FICTION
FORREST REID . By Journey to the Border. By Edward Upward. '(Hogarth Press. 7s. 6d.)
MR. SITWELL calls Those Were the Days a ocipanordma with figures," and in fact the main purpose of his novel is tZ) depict a period of transition beginning in the nineteenth ;century and ending in mOdern times. The book is a realistic satire, and in its philosophy, though not in its style, suggests the influence of Mr. Aldous Huxley. The figures are there, but not for the purpose of arousing sympathy, admiration, or pity. On the contrary, they have been conceived in a mood of disillusionment. Here, Mr. Sitwell seems to say, is the average stuff of humanity—rather shoddy—a society devoid of religious or ethical or even sentimental ideals, yet, if regarded dispaSsionately, capable of providing a certain amount of amusement. And there is no doubt 'that the picture so far as it 'goes, is true, while the figures, with the exception of Stanley Esor the artist, who has at least one -foot in the world of caricature, are convincing. At the centre of the story is JOanna Freemartin, later Joanna Mompesson, and perhaps the nearest approach to sympathy we are allowed to feel is with Joanna in her girlhood.. But we quickly realise that only circumstances—her loneliness and the tyranny of a guardian aunt=.make Joanna sympathetic. Actually, " her two inmost 'Shrine's remain' ever the same ;. an inner kernel, a steel core, as it were, of pedantic priggery and cold fastidious.- ness, embedded in a profound and all-,pervading sensuality." Joanna develops, she acquires artistic tastes and social 'charm, she becomes " witty, elegant, a -model woman of her time, with no squalid moral prejudices." Perhaps it was the only development possible, since, like nearly everybody in the book, she lacks all spiritual qualities, and is completely selfish.
The upward progress of the Mompessons is the thread that holds the novel together. It is marked characteristically by the dropping of undesirable old friends and- the making, of new ones, thus providing Mr. Sitwell with abundant material for a series of brilliant scenes. The presentation is consis- tently ironic, though the effect varies. Sometimes, as in the portrait of Miss Vera Marmaduke, an actress who has outlived her vogue, it is merely comic: sometimes, as in the picture of the fashionable preparatory school to which the Mompesson boy is sent, it throws a sudden light upon a world of cruelty, stupidity, and suffering. The tale covers three distinct periods—pre-War, War, and post-War—but it remains throughout a tragi-comedy of emptiness and futility. There were passing pleasures and triumphs, but looking back over it, was any moment in that life really worth living ? Every action was dictated by selfishness ; some succeeded and some failed ; but the sole result is that the Mompessons have become typical " persons of their epoch, impossible to shock." It would be a depressing enough chronicle were it not everywhere illuminated and vitalised by the play of Mr. Sitwell's wit.
Mr. Allen's and Mrs. Meynell's novels are also panoramic. Action at Aquila is a story of the civil war between North and South America, though with the exception of one engagement the war exists only in the desolate background. The date is 464, in the early autumn, when Colonel Franklin of the -6th Pennsylvania Cavalry is on leave for the first time during three years. His leave is expiring, and, not having found any- thing to detain him in his lonely bachelor home, he is riding leisurely about the country before rejoining his men. The novel is largely the record of his impressions, and on the whole is a most enjoyable one, because Colonel Franklin, with his simplicity, his kindness, and his sense of honour, is an extremely pleasant person. We get to know him intimately, and much the best part of the book, the Colonel's own story, is definitely romantic, with just a hint, in its half melancholy charm, of the Conrad spirit. I felt sure, for instance, when the Colonel relates how in reluctant obedience to orders he burned down the Crittendon house, while the family watched, that eventually his destiny was to be linked up with that of the Crittendons. Nor was I mistaken. He carries the dis- tressing memory of that burning with him through his subse- quent adventures, also the secret knowledge of Major
Crittendon's death, and a pareel . to be delivered to M. Crittendon, who believes her husband to be still. aliVe , in fact safe; because. a L prisoner: - The Colonel is a. huni4n,2 man, older than his years, something :ofa dreaMei Tin of his profession. Remembering the brokeli toys the Crittendon children, he buys new ones, and -later, through the window of a deserted house; is discovered playing' with them. It is an awkward moment; but Mis. Crittendon has' tact : " Well, for an incendiary, Colonel Fisfildin, you're the most domestic man I ever saw ! " It may sound senti- mental, and it is in fact replete with sentiment, yet it is quite real, quite convincing;. Colonel .Franklin lives. One wishes that the book had contained nothing but his story. The rest is not nearly so good. The boy-and-girl love passages seemed to me not only to fail but to introduce a diScordant element, while in the solitary picture of battle, with its long- drawn and brutally realistic description of writhing disem- bowelled bodies, there is an unnecessary piling ,a horror upon horror.
Mrs. Meynell in her long and picturesque novel of the last century does not, I_ dare say, try to get so close to reality as Mr. Sitwell and Mr. Allen do. Lucy and Amades has something of the effect of a tapestry ; one is conscious of a convention, and that the characters are part of a decorative scheme. I found it particularly hard to believe in Amades Govoni. He is a pianist, and eventually becomes a great composer ; but he has none of the nervous irritability and impatience that usually accompany genius ; there are no edges to his temper ; he is amiable, easy to live with, constant in his devotion to Lucy, a great artist and an embodiment of the domestic virtues, a feminine ideal, a perfect husband. The story, though not complicated, is fragmentary, beginning before Lucy is born, continuing after her death, shifting between England and the Continent, presenting three genera- tions. Lucy herself 'is an heiress, the only' child of Julian Withers of Hall -Place in Wiltshire. Her father is,a man of. considerable culture, who made a " suitable " but, as it turns out, uncongenial marriage : Lucy inherits his tastes, and they are happy companions until his death. • The scene now shifts to Rome, where at a musical party Lucy meets Amades, and they fall in love at • first sight. Amades follows her to England, is regarded. unfavourably by the mother, Lucy and he elope together and the mother passes out of the book. But much ground remains to be covered. ,,. There .are Lucy's children to be presented—two boys—oneIrthefiting his father's genius and the-other a country squire in 'embryo-74nd a girl named Gillian. There is the return to England after Mrs. Withers' death; the transforniation-4A-HEMPL3c'e ii#4 a school of music, the reaction of the county, the romancetie Gillian and a rustic poet whose character is founded upon that of John Clare. And we still have not reached-the end, though we now bid good-bye to Lucy. ,It will be clear that this is a story containing a gOod many gaps and bridges, but it is skilfully managed and always readable.
Yourney to the Border has the great advantage that the whole action takes place within a 'single' day. It- is a first-novek- and a novel with a purpose. Nevertheless, not having con- - stilted the blurb, I read for some time before Aiscovering what that purpose was. I was interested, puzzled, -the thing seemed to me dream-like and fantastic, possessing a 9irious fascination that created expectancy and tension. .111 this atmosphere all seemed as uncertain as in that Thessaly of Apuleius, the ancient land of witchcraft, where every animal and bird and stone suggested some disquieting • metamor- • phosis. Yet Mr. Upward's scene is simply a 'race-meeting, and his hero a tutor who has accompanied thither his pupil and his pupil's father, and it is only in the tutor's mind that all these visions and hallucinations are taking place. The actual revelation, so elaborately prepared 'for, proved dis- appointing. The fantasy is merely a symbol of the present world situation, and vanishes the moment the tutor resolves to join the workers' movement. The moral seems to be that the teaching of small boys is degrading when not combined with militant socialism. It did not convince me, nor can I imagine that in any position this, tutor would prove a reliable person. Nevertheless, Mr. Upward can write.
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