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ZAMACOÏS, EDUARDO. Their son; The necklace. (Penguin ser.) *$1.25 (3½c) Boni & Liveright
19–18640
Two stories translated from the Spanish by George Allan England. In the first, an honest, faithful, industrious locomotive engineer marries a young girl of provocative beauty. In his zeal to get on, and to provide properly for her in case he should suddenly die, he insists on their taking as boarder a friend of his who is fond of “wine, women, and song.” Not until three years pass does he learn that his friend has been too intimate with his wife; and although he knows it must cost him his home, his delight in his wife and his gay little son, he kills his deceiving friend in a duel. After twenty years in prison he returns to a wife hardened and made ugly by work, and a dissolute son. He is happy again, prosperity comes; but another duel occurs through no fault of his, in which he is killed by the son who is not his son. The second is a passionate story of the power of a courtesan over a young student from the country. The translator contributes an appreciative estimate of the author.
“‘Their son’ is a novelette of a very high order of merit. The action is rapid, the pathos bare and virile, the observation of circumstance exact. ‘The necklace’ is more hectic in atmosphere and the theft of the jewels is somewhat wildly conceived.” L. L.
+ − Nation 110:sup488 Ap 10 ’20 150w
“The themes of both of the novelettes are antique, but the style is direct, simple and vigorous. Here is a book worth reading.” A. W. Welch
+ − N Y Call p11 Mr 21 ’20 280w
“We predict for Señor Zamacois a high appreciation among American readers.”