In chapter 2 of Arthur Machen's "Heiroglyphics," he refers to an unnamed story about a Jew wooing a baroness. Machen says (p. 54) that the style is English, yet seems to be something else. He goes on a bit, then contrasts the story with another by Thomas Hardy. Anyone know what the "mystery" story in question is? This question was posed in a letter I received yesterday, with the suggestion that I repeat it here. His copy is the old Knopf edition.

jkh

Seems like a tough nut to crack. What I gather from the text is that:
- The author is a man, who has written several other books in the same style.
- He is not Thackaray or George Eliot, nor (I suppose) Thomas Hardy.
- His work is a "book", presumably a novel, written before 1902.
- His style is extraordinary and difficult, so as to invite the thought that his language is foreign (though I suppose this is not really the case).
- It is about the flirtation of a insincere baroness with a very earnest German Socialist Jew, the latter who ends up getting shot in a duel.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10 Feb 22 | 04:42PM by Platypus.

Machen mentions Ferdinand LaSalle as a probable inspiration for the tale. Which means the novel must be significantly later than 1864, which is when LaSalle was shot in a duel.

Found it.

THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS (1880), by George Meredith

Text on Project Gutenberg:
[www.gutenberg.org]

Most interesting. Thanks!

jkh

My friend had thought it might have been from Conrad.

jkh

Kipling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My friend had thought it might have been from
> Conrad.

Conrad wrote novels in English, even though English was not his first language. I guess your friend drew a connection between this and Machen's comments about a weird style.