China and the West

Aiken, Conrad. Body and raiment, and Profiles from China by Eunice Tietjens : review [ID D32393].
Of Profiles from China there is more to be said [than Body and raiment] : one may argue pro and con as to whether it belongs more suitably or more profitably in the category of prose or poetry ; and one has to deal, however that question is argued, with vignettes sufficiently sharp, with artistic effects which are tantalizingly of a dubiousness.
For what one gets back to ultimately in the case of Mrs. Tietjens is the lack of any very marked idiosyncracy of sensibility. This lack must have been present from the outset, and it is one which she will find it difficult if not impossible to overcome. One by no means implies, in taking this position, that she lacks talent : we are involved, indeed, simply in drawing what is at best a very dubious line between talen and genius. Of talent it is evident that Mrs. Tietjens has a great deal. Her sense of rhytm is firm, rich, varied, and is combined with a well-developed sense of orotundity, the sense of sound-values as distinct from rhythm-values. In this regard her work compares very faborably with that done by any other woman now writing verse in America. But this, unfortunately, is insufficient : one demands more ; one demands just that so slight amount of difference, just that personal variation on the skillful norm, which sets the true artist apart. This Mrs. Tietjens lacks, when one examines her work closely, in rhythm, and even more conspicuously in other regards. What is it that her sensibility has given her to say, what is it that her frustrations have compelled her to say ? Nothing – one confesses reluctantly – very unique. The perceptions are good, normal, sometimes charming, but never very acute ; the moods are recognizable, but never rich. And all this is tantamount to saying that Mrs. Tietjens seldom gets very far from a skillful rhythmical treatment of the sentimental in terms of the commonplace.