Fiction
• BY L. A. C. STRONG.
to. 6d.)
Tn.m are two main positions in reviewing, which one may call the Absolutist and the Relativist., The former demands that each book be judged mercilessly in the sole light of the eternal verities. The latter regards it as at least a part of the reviewer's duty to give his readers an idea as to whether the book is one which they are likely to enjoy. Mr. Faulkner's new novel requires the use of both. It is a fine, significant and important piece of work ; yet many readers will find its matter distasteful and its manner difficult. The first of these difficulties, if it is to be overcome at all, must be overcome by the readers themselves ; but something perhaps may be done about the second. It may be useful, before saying anything further, to give a summary of the story of Light in August.
A pregnant woman is travelling along a Mississippi road, looking for a man named Lucas Burch. Four weeks later, after the fire and murder at the lonely house, the death of Christmas the murderer, and the birth of the woman's child, she is travelling on again, still looking for Burch, but now accompanied by the doggedly faithful Byron Bunch. Burch, a weak man, had deserted her. She heard he was working in a Jefferson saw-mill ; but, when she got there, all she found was the insignificant Hunch, who fell in love with her. On the morning when she arrived, all Jefferson was out looking at the fire at Miss Burden's house. Miss Burden, who lived alone and was known to sympathize with negroes, had been found with her head almost cut off. It was known that she had allowed two men from the sawmills to live in a cabin in her garden. One was Joe Christmas, the other a man called Brown. Christmas had .niggerblood in him, which brought hint suffering and bitterness of soul. He had been Miss Burden's lover, but the intrigue was horror to them both, and one night, when she tried to shoot him, he cut her throat.
The two main threads of the story are Christmas' crime and hunting down, and Lena's search for her man. Christmas had been brought up in an orphanage, and even there his streak of nigger blood made things hard. He was adopted by a grim, God-fearing farmer, who beat him for almost ' everything. He got hold of a woman, a waitress. When the fanner discovered, Christmas knocked him out, and went away. He wandered for fifteen years, sometimes nigger, sometimes white man ; and then he came upon Miss Burden.
Ile was captured at last in Mottstown, in broad daylight. The news came to a certain old couple. The man went raving mad : the woman, when she too heard that the prisoner's name was Christmas, said : " Eupheus . . . in thirty years I ain't worried you. But now I am going to. What did you do with Milly's baby ? " The pair started off to look for Christmas, the man to have him lynched, and the woman to find her long-lost grandson. When they came to Jefferson, Byron took them to see his recluse friend Hightower. Byron knew that Christmas' friend " Brown " was the man Lena wanted. He looked after her till her baby was born, though she would have nothing to do with him. He even contrived that she should see " Brown " : and when the man ran away from her again, he joined her in her slow, useless chase. Christmas, meanwhile, escaped again, and was finally run to earth in Hightower's house by a military fanatic named Grimm, who killed him. There follows a long chapter about Hightower's past, and then the book ends with a man and his wife dis- cussing Lena, Byron whom she will not have, and " Brown " whom she will never find.
From this it will be seen that Mr. Faulkner approaches the centre of his story by a number of different paths. In addition to this, he is fond of introducing characters, rather
connexion with the story, except to discuss what happens and shed new light upon it for the reader. There is no novelist known to me of greater potentialities than Mr. Faulkner. Light in August burns throughout with a fierce indignation against cruelty, stupidity and prejudice. Those who wish to learn in little how well Mr. Faulkner can write are referred to the paragraph in which Christmas' fifteen years' wan- derings are summarized, and to the magnificent antiphonal conversation in which Byron 'and the old couple explain to Hightower the reasons for their coming to Jefferson.
Light in August is a great book : The Cad Falcon has at least some of the elements of greatness. The wrapper says that it is "The adventures of Manfred, airman and poet of the World War, and later, husband and father, in search of freedom and personal sunrise, in the city of New York ; and of the consummation of his life " : a description which, even down to the repellent phrase "personal sunrise," is faithful enough. Manfred's quest seems to me febrile and theatrical, though these attributes, plus his extraordinarily sensitive perceptions, provide scenes and descriptive passages of very great brilliance. My difficulty about him is not only that he stops in the course of each experience to feel his pulse, but that he takes it for granted we are all passionately interested in the finding. I was not—but the book has splashes of genius in it, and should not be missed.
The next three novels bring us back to common earth. Miss Baines' earlier work proved that she could construct a dramatic and swiftly-moving story with live characters, and compel the reader's interest. Bitter Comedy shows no falling off in these respects, and a distinct improvement in the actual writing. My only real criticism of it is that Miss Baines has managed to write about a singularly inspiring piece of country without making it play any great part in her story. She talks of the moon rising behind Sheepstor, but it might be Boar's Hill for all the use she makes of it, whereas the atmosphere of that corner of Southern Dartmoor is precisely what is needed to bring her larger-than-life Doones into scale and provide a background for their jealousies and passions. The tyranny of the father and the struggle between the attractions of orchard and stable would be all the more convincing for a "sense of place," a feeling that the people were part of the scene. Still, it is ungenerous to draw attention to the one thing Miss Baines has not done, when she has done so much. Her writing is in the grand manner ; it has passion and conviction, and one is com- pelled to read her story to the end. All she needs now is experience and a deepened sense of atmosphere.
Miss Hughes-Stanton has a great deal to learn about writing, particularly in the use of words, but of the essentials of story-telling she has a useful grasp. Her characters are drawn with loving care, and she has little to learn about the value of suspense. A depressingly common suburban family has two daughters, one practical, the other dreamy and rather too innocent. When advantage is taken of this innocence, it is with the old family nurse that the girl finds refuge. Nurse depends so much upon its plot that I shall give away no more of it, beyond saying that it develops naturally to a genuinely moving conclusion. This is a promising first novel, with all the makings of popularity. If Miss Hughes-Stanton can improve the actual texture of her writing, she should do very good work.
Finally, Miss Norah James, who has done an exceedingly difficult thing exceedingly well. A couple set out in the morning in a car, and arrive in the evening at Gretna Green to be married. The course of love has not been smooth. There have been oppositions, quarrels, jealousies : there has been a suicide to be explained : and, before the end of the day, the man has decided—somewhat optimistically—that he must henceforward put jealousy out of his life. This novel is a considerable advance upon anything that Miss James has yet done, and it is a great tribute to her skill and tact that only occasionally in reading it do we feel that two is company.
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