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West in the isles
SUMMER OF THE RED
WOLF. By Morris West,
Heiiiamnu. 278pp. $6.50.
By BRIAN JEFFREY
YJ/HEN Morris West de
livered the manuscript
of 'Summer Of The Red
Wolf', he announced it as the
result of his recovery from a
destructive ennui.
However, it is difficult to
determine whether the
recovery came too late, or the
result too soon: whichever is
the case, this work is not up
to V/cst's past standard.
Basically, the novel con
cerns two men and a woman
in the Outer Hebrides: the
narrator, a writer recuperat
ing from a near breakdown
and seeking to escape the pace
of the modern world, Red
Ruarri the Maclire (wolf), a
tough pseudo-Lord-of-the
Isles, and Kathleen McNeil,
a doctor trying to recovcr
from the trauma of a broken
marriage.
How these characters are
drawn together in a web of
violence, intrigue, rivalry and
love, and how they interact
on one another and on the
people around them, make for
an enjoyable and readable
story.
Perhaps we have become
too accustomed to Mr West
fictionalising the sophisticated
troubles of the modern world
to accept his sudden departure
ii\to the land of the earthy,
apple-cheeked women and
their sea-scored, sturdy men
folk.
The author admits that
"unlike any other book I have
ever written, it is tar removed
from the argument with which
I have been involved too long
and too often. It is a recall
of the simple primitive adven
ture of being alive and
battling, not with an imper
sonal civilisation, but with
the elements and with ele
mental man".
Because the tale concerns
human undercurrents marked
by occasional upheavals, it
would be spoiling the prospec
tive reader's enjoyment to
reveal too much of the plot.
It is enough to say that the
narrator accepts an invitation
to regenerate his creativity at
a peaceful lodge on an island
in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.
While travellinc there, he en
counters both Kathleen
McNeil, a locum doctor on a
neighbouring island, and his
future rival, Ruarri Mathcson,
the Red Wolf. Once at the
lodge, the narrator becomcs
embroiled in an old family
secrct and in a running emula
tion of Ruarri, who also is
trading in contraband. Even
tually the inevitable conflicts
are resolved in a dramatic
showdown.
After a slow start, in which
the author seems to be clear
ing his throat for the task
ahead, the story's pace gradu
ally gathers momentum. The
characterisations are poor;
despite his dramatic qualities,
Ruarri is unconvincing, and
Kathleen never comes across
as the warm, responsive
female that the author no
doubt intended. Only the nar
rator, because of his un
doubted kinship with the
author, is anywhere near being
believable.
In all, the novel is readable
and rewarding, but lovers of
Morris Wisst will probably be
disappointed and a little per
turbed at his latest effort.
Light on Eliot
'"THROUGHOUT his life T.
S. Eliot fought shy of
personal publicity and al
though dozens of books have
been written about the poet
very little has been written
about the man.
In the past few years,
however, two useful semi
biographical volumes have
appeared, Herbert Howarth's
'Notes on Some Figures
Behind T, S. Eliot1 and Allen
Tate's collection of personal
reminiscences and literary
critcism by various friends
and acquaintances, 'T. S.
Eliot, the Man and His Work'.
The latter has now been
published by Penguin ($1.70).
It includes essays by Helen
Gardiner, I. A. Richards,
Herbert Read, Bonamy
Dobree, E. Martin Browne,
Robert Speaight and G. Wil
son Knight,
$