Don Pedro and the Devil

THIS romance of chivalry declining has much of the action and passion, pageantry and earthiness, of the old Spanish novels of the seventeenth century. It is really remarkable in its easy mastery of time, place, and story — the Spain of Don Carlos and the Peru of the conquistadors and the story of a people who were never quiet, ‘when hearts high-blooded ticked three centuries since.’ The scenes move among traveling actors, inquisitors, alchemists, Moors, peasants in revolt and grandees dividing their time between prayer and pillage, to the swamps, mountains, and cities of Peru, the conquests of Pizarro, the capture, trial, and execution of the Inca, and back to Cordova and events that marked the end of a period. It is especially notable for its zest, freshness, and humor in the earlier parts and its grim energy in the later. The epic elements deal with the decay of the religious ideals of chivalry, as illustrated in the demoralization by gold of the church and state of Spain and the degradation of the conquistadors. The struggle between God and Mammon, between the old chivalry and the new exploitation, is symbolized by a conflict between good and evil in the soul of young Pedro de Cordova, which renders him bewildered and inept. Pulled both ways, by his past and his present, he is heroic and cowardly by fits and starts.

I am afraid that the reader will not be much moved by Pedro’s predicament. Like so many panoramic romances of our time, this one has an exciting and picturesque periphery but is somewhat lacking in a hard centre. Perhaps the reason is that the hero is the least interesting character, perhaps because the author, feeling that his narrative needed a serious theme and naturally wishing to provide an apologue for our times, has let his personages talk and talk about dilemmas and conclusions that could be drawn by the reader from the action. The old Spanish tale-tellers hung their stories on a real hero and then had faith in him to carry things through.

This weakness, if it is one, is, however, noted only as an afterthought. It is a grand story, swarming with people and teeming with life. The characters wear their clothes, mental and physical, like men and women of this world. Their thought-patterns are those of their time, but their passions are recognizable as universal. And perhaps the highest quality of the book is the sense it conveys of the past— to quote the motto — ‘as a projectile form’d impell’d, passing a certain line’ and still moving on.

R. M. G.