Abstract

Recent Fiction

This article focuses on several books, "Grammar of Love," by Ivan Bunin and translated by John Cournos, "Love on the Dole," by Walter Greenwood and "Prayer for the Living," by Bruce Marshall. These short stories by Bunin are psychological studies of the effect of sudden love upon the person frustrated by that love. And love, for Bunin, is always an abrupt and violent awakening. Never does it spring from slow-growing friendship, and though the lovers may not see each other again, though life may flow on conventionally thereafter, the moment of physical delight is not lost. This first novel by Greenwood is well worth the reading because of its authentic treatment of the lives of working people. Greenwood is not always master of narrative technique. The structure of his novel builds to no climax in action or in thought. "Prayer for the Living," is a satirical, yet tender study of life in a Scottish preparatory school.