Described, accurately enough, by The Times as “this delicious, fantastical, amorphous, inspired medley of topsy-turveydom.” A fantasy in which human beings with Irish names, Irish gods and fairies, and the god Pan are mingled to bewilderment. And the whole is leavened with what may or may not be the Author’s philosophy. “Love is unclean and holy” ... “Virtue is the performance of pleasant actions.” “Philosophy would lead to the great sin of sterility.” These sentences are isolated from the context, but they seem to indicate the general trend—the philosophy of Pan. However, there is much besides this in the torrent of wayward thought and fancy that is here let loose. The pictures of nature are finely and delicately touched. And there is humour of a strange kind not easy to define.
⸺ HERE ARE LADIES. Pp. 349. (Macmillan). 5s. 1913.
Fragments of the Author’s peculiar philosophy of life conveyed in odds and ends of stories and sketches. Some are pure fancy, some are very closely observed bits of real life; some are humorous, with a kind of sardonic humour; some whimsical, some border on pathos. Many deal with various phases of married life. Little poems are sandwiched between the tales. The book is full of aphorisms, indeed the style is a riot of curious metaphor, flights of fancy, unexpected turns of phrase. The last piece (pp. 277-348) consists of a series of disquisitions by an old gentleman in the style of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. An Irish flavour is noticeable at frequent intervals. The idiom (not the brogue) of Anglo-Irish conversation is well reproduced.
⸺ THE DEMI-GODS. Pp. 280. (Macmillan). 5s. 1914.
The travels through Ireland of Patsy McCann, tinker and general rascal, and his daughter Mary, in company with three angels, become tinkers for the nonce. Patsy is a very human and a very real tinker, an ugly specimen of a disreputable class. The wanderings of this strange company form a thin thread on which is strung a medley of strange fancies, wayward comments, scraps of very excellent description, and glimpses of low life in its most sordid aspects (e.g., the drab Eileen Cooley, who appears at intervals). There is an effort to picture not only the outward doings, experiences, and sensations of the tramps, but also their outlook, such as it is, upon life, their makings of a philosophy, and the morality of the roads.
STEUART, John A. Author (born 1861) of A Millionaire’s Daughter, Self Exiled, In the Day of Battle, The Minister of State, Wine on the Lees, The Eternal Quest, A Son of Gad, The Rebel Wooing, &c., &c. Was born in Perthshire; lived in Ireland, America, and England. Edited Publishers’ Circular, 1896-1900.
⸺ KILGROOM. Pp. 228. (Low). 6s. and 2s. 6d. [1890]. 1900.
The interest of the story turns on incidents of the Land War in a southern county. The Author takes the popular side, and paints the evils of landlordism in the darkest colours. Most of the characters are humble folk, including an amusing Scotchman, Sandy M’Tear. The story tells how a thirst for vengeance, engendered by oppression, takes possession of the young peasant, Ned Blake, almost stifling his love for his betrothed and ruining his life.
STEVENSON, JOHN. Is a member of the printing and publishing firm of McCaw, Stevenson & Orr, of Belfast. He made his first hit with Pat McCarty, Farmer of Antrim: His Rhymes, with a Setting (1903), in part reprinted from The Pen, a magazine run by the employes of his company.
⸺ A BOY IN THE COUNTRY. Pp. 312. (Arnold). 5s. Illustr. by W. Arthur Fry. 1913.