MIRANDA MASTERS. By John Cournos. (Knopf. 7s. ild,,,net,)-- 7 This curious novel
which aims at being a very serious one introduces'- sortie - most peculiar people.' The story begins in the early days of the War, and the male charac- ters are all united upon one count at least, their determination not:to join up"uritil they are.-forced tO.do so. - Everybody in the .book is a poet or a writer,-and takes his or her ,"work " extremely seriously. According to their code, everything from cowardice to adultery, is possible for its, sake. Indeed, the heroine actually arranges a liaison for her husband,- to help him to write better-.poems, though she refases. to cohabit with him herself, equally for. the sake of her muse. By the end of the book all the five principal. characters are thoroughly
mixed up, and a girl provided for the odd man out; .
Mr. Courncis undoubtedly succeeds in maintaining one's interest in these strange folks. . They talk. very. well ; . and while they behave in a fantastic way they have their explicit reasons for doing so. The heroine, Miranda; described as a hetaira, is one of :the most unpleasant, abnormal of women, even- in current fiction. Divinely beautiful, supremely talen- ted; she gradually alienates the husband she adores, betrays the :man she respects 'as a friend, and involves herself in a capricious love-affair, all from trying to live by false reason instead of by natural feeling.
Passages in the novel are exquisitely written .: others are a thought too: coloured and lavish. One specific objection to Miranda Masters is that while the author most lucidly reveals the :weakness and futility of life as his characters live it, he himself does not seem to disapprove, or even to consider their conduct anything out of the normal. 1 - ..-• •
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