THE LOVES OF GOYA By Marion Chapman
Since this book (Herbert Jenkins, 7s. 6d.) has strayed out of the novel column let us accept its claim to be judged as literature, and judge it accord- ingly.. It is, we, are, told, a " partly fictitious biOgraphy," " virile and swift- moving," and the colours are " excitingly crude." In other words, this is a book in which the authoress, seeing that Spain is a colourful country,- somewhat in the public eye at the present time; and that Goya is a highly-colourful figure, has decided to put all her highly- colourful, feelings about it down in a book which, because it has the name of a real artist in the title, can be described as a biography rather than a novel. There would be nothing wrong in giving an account of Goya in which the not very adequate supply of facts is supple- mented with suggestions which, though not based on actual knowledge, are at any rate consonant with what is known. The trouble begins when everything is sacrificed in the interests of colour, when all the authoress's attention is directed towards creating that sweaty highly-sexed atmosphere in which every northerner believes that every Spaniard always exists, The result is only like those water-colours of sunsets running one glorious blood red all - over the page. It is a pity that the all too- few refer- ences to Goya's art are usually spoilt by howlers (such as Satan devour- ing One of His Children for Saturn devour- ing One of His Children, or Desartes de la Guerre for Desastres de la Guerra).
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