"The Story of Louie" is the last and finest volume of an astonishing
trilogy--the first two volumes of which are named respectively "In
Accordance with the Evidence" and "The Debit Account."
The mere fact that in the midst of our contemptible hatred of "long
books" this excellent trilogy should have appeared, is an indication
of the daring and originality of Mr. Oliver Onions.
Mr. Onions is one of the few modern writers--along with Hardy, Conrad
and James--who is entirely untouched by political or ethical
propagandism. His trilogy is a genuinely creative work of a high and
exclusive order. The manner in which, to quote Mr. L.U. Wilkinson
again--"the whole prospect is, as it were, strained through the
character of one or other of the leading persons is in itself a proof
of this writer's fine artistic instinct." The way in which all the
leading persons in the book stand out in clear relief and indelibly
print themselves on the mind is evidence of the value of this method.
And what masterly irony in the contrast between "Evie" for instance as
Jeffries sees her and "Evie" as she is seen by her rival Louie!
Nowhere in literature, except in Dostoievsky, has the ferocious
struggle of two women over a man been so savagely and truly portrayed
as in the great scene in "Louie" between that young woman and Evie
when the latter visits her in her rooms.
Oliver Onions' humor has that large and vigorous expansiveness,
touched with something almost sardonic, which we associate with some
of the very greatest writers. There is always present in his work a
certain free sweep of imagination which deals masterfully and
suggestively with all manner of sordid material.