Books: Of Human Bondage

MOTHER & SON (256 pp.)—/. Compton-Burnett—Messner ($3.50).

"How do you explain the thousands of books that come out every year?" asks a character in Mother & Son. The reply: "I do not explain them. There seems to me to be no explanation." The same answer might apply to questions about the works of veteran Novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett. What explanation is there for an author who has produced, at almost regular two-year intervals, a string of novels that have all much the same title (e.g., Pastors & Masters; Elders & Betters; Brothers & Sisters'), are...