15 JANUARY 1927, Page 24

THIS IMPASSIONED ONLOOKER. By Brigit Patmore. (Holden. 5s.)—" In their

damnation men have _further damned women : to drag a creature into hell by its love . . . it is funny and damned, isn't it ? " Such is the familiar theme around which this new writer has woven three stories Of men who, through egotism, have killed the thing they love. The tales, told in the .form of letters to " Belgarda 7' by an " impassioned onlooker," at once repelled and fascinated by the uglier aspects of human nature, contain. few incidents, but much subtle analysis. Originality, however, is driven too hard ; there is too much fine writing ; and, for all the author's cleverness, when she asks if we are " tired of all this auto- mania and eroticism," we are inclined to answer, " Yes."