Juggler's Kiss

FICTION

Juggler's Kiss--Manuel Komroff-- Boni & Liveright ($2.50).

The Story. Dundee was a very sick little boy when he first met the stranger face to face. Delirious with fever, Dundee tossed on his bed. They thought that Dundee might die. Then the stranger appeared and spoke to the lad: "Things are not very certain with you and if you want to take my advice, you had better hold fast to the bed. If you are not very careful, Dundee, it will slip away from under you." So Dundee held fast to the bed and soon was well.

From then on Dundee often met the stranger. And always the stranger told Dundee what to do.

Dundee grew, and fell in love with Millie whose father worked in the factory. He loved Millie greatly; he would marry her some day. He would marry her after he had attained some measure of his magnificent success. For the stranger had said to him: "Go on, young fellow. You are doing fine. The good things in life are not very far off. Avoid those who stick in the mud and cultivate those who are going somewhere." There was plenty of time to marry Millie.

Dundee went to the big city. One could succeed more quickly and with less effort in the big city. Dreaming of swift wealth he joined with fakers. He was apprehended and sent to prison. All chance of success seemed to have vanished.

But the stranger visited Dundee in his prison cell. He told Dundee that he must not despair; that the world was large; that there were many places where Dundee might go and start anew. Dundee took heart. When the prison doors opened, he traveled far away and commenced to build in earnest.

In Java he served the rich Van Ressler long and faithfully. Van Ressler was grateful. He rewarded Dundee by giving him a generous portion of his rubber plantation. The trees were young but would be ready to tap in a year or so. Success was at hand.

Dundee was happy. He dwelt with his native sweetheart in the little house he'd made for her and contemplated the future with satisfaction. His sweetheart bore him a "tricksy" son and Dundee's cup ran over. He loved his sweetheart; he loved his son; soon the trees could be tapped; soon they would be rich.

Then the "tricksy" son died.

Then fire came and destroyed Dundee's trees. And his house. And his sweetheart. Dundee cursed God.

The stranger came to him again and counseled him to go to sea. "You have tried hard and played the game but it does not seem to come through. The things of land were not made for you. . . . Leave the land where you have lost and try the sea where all men begin equal. And where a flowing breeze carries away all sadness and painful memories." So Dundee went to sea. And lost again.

Dundee met the stranger for the last time in Shanghai. Dundee was down to his last chip at roulette. "Don't play it on. the four," said the stranger. "Play it on number seventeen." Number seventeen lost, of course.

Then Dundee and this stranger settled matters.

The Significance. The author has chosen a most unlikely plot for his novel and accomplished a truly rare job. It is an important piece of literature, imaginative, logical, incisive, poetry translated to prose, conceivably executed by a Joyce gone sane. Dundee was simply a less-than-average sort of fellow who wished for more-than-average success; the stranger was Dundee's own will to succeed. The stranger told Dundee what to do but could not tell him how to do it. Thus was Dundee's success withheld. Despite its tendency toward allegory, Juggler's Kiss holds interest with astounding tenacity. Opera of any appreciable allegorical content are usually picked up and laid aside at random. Not so with Juggler's Kiss. It is to be read at one sitting. For Mr. Komroff is above all things a gorgeous storyteller. This power has enabled him to maintain a fascinating tempo in Juggler's Kiss, even at its allegoriest.

The Author. Manuel Komroff was born 37 years ago in New York City. He received his college education at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, did post-graduate work at Yale in music and art. After serving as art critic for New York newspapers and as a writer of special articles, he traveled extensively through the Far East, contributing to the Chinese and Japanese press. Married, he lives in Manhattan. Two years ago he published The Grace of Lambs, a collection of short stories which was widely acclaimed. Juggler's Kiss is his first full-length novel.