Fiction
Bridal Pond. By Zona Gale. (Knopf. 7s. 6d.) A Farewell to India. By Edward Thompson. (Benn. 7s. 64.) MISS GALE, in her collection of short stories, knows to a. nicety how much need be stated in order to fix a character, to suggest an attitude, or describe the salient points of any situation ; and she rigidly refuses to allow herself any latitude in the per- formance of these_ important _functions. In this Way she uses the restraints and limitations of her particular medium to secure effects . of emphasis in narrative, and tautness _ in dialogue, in much the same way as a good sonnet employs the arbitrary restrictions of its formal pattern as an aid to the more succinct and concentrated expression of emotion. More particularly Miss Gale varies the nature and degree of her implications, her _leavings to the imagination, in such a way as to contrive. a corresponding loss or acceleration of. speed at any given moment. This significant and skilful use of tempo enables the author to "put over" stories whose intrinsic value is often small, and whose final denouements generally include more than a touch of Wisconsin senti- mentality. Yet Miss Gale, with her specific interest in the less articulate members of the community, the gardeners, skivvies; chauffeurs and shopkeepers of life, is a realist in her (min viny. And it is pleasant to find, from the Press extracts quoted on the wrapper, that she has already been accepted as such.
How is one to consider Mr. Thompson's curious mixture of novel, short story and political pamphlet ? Mr. Thompson, readers of These Men Thy Friends will not need to be told, is a writer with an individual outlook and an impressively unstandardized method of expression. He has his own idea of writing a novel, and follows his .own rides.. Often the result is obscure, often .unconvincing, sometimes even grotesque. But these defects dwindle to insignificance under the compulsion of the author's self-evident sincerity. Mr. Thompson spent his childhood in India and returned there after the War as Principal of a Bengal College. He has seen India under widely different regimes, has watched her change, progress and finally arrive at the complicated and equivocal situation in which she finds herself to-day. He well knows too how far Great Britain, how far India herself is to be blamed for the more unsatis- factory aspects of that situation ; and in this book at any rate he takes no sides. Rather he contents himself with marking, through the person of his hero, the substitution, on both sides, of too many unreal, factious protestations and grievances for the more vital and deep-seated disaffections. which are at the real root of the problem. So rough and inadequate a survey of the matter of this book necessarily does scant justice to its theme, and ignores entirely the many passages of descriptive beauty which provide at once the background of the story and a living picture of its Protagonist. One can only add the hope that Mr. Thompson's hook will be read, not only by those who appreciate good writing, but by all who genuinely interest themselves in the
Previous page
