3 JULY 1926, Page 28

TEEFTALLOW. By T. S. Stribling. (Nisbet. •7s. tkl. net.)—Readers of

Fonibcrinbo will doubtless not be baffled by the rather involved and difficult beginning of Mr. Stribling's new novel. Others may be disconcerted by the confusion of events and the American slang, but readers should persevere beyond the first dozen chapters, for the book gives an exceed: ingly interesting picture of life in Tennessee, with its crudity

and its vigour. The little village of Lanesburg combines a

puritanism of outlook in all sex matters with a perfect toler- ance of lynching and other methods of amateur justice : the dramatis personae are all drawn vividly and crudely like the signposts hanging outside village inns. This is not attractive reading, but it has life and drama.