THE CASE OF MR. CRUMP

A characterization, in full detail and at long length, of a slattern and a succubus, pursuing and possessive, and of her power for evil which was not weakened by the distaste she provoked. At 22, naive and somewhat lovelorn after an affair, Herbert Crump meets Anne Vilas, an older married woman, is seduced by her and cannot extricate himself- and she insists on divorce and marriage. His next years are spent in worry over her debts, the support of her shiftless children, her vigilance and vulgarity. Then comes a measure of success in the field of composition- and hope of freedom and a genuine marriage, only to have the vengeful Anne distort his real love to scandal and shame, driving him to killing... Full credit on credibility; certainly unpleasant reading. Why revive it?