Talk:The Tree of Heaven (collection)

Reviews

 * Frederic Taber Cooper in "The Hammock Novel and Some Recent Books," The Bookman 1907: Volumes of short stories are peculiarly fitted for the purpose of hammock reading, because they hold your attention neither too closely nor too long. Robert W. Chambers has been so busy of late years producing full-fledged novels that a collection of shorter pieces from his pen, such as The Tree of Heaven, is something of a treat. There is an attempt to give these tales a semblance of continuity by introducing in the opening one an Eastern traveller steeped in psychic science, who proceeds during the progress of a dinner to prophesy to each of the guests in a curious manner, and speaking in symbolic language, some crucial occurrence in their lives. The stories that follow relate the incidents thus prophesied, but there is no necessary connection between them, nor does the psychic scientist reappear in any of them. For instance, to one guest he says, "I congratulate you; you've got a good-natured ghost following you about. But he'll leave you if you turn idle." And when we reach the corresponding story we find it entitled "The Ghost of Chance," the chance in question being that whereby a young artist wins fame and fortune and a beautiful wife by a single afternoon's work. This is a rather long and involved story, much too long to be hastily retold. But it has this merit that deserves to be emphasised: it introduces a delicate, sensitive, proud young girl into the studio of a strange young man, shows us just what motives and influences work upon her to persuade her to pose for his masterpiece when his own model has failed him, and by the ingenuity of its coincidences, the force of circumstances, the fire of youthful enthusiasm, makes it seem not only plausible, but the one natural, right-minded thing to do for these two utter strangers to marry before twenty-four hours have passed. Hasty marriages are common enough in fiction not to need special comment. It is Mr. Chambers's success in making the haste in this particular instance seem logical and natural that takes it out of the ordinary class and stamps it as a special tour de force.