TWO BOOKS OF SHORT STORIES
People, Houses and Ships. By Elinor Mordaunt. (Hutchinson.
7s. 6d. net.)
IN Twenty and Three Stories we have a collection of short stories by various authors, while Miss Elinor Mordaunt, besides contributing to the miscellany,. provides us with a whole book of her own under the heading, People, Houses and Ships. It is a singular thing that the effect on the reader's mind of the jumble of authors' personalities in twenty-three single stories should be so monotonous, while the collection by one hand seems, on the contrary, both varied and interesting. We cannot but pay the tribute of respect to the distinguished names which Mrs. Dawson Scott and Mr. Ernest Rhys have gathered together. These are headed by Mrs. Wharton, Mr. Walter de la Mare, Mr. John Masefield, and Mr. Yeats, while no less a personage than Lord Curzon contributes a study of Eastern religious frenzy under the title " The Drums 'of Kairwan." A whole galaxy of lesser stars also twinkle in the firmament. Yet the general impression of the book is wearying, and the reader should not consume it as a whole, but should dip into it when lie is in search of a literary hors d'oeuvre.
Miss Mordaunt's collection, on the other hand, is strung on the thread of Anthropomorphism and the principal personages in the three sections are, as the title indicates, in the first People, in the second Houses, and in the third Ships. As the author endows all three subjects with human characters, it is not perhaps to be wondered at that the stories under the heading of " People " are the most successful. The first story in the book, " The Alien," is a most poignant description of a side-issue of nationality in the Great War, which entirely spoils a girl's life. Indeed, all the stories have a tragic tendency. For example, " The Dressmaker " is a wonderful short study of a sordid catastrophe. In the section under Houses " Four Wallpapers " is the most credible, while "The Builder of the House " is a powerful description of a very old man who has outlived everything in the world—except his unquenchable interior youth. The whole collection shows Miss Mordaunt once more as one of the most accomplished of our women novelists.
Previous page
