Fiction
Why Was I Killed ? By Rex Warner. (The Bodley Head. 75. 6d.) Against the Tide. By Arnim Westerholt. (The Hogarth Press. 8s. 6d.). The Pleasure Dome. By Elizabeth Kyle. (Peter Davies. 8s. 6d.) Bonin. By Robert Standish. (Peter Davies. 9s. 6d.) EACH of the novels listed has some form of introductory matter. In the prologue of the first book the theme is postulated in the form of a question: Why Was I Killed? It is the spirit of a soldier killed in the present conflict inquiring : " Who am I? ' it may well be asked, ' Who am I to make a fuss, an anonymous drop in the ocean of so much destruction? ' " The unknown soldier is aware of his " own insignificance in history," but through the medium of a priest " in an abbey or cathedral," he is able to pursue his quest: a group of people being shown round the building are interrogated: these include an old-fashioned Tory business man, a young hard- headed aircraft worker, an idealist who volunteered and fought against the rise of Fascism in Spain, a refugee, and a woman bereaved of both husband and son. The soldier is enabled to enter the past lives of the people questioned at certain points of experience, so that he sees the process which formulated their answers. None of them is able to offer explanations which can satisfy the dead man. In the end a theory advanced by the priest brings consolation to the uneasy spirit. Mr. Rex Warner describes MI novel as "a dramatic dialogue." Unlike his earlier works, this book owes nothing to the influence of Kafka, which seems a pity.
In his foreword, the author of Against the Tide tells us "This book, essentially a story taken from life, tries to show the deep gulf that separates Britain faom the rest of Europe." Dr. Westerholt makes a brave attempt to capture the thirties in a series of dialogues, some of them very dramatic, interspersed with comings and goings to various parts of England and Germany. Told in the first person by a young German, who became an ardent Anglophile during his initial' visit to England in student days, we see the spectacular rise of the Nazis to power. Holding an important post in a German university, Arnim singlehanded attempts to stem the deepening con, viction of English degeneracy. Soon he is in conflict with repre- sentatives of the new regime, but strives to meet cunning with cunning. Escorting a party of students on a visit to Britain, he is able to impress many of them favourably. They encounter many differing types of articulate Britishers during their tour, but even Arnim himself, with all his good will, is unable to see the comic in north country reactions to a play of Eugene O'Neill's. Shortly after his return to Germany he is arrested by the Gestapo. Friends work for his release, and after twelve days he is free again.- His wife has secured help from England, and within an hour of their repnion they are in 'a taxi on their way to a Dutch plane and exile. Miss Kyle, in her dedication, writes : " All choice of episode, together with any misinterpretation of character or fact, must, how- ever, be laid at my own door." The Pleasure Dome is Hamilton Palace ; we are given its history from the time of its completion by Alexander, the tenth duke, until its demolition rather less than a hundred years later. For a contrast to such ducal splendours, the concurrent fortunes of a tinker's family are related. Befitting the son-in-law of the fantastic Beckford, Alexander had grandiloquent ideas about buildings and birth. He married his characterless heir to a German princess, whose mother was a Beauharnais. Princess Marie proved a wanton. In his youth her husband had slain, by accident, the tinker's son, Andrew Bone. Princess Marie herself, in order to cover up an indiscretion of her own, is largely responsible for the death of yet another member of the peasant family. Time effects many changes, the tinker's proud descendants emigrate to America and prosperity, while the proud Hamiltons are forced to pull down their palace for coal.
In 'his preface to Bonin Mr. Standish describes his novel as " history with trimmings ": a further quotation, " I feel somehow that little 'Arry Parker and his old friend Nat Savory would rest more easily under the soil they loved if the red-white-and-blue flags of the English-speaking world were to fly once again in Bonin," gives us some idea of the kind of embroidery this author favours. Reading his novel with pencil in hand, this reviewer found himself bestrewing the pages with a fantastic number of exclamation marks. Press-ganged into the Navy during the reign of William the Fourth, Richard Maidlaw is flogged for striking a superior. He and two of his mates, including the Cockney, Parker, desert. In due course they reach the Bonin Isles and join forces with ' the American Savory. Mr. Standish details what happened to these men and their descendants. His novel contains much that is violent and
brutal, but like so many of the " strong-meat " school, Mr. Standish is also lavish with sentimentalities.
The novel today is made to serve as a drapery-stand for all sorts of material in the shape of ideas - yet none of the books reviewed here persuade me that their authors have discovered the most suitable medium for the theories they wish to convey.
JOHN HAMPSON.
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