CURRENT LITERATURE
It was courageous of Mr. Harvey to write his autobiography. He could so• easily have described the circumstances of his twenty-seven years of life- a novel, which might have been takn as a satirical portrait of the most purpose- less young man imaginable. Direct narrative was, in the circumstances, much more dangerous. For though Mr. Harvey pontificates about every- thing, in almost nothing has he himself been a success. He was brought up in an atmosphere of riches and comfort, only to find, at the age of eighteen, this atmosphere and its amenities sum- marily dissipated by the separation of his father and his wealthy step-mother. Since that change in his fortunes he has been a stockbroker, an actor, a shop- walker, cashier at a night-club, a private secretary, as well as working on the fringes of other miscellaneous trades. His life' though varied, does not seem to the disinterested 'reader sufficiently significant to have been worth chronicling. This account of it (Hamish Hamilton Jos. 6d.) is written in a mood of mingled irony and self-pity, both of them immature. It contains, to give it its due, some competent pieces of writing, but most readers will agree that its only real value can be to Mr. Harvey himself, who appears to believe that its publica- tion will have a beneficial effect on his character.
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