6
THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1921
6 THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1921
fooks and Authors
IF WINTER COMES do," "have you enlisted yet?" "For
(By G. D. E.) God, king and country," and so forth.
Some two months ago various Am- And so forth. And so forth.
erican critics raised a terrific din over Yet the book is not entirely bad. Far
A. S. M. iutchinson's new novel, "If from it. Outside of the spiritual pish-
Winter Comes" (Little, Brown). The posh, the picture throughout is fairly
country resounded from end to end clear, fairly portrayed, and I have no
with their laudations. The book was, kick because the author shows his sub-
extolled as an equal to Hamsun's jects prey to all the paralogies which
"Growth of the Soil" and Jacob Was- men fall before.
sermann's "World's Illusion." William i I do object, however, to the sexless
Lyon Phelps, who praises everything protagonist, not on moral or immoral
and everyone except those who do not grounds, but because I have never
praise everything and everyone, said,I known or heard of such outside of the
"It is an important work of art," which, psychiatric wards. I do object to the
is about what he says of nearly every smawkish spirit which envelopes not
book. I advise him to buy a rubber only the characters but the whole
stamp when he sends to Sears-Roebuck story. I do object to the love story.
for his next case of lollypops. It is as stale as a summer sausage.
Somehow or other, perspective is
What, in brief, is the reaction of my lacking. T her , ovssiding-
narrow, esmsiadpghae lacking. There is a too obvious siding-
nro, pessimistic, and pig-headed{ in with the poor hero, a too evident
mind to this book by Hutchinson? wpholdin o his .uidt evfault
What have I, n ptrtadinr upholding of his stupidity. The fault
Whthv ,young upstart and ignor- of "If Winter Comes' is the fault of
amus, to say of this tome which Hey- Ibsen's "Brand," though the latter
wood Broun calls "the best novel in1 Ibsns'Bad ,og h atr
Eogroan wchalls "the bestmno e inwriter saved himself before his theme
English which has conse frondthe was done. I'll get the hemlock for
war?" amely, that it is second, orthis, but here you have the truth of
even third rate. the matter; here, for all the hebetudin-
True, it is vastly above the current ous criticisms, old and new, is the
nincompooperies of both England and fault of many a book; here, for all
America; true, it pictures perfectly a the professorial blather, present and
shrewish wife, a sneaky business man, past, is the root of many an artist's
and the reaction of a mediocre mind faux pas-
to the patriotic pishposh which war If you would see what I mean, read
gives birth to. It moreover gives us such books as Hauptmann's "The Fool
an excellent portrait of "a good Christ- in Christ," or Wasserman's "World's
ian boy who never said a bad word or Illusion," which are both without this
had a had thought." fault, which are both soundly artistic.
It does all of this and more. It pic- Compare them with "If Winter Comes."
tures in true fashion the awe in which The same sympathy, the same wide
people stand of conventions; it pic- understanding is in all three, but
tures the swinish thoughts and fears Hauptann and Wassermann refrain
of the average addlepate, which is to from washing the hero's shirts, from
say, of the average man. darning his socks, from giving him a
But at the story's end is a sobby cookie when he is good, from paddling
close-up, of which Harold Bell Wright him with the hair brush when he is
or the movies might be proud. And bad.
all through the latter half of the book But pray do not get the idea that
runs the maudlin strain of "God save Hutchinson is an English William Al-
old England," "the honorable thing to len White, an Anglican Winston
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Churchill or Robert Chambers. "If nant warnings of a pestiferous aunt,
Winter Comes" is surely no worse than his way proves in the long run as good
Wells' "Mr. Britling Sees it 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
fact both of these novels are in the Roses. The first marries a cold-blood-
same class, which is to say, second or ed young gentleman who is greatly
third. concerned about postage stamps, elec-
tric lights, and similar economies. She
ROSE AND ROSE stands him as long as possible and
E. V. Lucas then runs away with an earlier lover,
leaving her little daughter to be
(By R. D. S.) brought up by Dr. Greville. Again the
E. V. Lucas, the prolific and versa- position of parent is forced upon the
tile English writer, relates his new willing physician, again the tragedies
novel, "Rose and Rose" (Doran), in and comedies of childhood are enacted,
the person of Dr. Julius Greville, an and again the marriage question comes
unconventional and genial country up. Rose, the second, decides on an
doctor who.becomes foster father to a artistic career and is about to go to
lively youngster named Rose. London when her mother returns from
The story concerns the growth of her exile. There is a brief respite in
Rose and, later, that of her daughter, which relationships are readjusted, and
It is, however, no mushy conte of the the story ends happily and more or
kind-hearted old bachelor and the less logically.
sweet little girl. Undeniably Greville "Rose and Rose" is not a novel for
is an indulgent guardian, and the superlative and elaborate epithets, yet,
charm of the two Roses is no less in its quiet way, its is a reasonably
deniable. But Lucas usually steers good one. The reader drifts along from
clear of sentimentality, for neither scene to scene without realizing that
"Rose the more" nor "Rose the less" much is happening, and it is only when
is without a touch of worldliness, while he has finished he realizes that a great
the doctor is refreshingly cynical. deal has happened in this short novel.
Apparently the two Roses are sup- It is admittedly light reading, but it is
posed to be the central figures, but it considerably above the average, It has
is neither of them who plays the larg- a grace of diction-enough to commend
epart. The doctor himself, the oar-it to the attention of both the super-
I
rator, becomes unconsciously the hero.
His reactions to the various stages of
development of his foster children are
amusingly inconsistent. His imperson-
al outlook, born of his professional ex-
perience, and his policy of laisser faire
are hardly consonant with his childish
seeking of advice from the widow O'-
Gorman, a neighboring woman who is
ever ready with an abundant supply of
piquant common sense. The conver-
sations between these two are the best
things in the book.
The role of parent, as played by
Greville, is rather an unusual one.
Since he is a thorough believer in un-
hampered nature and is not overly
troubled by the conventions, he makes
restraint the least of the Roses'
troubles. And, in spite of the indig-
ficial and the serious reader.
Mencken's Book Outlined Abroad
H. L. Mencken's "Prejudices: First
Series," recently republished in Eng-
land, is now the center of a critical
storm there, and all of the chief liter-
ary journals have published long re-
views of it, many of them violently
denunciatory. But the London cor-
respondent of the Publisher's Weekly
reports that is among the non fiction
best-sellers of the month, along with
Norman Angell's "The Fruits of Vic-
tory" and George Bernard Shaw's
"Back to Methuselah," A London edi-
tion of "Prejudices: Second Series" is
announced for immediate publication.
it's come--
and a beauty
The New
Michigan
Calendar
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