The Metropolis. By Upton Sinclair. (Edward Arnold. 6s.)— Readers who
wish for a novel and not for a satire will be sorry that Mr. Sinclair did not in his story of The Metropolis follow the vein of thought which is to be found in the first chapter. Here we have an extraordinarily interesting and well-written descrip- tion of a dinner of veterans of the American Civil War. The account of the paper read by Colonel Robert Selden will give a thrill to the most callous reader. But, unfortunately for the interests of art, this chapter is an isolated incident in the novel, which there- after is solely concerned with presenting to the eyes of an astonished world a lurid picture of the lives led by the ultra-rich people of New York. That Mr. Sinclair writes with power cannot be denied ; but he also appears to regard with a certain com- placency the luxuries which he describes :— "Be who in quest of silence silence hoots Is apt to cause the hubbub he imputes."
The reader will not be quite sure that to people of a certain type of mind Mr. Sinclair's detailed descriptions of the riot of materialism indulged in by his characters will not prove so attractive as to make them wish to lead the same kind of lives themselves. It is now many years since " Ouida " first revealed the full vulgarity of the novel of luxury ; but just as the American millionaire can outspend the English millionare ins proportion of four to one, so do Mr. Sinclair's descriptions outshine those of "Oujda" in their wealth of opulent detail. It is only right to add that in her later years—e.g., in "The Massarenes "—" Ouida " adopted a very different standpoint. English readers will be appalled by the account given by Mr. Sinclair of the gluttony and drunkenness indulged in by New York society, but it will be an immense wrong to New York if they are misled into thinking that these orgies are universal in New York society. The rich people who look at nothing but- display and the spending of money may despise the literary and, artistic circles, but then it is very certain that the literary and, artistic circles despise them a great deal more. Whatever Mr. Sinclair or other people may say, these circles do exist in New York. Mr. Sinclair evidently cares nothing about the canons of good taste, or he would not have written the concluding chapters, in which he describes the underworld of this society. The author has no doubt a serious purpose in his book, but we wish he would be persuaded that social reforms cannot be accomplished by the writing of " heady " and excitable novels. It is to be presumed that his warnings are not addressed to the quiet people in New York, who do not need them, but to people whose inclinations tend towards a demented materialism. Such people-, we repeat, are far more likely to take Mr. Sinclair's characters- as models than as warnings, and therefore it is probable that books like The Metropolis act as a lure to the weak-minded instead of serving as danger-signals to keep them from the path. of evil.
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