Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-14
JOHN COURNOS'S
RUSSIAN NOVEL
The Scene of Part of 1t Is in
This City, but the Animating
Snirit Is Not American

~ Cournos lived in Philadelphia
=, more than twenty years, including
,v w. ,oriod Lctween his tenth and thir-
,,..h I vcars without losing the psyche
,osical twist of his native country This
Wan ~ demonstrated beyond cavil in his first
uo, "Thc Mask" just published IN
no.or; or;ca The book was written in Lon
don. ,u,o 1ou ue comc
.b;s c;ty with his mother in lSo'
vi w." nowsnopers on the street. becam'
sou a;ce how in the editorial department
az one of the local newspapers, an
Vi o4 70 be assistant Sunday editor. Ii
Iousioted Iosr various things from the Rus
uan on for publication in this country
siaI i l., 1o13 or thereabouts he went t.
nana,ond NV He became a member of th'
ms ssin. Russian commission to Petro
hnt ad and arrived there three weeks be
tbr Bo,shevik revolution. Wher
io'e rotnrncd TO England he served TO-
nc roor in the British foreign office. IL
Iii soon return to America to make
lecture tour. -, ,:,l,;o,, =.
tbe sense that it tells the story OF
Russian Jew from childhood to his four.
teepth year who passed through expert
onces similar to those which Cournos
encountered. might have been written
IN Russia. 1t is altogether different IN
structure and point of view from the
novels written by men who have become
tboroughly Amercanized. 1t has little
torm but proceeds chrono'ogically and
stons when enough has been written
N fil volume of little more than 3Oo
nores This is when the hero, after an
unsuccessful experience in factory
in New Jersey returns to house IN a
cn de sac in this city. The book is the
story of tic effect of life on John Com
barcy. the hero. 1t is introspective and
npssimistic. The hero is troubled with
tbe nroblcns of human relations for
understanding which he can find no
standards. The world somehow is out
of ioint and no one seems 10 Know
Iow TO nut it right. There is no plot
In the story. 1t is merely section of
a life. Doubtless it is n true enough
nicture of the struggles of the Russian
lew family in America. But it's value
lies not in the story, but in the com
mcpts made by the hero. who tells part
4 ,f thp story to friend in London
after he has grown to maturity. or the
remarks of some of the adults who sur
round the boy. Here is an example
of The kind of thing with which the
j book is filled:
Chemically speaking a drop of jew
ish blood goes long way. Ethically
Speaking, however, our Russian. or
4 shall [ say our Christian imagination
4 Is superior to the Jewish in the ratio
that the quality of mercy is more
imaginative quality than Justice. which
Is a purely logical quality. 1t was a
materiaist who said IAN eye for an
eye" and "a tooth for a TOOTH 1t was
a poet who said. EXCEPT ye be con-
verted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter the kingdom of
Heaven"
As piece of stark realism the book
Is splendid. But the shadow on the
soul of the hero is too heavy for there
to be any lightness in the story. Those
who read il for amusement will be
disappointed, but it will repay those
who wish to discover how the Russian
psychology persists in a mind SCI u.
rated from Russia by nearly th'lty
years.
THE MASK By John Cournos. New York:
George II. Doran Co.