Abstract

Gold and Iron

This article critically appraises the books "Gold and Iron," by Joseph Hergesheimer and "Nocturne," by Frank Swinnerton. Of the three extended short stories or "novelette?" which make up Hergesheimer's new volume, "Gold and Iron," the middle one, "Tubal Cain," has to do with the theme and setting that may be recognized as his special property. They are the theme and setting of "The Three Black Pennys": a localism or regionalism already studied in perspective; human nature and action among a sturdy though long extinct race, the independent "ironmasters" of Pennsylvania. "The Three Black Pennys" may be recalled as in reality a group of tales interpreting three episodes in the history of a family, an industry, and, one may say, a nation. It is historical fiction in a. real sense.