Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-02
TWO NEW VOLUMES
OF RUSSIAN LIFE
BY ARTZIBASHEF
"The Breaking Point" and "The
Millionaire" Fascinating
Stories of Sinister
Philosophy
A NEW THOMPSON SETON

A Russian novel without tragedy would
be an anomaly. And tragedy to the Rus
sian means not only painful events; II means
tragedy Of soul and mind grovelings of the
spirit in the doubts of daily life. and the
naked revelations of the everlasting strug.
gle between the dual man. Tragedy draws
no class line; II Is part Of every life, the
more sensitive and thoughtful the life the
bitterer and more miserable
Artzibashef, true to his Slavic blood,
uses tragedy as his motif in "The Breaking
Point" Huebsch, New YorlO. The common
strain is suicide. The brave philosophlc
thinkers, the sensuallsts the seduced
maidens, the Weddings and those whose
passions have momentarily driven them
mad, all meet the same end-deatr-and
thereby rid themselves of the struggle.
Again we have n story without a technl-
cal plot. Daily events mean nothing with
out the subtler revelations of mind and
spirit which precede them. We care little
whether one Mchailov kills himself unless
we discover why he did IT, unless we see that
this last act was the elimination of a
tangle of incomprehensibie emotions and
passions which really miscarrled n whole
life. Always the emphasis Is nlaid on the
inner rather than the outer, life, and as in
reality, the depths prove bitter more often
than sweet.
The characters stand out clearly on the
canvas. They have high lights and shadows.
and their numerical abundance does not
detract from their uniqueness. with n
dramatic instinct n deep feeling for the
real and poetical insight. the author makes
us as intimately acquainted with the old
Doctor Arnold, who admits his senlity
and still keeps on living, as with the beau
tiful young Maria Pavlovna, whose linger-
ing bodily death only disoloses her youth
ful spirit. Nelly, whose charm Is beyond
resistance for men, Is often torn between
love of the basest and of the truest sort and
student. fTChiah. va n
slipping away from him, comes also to the
breaking point.
The artist in Artzibashef speaks in many
or his scenes That his whole being feels
the tragedy of philosophic belief In sui
clde, is evident in the gripping and memor.
able way in which he describes the deaths.
The ones which Nature brings about in the
usual fashion. like the passing of old Ivan
1vanovitch and the kddle Grischenka. and
the self-inflicted deaths of Lisa and Krause.
each takes on reality and vividness
which Enthusiastically show the authors
talent for color and feeling.
The volume entitled "The Millionaire"
also by Artzbashef. and containing Ivan
Lande" and Nina" besides the title-story,
is no more optimistic in its strain. But
there is the same philosophlc trend. the
same vivid coloring of characters and set
tings and the simple details of tragedy and
bitterness that are so constantly found in
all the works of the author. Mishuf, in
his blase, vapid life of millionaire sees
nothing worth while-not even the loves
of women-except suicide; Ivan Lande for
the sake of q friend, who Is dying In lone
liness braves the bitter winter and freezes
to death before he reaches his goal and
Nina, an innocent school teacher in
rural community, falls into a horrible as
sault, struggle and death at the hands of
the local officials who, in one of their de-
bauches, come upon her undefended. The
most vivid sketch in black and white
could not picture these lives in their
courses and consequences more clearly than
this vital Russian author has done.
Through William Butler Yeats own pen
we learn something of his life In "Reveres
over Childhood and Youth" (Macmlllan
Company, New York; The dramatlst takes
us into fascinating hooks and corners of
his childhood and youth, telling us simply
and POLITICALLY what he remembers of his
Joys and sorrows, experiences and ambi-
tions, We feel with him when he COM
plains of the eccentric clothes his mother
dressed him in. We understand something
of his relationship to his artist father and
his celebrated friends, and life In Sligo and
Rosses Point takes on n happy reality for
those Of us who want to know the charm
Ing poet and dramatist more intimately
Tens of thousands of Americans have a
more friendly and sympathetic feeling for
animals because OF Ernest Thompson Seton.
They do not care whether the naturaists
agree with all that Seton writes. They are
more interested in the comedies and trag-
edies OF the animal world which he de-
scribes, and they know from their own ac-
quaintance with dogs and cats. horses and
birds, that there is foundation enough for
his animal tales to justify a man of i'm
agination in embroidering the facts little |
Seton's latest book. wild Animal Ways"
doubleday, Page & Co.. New York; Is as
fascinating as its predecessors. He has |
introduced some new characters. including |
bat, q raccoon, a boar and a dog. The |
bat he calls a winged brownie and his |
story of 1t is u sort OF fairy tale of the
air and the night, told with the poetic feel
ing without which fairy tale is stale and |
Improbable.
First-hand experience of an unusual sort |
Is brought to the service of fiction by |
Richard Matthews Hallett in Trial by Fire"
(Small, Maynard and Company. Boston,
This remarkable novel, by one who not |
only lived among the scenes he describes |
but was part of them, is a tale of the |
Great Lakes. 1t is big in scale and vivid |
in execution. In its rich portraiture of the |
existence of the Lakes sailormen, its in |
tensity of action and its concern with |
elemental passions with humanity stripped |
to the bufi-MT. Halletts novel is one of the |
of the literary season Best |
Of all Is the authors genuine insight into |
the emotions OF his people II is easy enough |
to describe traits but II Is a different and |
more difficult achievement to interpret |
moods and motives.