere,
the whole character of the bpook
changes. One begins to see, through?
the mass' of petty, annoying detail$
which the author seemns to. love sao
well, that there is a living, vital story
to be told. One begin to see that he
unbelievable Fidelia and Dave-and
the much more consistently drawn
Alice,-are real people after all, and
t that their troubles are painfully real.
It is, of course, impossible to call
this a great book: it has too many-
and all too obvious-faults. But it is
a good book; and once the prelimin-
ary I chapters are left behind, it be-
comes very well worth reading.
forth the faults of a town such as he THE PITIFUL WIFE. By Storm Jame-
vaguely desci ibes, but he merelyI son; publshed by Alfred A. Knopf,
paints a very mediocre picture of or- T 194,' $2.0x
dinary life. The only incidents which The Pitiful Wife is a queer mixture
have the slightest possibility of prov- j of mediaeval romance and modern re-
ing interesting are spoiled by the un- ality. The characters are overdrain
fortunate wording of the description, to some extent, ' and'the reader is
bored with the lengthy descriptions.
The plot, such as it, deals with the The plot is good, and the author.
return of Frances Leeper- to Willow while she shows the wrongdoing of
Ridge, a' suburb of Chicago, of her the husband,, keeps him consistently
subsequent love affairs with a young in the good graces of the reader.
branch out into novels of the world
and social conditions, and has, I am
t
planned for the novel is a mystery to
me. It may be that he wanted to set
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We Carry In Stock:
HALF GODS, by LYNN MONTROUS
FIDELIA by EDWIN BALMER
A CURE OF SOULS by MAY SINCLAIR
THE PRISONER WHO SANG by JOHAN BUGER
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priced! '
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