Faksimile

Text

Perion Pkom
ABROAD.
OVER
SVpneessios
EUROPE.
By R. ELLIS ROBERTS.
• The Sleeping Army.“ By Clara
Viebig. Benn. 78. 6d.
Red Cavalry.“ Bu J. Babel. Knopf.
78/ 6d.
4 Theresa,“ By A. Schnitzler. Con¬
stable. 78. 6d.
The Green Banks of Shannon.“
Rosamund Langbridge. Collins. 7s. 6d
German Poland, Soviet Russia,
Schnitzler’s Vienna, even Miss
Langbridge's Treland seem far away
from this England.
Miss Viebig’s story is an industrious
but uninspired piece of work: it is con¬
cerned with an earnest German's efforts
to Teutonise what were the Polish pro¬
vinces—only the stupid people are syin¬
pathetic, and those who are not stupid
are only cunning in a low, mean way.
But they are cultured and reasonable
beside the savages of M. Babel’s short
stories.
WAR IN RUSSTA.
If M. Babel's stories are popular in
Russia, it seems possible that before
long there will be a violent re¬
vulsion against the brutality, the
coarseness, the ignorant intolerance
which they exhibit. The author is
sternly objectite in his manner—beside
his even Maupassant would seem to be
biased in favour of his characters.
Nearly all the ctories are about the war
against Poland, and used as propa¬
ganda against war and against revo¬
lution they could hardly be excelled.
Whether that is M. Babel’s intention,
it is impossible to be certain, The
translation is idiomatic, but if there
is beauty, for instance, in such a story
as" Salt,“ it escapes altogether in the
English version: nor, indeed, dees
Babel anywhere in this book show that
he could extract beauty from the tale
oflthe murder of a lying woman by an
ignorant soldier.
A GLOOMY-NODEL.
# Theresa#—why is nbt the date of
its origihal appearance given ?—is not
one of Schnitzler’s successes. Theresa
does have some experiences in her
life as a governe that are not sexual
or abnormal, bu: Schnitzler hurries
over them as his Victorian predecessors
would have hurried over or omitted
6609,144
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those on which he dwells. Nothing can
disguise the fact that this novel is like
a case in n text-book on morbid psy¬
chology,than a study in charac¬
ter and poor Theresa very early
becomes a bore. whose power of tedium
is not at all lightened bythe ease with
which she slips in and out of illicit re¬
lationships.
It is a pleasure to turn to Miss Lang¬
bridge’s stories of peasant life in Tre¬
land. Here, too, one occasionally hears
the sound of rilles; there is bitterness
in Treland,too, and suspicion; but they
are not so hopelessly apparent as the
dreary squalor of Babel's Russia.
CONSTABEE
The“ Genius'
br TIIEODORE DREISEN
The Last September
bF ELIZABETH BOWEN
Author of Dhe Hotel?' etc.
The Coming ofthe Lord
A STRAH GFRTRUDE MIILIN
Author #f Umg Glenn?' etc.
The Squires Daughter
P. M. MATOR
Author of The Rector’s Dauchter?' etc.
The Path of Glory
br GEORGE BLKI
Author##* Paper Moner“ etc.
The Bride Adorned
„D. I. MURRAT
Juthor of* Disraeli“' etc.
Shepherd of Israch
br. L.EONORA ETI.ES
#a nerel based on the life of Moses
The Transgressor
ANTHIONP RICHARDSON
Luthor of The Burburg Wiech.“ etc.
The Prison House
br D. F. GARDINER
We Areihe Dead
A ANN RETD
Cousin Matthew
br H·4780N DTAI
Little George
br G. P. BRADBY
Author of" Mrs. D“ etc.
Starved Fields
br E. INGLI& JONEN
PTErNC
A