The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-02
.THE SALAMANDERr


 By Owen Johnson dllustrated: the
 Dobbs Merrill company, publishers.
 Indianapolis.
 No book of the year has created big Ger ''furore" than owen Johnsons latest novel entitled, "Tho saamander."
 It is a deliciously daring, eharmingly written, up-to-date comedy, brim full of action and vigor-brillant repartee and clever dialogue.
 The Salamander" comes rowing from somewhere out of the immense reaches of the nation, revolting against the com nonplace of an inherited narrowness, neither sure of what she seeks nor coll scious of what forces impel or check her. She brings no letters of introduction. but she comes resolved to know whom she chooses. She meets them all the men of New York. the mediocre, the interest- ing, the powerful the flesh hunters, the hrutes and those who seek only an amused mental relaxation. She attracts them by hook or crook. in defiance of conventions, compelling their attention in ways that at the start hopeiessly mysti- fy them and lead to mistakes Then she calmly sets them right and forgves them.
 Back of all the passionate revolt against the commonplace in life, back of all the defiantly proclaimed scorn of conventions. there are the hushed echoes of the re- treating first generation, old memories, whispers of childhood faith, hesitations and doubts that make of her d being constantly at war with herself, where will and instinct are ever opposed without her perceiving comprehending the wherefore.
 It is interesting to know something of the history of the clever young author of "The Salamander" for he is the exposure of all eyes in the literary world today.
 MT. Johnson began his career as an author at the tender age of six years, when he found his way into type in St. Nicholas.
 His father Robert Underwood John- son, the much -honored former editor of the Century Magazine, did not want his son to become a writer. The elder John son believed that landscape garden- ing offered a more attractive field for the boy. But owen Johnson's inclina- tions were stronger than his fathers de- sres, and at the age of F, with the son of Richard Watson Glider. he began the publication of a little paper, the pro- ceeds of which were contributed to the Washington memorial arch fund
 Through Lawrencevlle and Yale John son carried on his literary work. Later he began his work as a novelist-in fact his first efforts along this line were be- gun during his senior year at Yale-and gradually he proceeded up the ladder
 His remarkable versatility was evinced early. He started writing historical novels. Then he took up tales of his prep school and college days. Next came "The Sixty-First Second" and now. by far the most daring book he has written, "The Salamander."
 Mir. Johnson, however. always has been revolutionist in the field of authorship but he has never been a fanatic. He has looked down at the groundwork upon which much of our writing is based and has found where it Is weak. He has strengthened it in producing his literary structures.
 In "The Salamander" he cuts deeper into the warp and wool of present social fabric than any writer has re- gently had the courage to. He has torn away the adornments and has revealed things as they are. His heroine, whom he has seen fit to ecall the new type of American girl is not a type that