The Henson Journals

[117]

Friday, February 8th, 1929.

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I came away from Park Lane, and after visiting the bookseller, drove to King's Cross, and travelled by the Pullman express which left at 11.15 a.m., and arrived at Darlington at 4.7 p.m. Here the car met me, & carried me to Auckland. I found awaiting me a copy of Buchan's "Montrose" with an inscription by the Author. I "deceived" the journey by reading Upton Sinclair's latest novel, "Boston", which appears to be another fearful picture of American life. The cumulative effect of this writer's descriptions is great and sinister. He is admittedly writing with a propagandist intention. He would expose, & by exposing condemn, the industrial civilization of the modern world. But his facts are those of the American version of that civilization, & the worst aspects of them are those which make that version disgustingly distinctive. He possesses, like Zola, a photographic genius, which, though lacking in interpretive & imaginative power, is faithful to what he actually sees. His facts are precisely what most impress the reader. It is hard to doubt that he is painting a picture, crude in colouring & bold in outline, but faithful.

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