THE PATH OF A STAR
Sara Jeanette Duncan has never written anything which has given us such a sense of her power, though she has written many things more evenly successful. This is an attempt at a far more serious treatment of human nature than we generally associate with her. As reader, are not accustomed to indulge with writers with such charming and graceful and happy a touch as hers to stray out of the bright and sunny road, where they entertain us all the way, for the sake of writing a serious book.
In an artistic sense her work was generally serious enough, but here she gives such abundant proof of a capacity for dealing profoundly with character that, whether she receive encouragement or not from her numerous admirers, her experiment in this book is sure to be followed-up eagerness by the readers of Gothic/Religious novels.
There is far less grace and facility about it than about her earlier works; and there is a want of steadiness of purpose. She states a most interesting problem, guesses the answer, we are sure, quite correctly, and then shrinks from giving it. She contrives a quite comfortable ending at the expense of a good deal of interest. The scene is Calcutta, a varied, picturesque Calcutta, little known from guide-books. The principal characters are a fascinating English actress, with genius and a future, a impassioned and very lovely young woman captain in the Salvation Army, a clever and beautiful society lady, an Anglican priest of a strict order (an intolerable personage), and a young Calcutta business man belonging to the fashionable world.
The actress falls in love with the Anglican priest, the fashionable young man with the Salvationist; and Sara Jeanette Duncan brings them very near to the tragedy of obtaining their desires.
The Salvationist is returning with her trousseau from England, when she finds a more congenial spirit in Colonel Markin, S.A., for whom she jilts the wealthy and fashionable young man.
The actress, despairing of winning any human affection from the man, or iceberg, of her choice, has actually become a novice in a religious institution in Calcutta, that she may see him constantly and do work kindred to his own.
This is most uncomfortable, of course; and the author has to kill the priest to save Hilda for her art. Now Hilda, no doubt, should have wedded her art; and the clever and beautiful society lady should have married Lindsay; and the lovely Salvationist would have been miserable in a fashionable milieu, even if she had been given carte blanche to convert it.
The author pleads all that. Only life arranges things less neatly, and the end gives us a sense more of desperate rescue than reality. But the first part, which describes the charm that held the sophisticated Lindsay spell-bound in the presence of the lovely uneducated English girl in the Eastern dress, whose life was devoted to the service of what his "set" were bound to look on as a very vulgar form of faith; which tells how Hilda, the actress, most modern in mind, brilliant, unconventional, and an honest devotee of her profession, gave her heart to the austere and stockish saint; and how the clever and beautiful society lady looked on wondering, and honestly willing to sacrifice her own love the while—all that is profoundly interesting and real.
Human nature is sounded in some of its depths, delicately touched, too, with pathos and sympathy. Then such minor matters as the life of the touring company in Calcutta and the methods and personnel of the Salvation Army, are presented with the cleverness we expect from the author, though with hardly her usual strong simplicity of style. And that she has not, after the fashion of real life, wrecked some fine lives in the storms of their own wayward hearts, will be counted mostly to the merit of this book.
***
12 Illustrations by F. H. Townsend are included in this edition and are uniform with W. J. Gage & Company publication of 1899.
1114055849
In an artistic sense her work was generally serious enough, but here she gives such abundant proof of a capacity for dealing profoundly with character that, whether she receive encouragement or not from her numerous admirers, her experiment in this book is sure to be followed-up eagerness by the readers of Gothic/Religious novels.
There is far less grace and facility about it than about her earlier works; and there is a want of steadiness of purpose. She states a most interesting problem, guesses the answer, we are sure, quite correctly, and then shrinks from giving it. She contrives a quite comfortable ending at the expense of a good deal of interest. The scene is Calcutta, a varied, picturesque Calcutta, little known from guide-books. The principal characters are a fascinating English actress, with genius and a future, a impassioned and very lovely young woman captain in the Salvation Army, a clever and beautiful society lady, an Anglican priest of a strict order (an intolerable personage), and a young Calcutta business man belonging to the fashionable world.
The actress falls in love with the Anglican priest, the fashionable young man with the Salvationist; and Sara Jeanette Duncan brings them very near to the tragedy of obtaining their desires.
The Salvationist is returning with her trousseau from England, when she finds a more congenial spirit in Colonel Markin, S.A., for whom she jilts the wealthy and fashionable young man.
The actress, despairing of winning any human affection from the man, or iceberg, of her choice, has actually become a novice in a religious institution in Calcutta, that she may see him constantly and do work kindred to his own.
This is most uncomfortable, of course; and the author has to kill the priest to save Hilda for her art. Now Hilda, no doubt, should have wedded her art; and the clever and beautiful society lady should have married Lindsay; and the lovely Salvationist would have been miserable in a fashionable milieu, even if she had been given carte blanche to convert it.
The author pleads all that. Only life arranges things less neatly, and the end gives us a sense more of desperate rescue than reality. But the first part, which describes the charm that held the sophisticated Lindsay spell-bound in the presence of the lovely uneducated English girl in the Eastern dress, whose life was devoted to the service of what his "set" were bound to look on as a very vulgar form of faith; which tells how Hilda, the actress, most modern in mind, brilliant, unconventional, and an honest devotee of her profession, gave her heart to the austere and stockish saint; and how the clever and beautiful society lady looked on wondering, and honestly willing to sacrifice her own love the while—all that is profoundly interesting and real.
Human nature is sounded in some of its depths, delicately touched, too, with pathos and sympathy. Then such minor matters as the life of the touring company in Calcutta and the methods and personnel of the Salvation Army, are presented with the cleverness we expect from the author, though with hardly her usual strong simplicity of style. And that she has not, after the fashion of real life, wrecked some fine lives in the storms of their own wayward hearts, will be counted mostly to the merit of this book.
***
12 Illustrations by F. H. Townsend are included in this edition and are uniform with W. J. Gage & Company publication of 1899.
THE PATH OF A STAR
Sara Jeanette Duncan has never written anything which has given us such a sense of her power, though she has written many things more evenly successful. This is an attempt at a far more serious treatment of human nature than we generally associate with her. As reader, are not accustomed to indulge with writers with such charming and graceful and happy a touch as hers to stray out of the bright and sunny road, where they entertain us all the way, for the sake of writing a serious book.
In an artistic sense her work was generally serious enough, but here she gives such abundant proof of a capacity for dealing profoundly with character that, whether she receive encouragement or not from her numerous admirers, her experiment in this book is sure to be followed-up eagerness by the readers of Gothic/Religious novels.
There is far less grace and facility about it than about her earlier works; and there is a want of steadiness of purpose. She states a most interesting problem, guesses the answer, we are sure, quite correctly, and then shrinks from giving it. She contrives a quite comfortable ending at the expense of a good deal of interest. The scene is Calcutta, a varied, picturesque Calcutta, little known from guide-books. The principal characters are a fascinating English actress, with genius and a future, a impassioned and very lovely young woman captain in the Salvation Army, a clever and beautiful society lady, an Anglican priest of a strict order (an intolerable personage), and a young Calcutta business man belonging to the fashionable world.
The actress falls in love with the Anglican priest, the fashionable young man with the Salvationist; and Sara Jeanette Duncan brings them very near to the tragedy of obtaining their desires.
The Salvationist is returning with her trousseau from England, when she finds a more congenial spirit in Colonel Markin, S.A., for whom she jilts the wealthy and fashionable young man.
The actress, despairing of winning any human affection from the man, or iceberg, of her choice, has actually become a novice in a religious institution in Calcutta, that she may see him constantly and do work kindred to his own.
This is most uncomfortable, of course; and the author has to kill the priest to save Hilda for her art. Now Hilda, no doubt, should have wedded her art; and the clever and beautiful society lady should have married Lindsay; and the lovely Salvationist would have been miserable in a fashionable milieu, even if she had been given carte blanche to convert it.
The author pleads all that. Only life arranges things less neatly, and the end gives us a sense more of desperate rescue than reality. But the first part, which describes the charm that held the sophisticated Lindsay spell-bound in the presence of the lovely uneducated English girl in the Eastern dress, whose life was devoted to the service of what his "set" were bound to look on as a very vulgar form of faith; which tells how Hilda, the actress, most modern in mind, brilliant, unconventional, and an honest devotee of her profession, gave her heart to the austere and stockish saint; and how the clever and beautiful society lady looked on wondering, and honestly willing to sacrifice her own love the while—all that is profoundly interesting and real.
Human nature is sounded in some of its depths, delicately touched, too, with pathos and sympathy. Then such minor matters as the life of the touring company in Calcutta and the methods and personnel of the Salvation Army, are presented with the cleverness we expect from the author, though with hardly her usual strong simplicity of style. And that she has not, after the fashion of real life, wrecked some fine lives in the storms of their own wayward hearts, will be counted mostly to the merit of this book.
***
12 Illustrations by F. H. Townsend are included in this edition and are uniform with W. J. Gage & Company publication of 1899.
In an artistic sense her work was generally serious enough, but here she gives such abundant proof of a capacity for dealing profoundly with character that, whether she receive encouragement or not from her numerous admirers, her experiment in this book is sure to be followed-up eagerness by the readers of Gothic/Religious novels.
There is far less grace and facility about it than about her earlier works; and there is a want of steadiness of purpose. She states a most interesting problem, guesses the answer, we are sure, quite correctly, and then shrinks from giving it. She contrives a quite comfortable ending at the expense of a good deal of interest. The scene is Calcutta, a varied, picturesque Calcutta, little known from guide-books. The principal characters are a fascinating English actress, with genius and a future, a impassioned and very lovely young woman captain in the Salvation Army, a clever and beautiful society lady, an Anglican priest of a strict order (an intolerable personage), and a young Calcutta business man belonging to the fashionable world.
The actress falls in love with the Anglican priest, the fashionable young man with the Salvationist; and Sara Jeanette Duncan brings them very near to the tragedy of obtaining their desires.
The Salvationist is returning with her trousseau from England, when she finds a more congenial spirit in Colonel Markin, S.A., for whom she jilts the wealthy and fashionable young man.
The actress, despairing of winning any human affection from the man, or iceberg, of her choice, has actually become a novice in a religious institution in Calcutta, that she may see him constantly and do work kindred to his own.
This is most uncomfortable, of course; and the author has to kill the priest to save Hilda for her art. Now Hilda, no doubt, should have wedded her art; and the clever and beautiful society lady should have married Lindsay; and the lovely Salvationist would have been miserable in a fashionable milieu, even if she had been given carte blanche to convert it.
The author pleads all that. Only life arranges things less neatly, and the end gives us a sense more of desperate rescue than reality. But the first part, which describes the charm that held the sophisticated Lindsay spell-bound in the presence of the lovely uneducated English girl in the Eastern dress, whose life was devoted to the service of what his "set" were bound to look on as a very vulgar form of faith; which tells how Hilda, the actress, most modern in mind, brilliant, unconventional, and an honest devotee of her profession, gave her heart to the austere and stockish saint; and how the clever and beautiful society lady looked on wondering, and honestly willing to sacrifice her own love the while—all that is profoundly interesting and real.
Human nature is sounded in some of its depths, delicately touched, too, with pathos and sympathy. Then such minor matters as the life of the touring company in Calcutta and the methods and personnel of the Salvation Army, are presented with the cleverness we expect from the author, though with hardly her usual strong simplicity of style. And that she has not, after the fashion of real life, wrecked some fine lives in the storms of their own wayward hearts, will be counted mostly to the merit of this book.
***
12 Illustrations by F. H. Townsend are included in this edition and are uniform with W. J. Gage & Company publication of 1899.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940016169354 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | OGB |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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