+ Boston Transcript p3 D 18 ’20 520w
SCHEM, LIDA CLARA (MARGARET BLAKE, pseud.). Hyphen. 2v *$6 Dutton
20–17964
“The book is really a pamphlet masquerading as a novel, and it offers an analysis of the state of mind and fundamental character of the large German element in the United States, and also a vision of the ideal of American democracy as it appears to a thoroughly un-English observer. Her hero is presented as a personification of acquired Americanism. The son of a Prussian-American father and a Nihilist Russian princess, he is conceived as a synthesis. Brought up in a wholly German environment (Hoboken is thinly disguised as Anasquoit), the boy aspires to become a ‘real American.’ Curiously enough, and yet convincingly, he gets the strongest stimulus toward Americanism from a young Englishman. The war disillusions him as to German kultur, and he concludes that the only way out for those of German blood who truly aspire to Americanism is to ‘go and fight Germany.’”—Review
“The story is very rich in material, a novel to be read slowly and thoughtfully for it contains a wealth of contemporary opinion and criticism. It is a colossal work and yet it is human.” D. L. Mann
+ Boston Transcript p4 Ja 19 ’21 1200w
“Excellent in parts, it is dismally unsatisfactory as a whole; rich in promise, it is a triumph of frustration. The author, apparently, drew the plans for an imposing work of fiction, but as the business of construction proceeded she became so engrossed in ornamental details and features of dubious importance that she mislaid her drawings.” B. R. Redman
− + Nation 112:88 Ja 19 ’21 520w
“Complicated, and presenting many divergent points of view, the book is nevertheless full of repetitions. It impresses one as a kind of storehouse in which the author has stowed away a number of opinions on a number of subjects; the story merely provides a sort of makeshift for these opinions. There is no artistry shown in its construction.”