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his father, relations suddenly shift. Betsy turns against Mr. Felton as
a government investigation of his war profits is beginning. Morrow, after
some prodding by Joe Burley, Betsy's former friend, interrupts his post–
war Zionist activities to go back and help his father whom he now sees
in a different light.
Burley and Morrow gather sympathetically about the stricken Mr.
Felton who is hiding in Curactao. Just as, throughout, we are notified
that the Feltons are headed for perdition (a term that is practically
meaningless because Mr. Swados never indicates values that would
make either "perdition" or salvation a possibility), we are now vaguely
assured that
if
Mr. Felton goes back to face the music, some kind of
redemption will take place. Indeed, it will even have an uplifting effect
on Betsy, though the mechanics of this operation are beyond all con–
jecture. Mter probably the only passage of really poor dialogue in the
book ("That's conscience speaking, pop," said Morrow. "It's hard to
hear when you've got your steel earmuffs on"), Mr. Felton consents
to go, leaving the reader to wonder why this should be considered
vir–
tuous in a novel in which there is absolutely nothing to put us on the
side of good government or bad government, and which frequently de–
scribes corruption without ever condemning or condoning it. From this
confusion Mr. Swados proceeds directly to chaos by having Burley re–
flect, at the very end, that now he was ready for "whatever the world
held in store for all those, who like himself, would never grant that they
had come into the world too late." Nothing that has taken place, as far
as I can see, would enable the reader to know what this shadowy horde
is too late for.
Mr. Swados has a natural aptitude for representing ordinary, idio–
syncratic people in a fashion that is especially notable when individuals
who are not basically unconventional are driven to behave as though
they were. In fact, the care and skill with which such situations are
treated frequently carries him to a bold, original exploration of such
social phenomena as Jewish-Christian relations, sex, business and bu–
reaucracy. But what
Out Went the Candle
lacks completely is a point of
view, located anywhere, which would give it continuity and consistency.
Miss Hardwick's people behave in a way that is in accord with their
minds but not their characters. The behavior of the Feltons is nearly
always authentically, colorfully characteristic but their minds and values
are simply indeterminate, left to fluctuate wildly from scene to scene.
Since the family drama of perdition and regeneration remains putative,
stated but never explained or evoked, the narrative disintegrates as the
members separate and engage in disparate activities.
