The Record of Nicholas Preydon. (Constable and Co. 6a.)
— By the time we had reached the end of the second part of Nicholas Freydon's "record," and had followed with mild interest the account of his childhood in England and his boyhood in Australia, we had already begun to wonder whether the book had any real justification for its appear- ance. No one would deny that, as an autobiographical novel, it is full of careful observation; that it avoids the more egregious mistakes common to this difficult form of self- expression; that its style of writing is, except for an annoying misuse of certain words, perfectly adequate to its subject; but here we pause to ask what, after all, is its subject. Can it lay claim to any of the qualities which make en autobiography worth the writing P Is there here either an experience of unusual events or a personality of rare sensi. tiveneas and interest? The truth is that the "record" is e glaring example of the tendency to regard one's ego as in itself essentially interesting to other people. But it is not to be despised on that account, for in many respects it is likely to set its anonymous author above the rank-and-file of fiction writers : especially does he show real skill in the delineation of his minor characters, and in the avoidance of caricature.
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