Evening star., 1916-01-02
BOOK REVIEWS.
THE ,>sILTED AND INJURED. BY

Crime and Punishment. etc
Translated from the Russian by
Constance Garnet. Ne" ioi n
The Macmillan Company.
"OR the purposes of the s,ors
alone. this four-part novel by
- postoevsky is four times as
long as ii need be. To set
forth the conduct of spine
less hero who is equally in love with
two girls at the same time is not worm
even a quarter of the space allowed 10
1T by the author. But. as in all oil
the works of this great writer, 1t IS
the hlling in of the narrative that
commands the admiration of the read
er While one loses all patience with
the story as such, he is. nevertheless,
constrained 10 miss no page OF inns
big loose incohsrent novel. for the
reason that every page is likely to
hold out some amazing beauty OF
thought or some surprising example
Of intimacy with the secret workings
Of human nature. The 1nsultcd and
Injured" is not comparable in the
qualities that make for greatness with
Crime and Punishment. with The
Erothers Kara mazov' and win othef
of the DoStoeVSky novels. However.
even the lesser work of the great Rus
sian writer is worthy of the readers
attention and study. because OF its
k.nship to his greater work IN n"
understanding of the sorrows of the
poor. of the sufferiucs Of little chill
dren and of the horrors OF disease.
Western Front. BY Arnold Bennett.
author of Paris Nights, etc.
Drawings by Walter Hale, New
York: George H. Doran Company.
The writers are at the front. along
with the fighters. And this fact gives
advantage to readers. for the power
that makes acceptable writing in other
fields operates here also in the pro-
duction of clear and dramatic views
and i'll discriminating interpretations
Mr.. Bennett. in this adventure. appears
10 have seized opportunity wherever
it was to be found-with the troops
under fire. in the hospitals, at head
quarters. in the trenches ana in the
exploration of devastated towns and
villages. With the mastery of detail
for which he has already gained high
renown in other writings. he here pic
lures the sight and meaning of in
Vulnerable war scenes on the western
frontier. AS much at home in France
as in England. Mr.. Benefits opinions
of the French and English soldiery are
important from the standpoint of the
civilian. II is this groundwork of old
acquaintance, plus the writer's per-
sonaIity and literary gift, that sets
this volume of war scenes high in the
readers confidence and interest.
FIGHTING FRANCE. BY Edith Whar-
ton author of The Fruit of the
Tree, etc. Illustrated. New York:
charles Scribner's Sons. Washing
ton: Brentano's.
Mrs. Wharton here sets down her
own Impressions and experiences in the
western war zone. Here. at the outset,
is vivid picture of Paris as the
clouds were gathering above it. pic
lure that sums to high eulogy of the
people in their finely quiet and dig
nified behavior under such menace.
Here are scenes, too, of actual war
fare. in Argonne and Alsace, in Lor-
raine and the Eosges. then up through
the north. While going to and fro
gathering graphic scenes of war, Mrs.
Wharton is gathering up. besides. the
spirit of the whole French people.
This she embodies in the hnest chap
ter OF this little book. the most in
spring chapter, in which, to her view,
ine whole civilian part OF The nation
seems merged in one symbolic ngure,
carrying hope and help to the fighters
passionately bent above the wound
ed. The devotion. the seif-denial. seem
instructive, but they are really based
On a reasoned knowledge of the SIT
uauon ana on an unHinchlhS estimate
of values. All France knows today
mat real life consists in the things
that make il worth living, and that
these things. for France. depend on
the free expression of her national
genius. If France perishes as an in
reilectual light and d moral force
every Frenchman perishes with her;
and the only death that Frenchmen
fear is not death in the trenches, but
death BY the extinction of their ma
tIonal ideal. 1t is against this death
that the whole nation is lighting, and
II is the reasoned recognition of their
periisw Mich. at this moment. is ma king
the most Intelligent people in the
world the most sublime.
THE PILLAR OF FIRE: PrOfane
Baecalaureate. BY Seymour Dem
ing. author of "A Message to the
Middle Class. Boston: Small, May
uard & Co.
This sermon is "profane~ only by