Faksimile

Text

31. Fraeulein EIse
A
T
1069
R 19, 1929

„WN
the
and
„nmge
eIS-
ian.
Of
bert
GERALD GOULD in The Obsehter.
O18.
* Schnitzler is a man of
by
long and worthily estab¬
ienl
lished fame; he has
our
genius of that quality
cenl
which transcends national
Of
1en.
boundaries; he is a
European figure.
est.
FRACEEMEISE
WII.
1te,
Illustrations by Doxla Nachsuun
1000 copies 318 6d net
10
R. Ellis Roberts in The Neee Statesman :—
* This edition will stand comparison, both
101
ind
in arrangement and in the illustrations,
Mr.
with the finest of French editions de luxe.
the
ed
elf
KHAFSCET
Illustrations by DoNfA NAchsHEN
1000 copies 25s net
SO1
Illustrated London Netes:—A limited
lad
Hi8
edition beautifully printed in a decorative
ad
style. Therc are touches of croticism in
st
Rhapsody.? Nor is the crotic element
nt
neglected in the drawings.
k,
ETTTEENOVELS
rd
3e8
78 6d net
110
Times Lit. Supp.:— Most of ihe stories
d.
are studies in feminine psychology, accom¬
10
plished, clever, surprising.“
ed
ad
SC
THERESA
48
118
78 6d net
Referee :—“ The curt cčonomical style
drives home conviction as with a hammer.“
Cah— 6
box 5/3
10—
SUNDAF TIMES, DECEMBE
NEW FICTION.
DECAMERONIAN
r in
sley.
STORIES.
* The New Decameron: The Sixth Day.?
the
Edited by Vivienne Dayrell. (Blackwell.
By
78. 6d.
" Fräulein Else.? By Arthur Schnitzler.
(Constable. 318.)
*Ex-Wife. (Brenianos. 7s. öd.)
Once in Mayfair.“
By Stanley Ford.
(Jarrolds. 7s. 6d.)
Reviewed by RALPH STRAUS.
The editress of the New Decameron—an
admirable undertaking, even if we do not
accept the publisher’s boast that it“ started
he short story vogue' —has secured an en¬
iable list of contributors for her sixth day’s
entertainment. The stories themselves range
from an ironical fairy tale by Mr. Bullett to
a detective mystery-yarn which obeys all the
best rules, and the “ joining-up'' process has
been carried through with commendable
revity and discretion.
Mr. Bullett’s farry tale opens the ball, and
only on its last page are you suddenly shocked
nto perceiving that this story, like most of
the others, is far from being what, from its
opening, you might have expected. So it is
with Ethan Allan Brown’s“ Amy. This
may be called a modern rendering of the dream
and the business. The dream is idyllic, but
the business—well, if the ending be cynically
abrupt, it is wholly artistic. Miss Naomi
Royde-Smith is rather more conventional with
her psychic affair, but the editress herself is
disconcertingly unusual. Mr. William Ger¬
andi has a curjous sketch of a dving woman,
Mr. L. P. Hartley is ghostly, Mr. L. A. G.
Strong charmingly domestic (in the modern
vay), and Mr. Evelyn Waugh exceedingly
droll. The fare, indeed, is good—more
cavaire, of course, than roast beef—and may
be read at a sitting.
Schnitzler has achieved an international
reputation, but I confess that I have rarely
ound him very much tolmp-taste. There is,
I admit, a fine and authentic line to his por¬
traits, but they are so seldom likeable por¬
traits. I am sure that his psychology wil
satisfy the experts, but it is so often the kind
which belongs properly to the medical
nanuals. At the same time, he can devise
the most subtle drama, and has made one or
two technical experiments of very great
interest.
In tilis sumptuousiy produced -translation
of one of his shorter stories—very well trans
ated by F. H. Lyon and Eric Sutton—he is,
suppose, to be seen at his bestThe story
itself is dismat# pretty girl is asked to
stave off her father’s ruin in the usual way.
A rich and titled art dealer will provide-the
And Schnitzler
if—
necessary money
shows us Else’s thoughts as she is trying to
make up her mind to do what is required-of
er. The poor girl works herseif up into a
state of hysteria and finally poisons herself,
and it says much for the author’s ingenuity
hat the reader can put the book down with¬
ut being hopelessly depressed
The book is expensive, but it is issued in a
t is also illustrated by
limited edition.
Donia Nachshen, who has her own ideas as to
what an illustration should be. I should have
oreferred these weird drawings in mono¬
chrome, hut it may be that I am no judge of
such things.
*
*
*
The anonymous author of“ Ex-Wife?' is
ertainly outspoken. Twenty-five years ago
her acconnt of a wife who, on being “ de
serted?’ by her husband, sets about drowning
her sorrows hy having what is known as a
good time would have caused a sensation.
This Patricia of New Vork follows an old
masculine precedent, becomes the rather wild
bachelor girl, has her good time, is called
on to pay some sort of price when she falls in
love for the second time, and finallv settles
lown in wiet seems to be comparative peace.