Evening star., 1922-05-07
Reviews of NeWsBooks

So"oiNy " me own VIE MOI a real
| ~ original way of escape. to be sure
| but the ahther invests both the situa.
tion and the people themselves with
Ia fresh and vigorous contact thai
I gives the effect of originality ano
| charm. Good work of the sort that
places this novel with the worth while
romances of curren, life.
THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM. By,
stephen Vincent Benet, author OF,
Young Adventure" etc. New
York: Henry Holt & Co.
This novel is made of youth and.
poetry. As young thing 1t is con-
| fidential, frank and prodigiously in
terested in-itself. The reader is q.
! decided gamer thereby. Commencing
with his own birth, the hero Of this
adventure in life moves joyously for;
| into work time and war time. telling
everybody all about it as he goes
along. Prose often proves made,
| quate for, this abounding tale. Then
the writer breaks into~poetry, here
the poetry whose Tilt everybody
| metrical litter alexander BlackJ OF
! cubism turned into literature. The
book is without form and order-but
1t is life, nevertheless. At many
| points one takes 1t as a book of evi!
dence on vital matters-for instance.
| on what the boy really thinks of his
school, of schoolmasters. of educa.
tion itself. He is In many respects
an Incompatible judge. College life
is passed pretty much in the open
here. Young love is a fair and some
what solemn thing with a decent fef!
low like this one. The large views of
youth are set down here with no
shamefaced skimping of their cor
ners-what does he care about the
old folks! He is setting himself
yrff nAd dc tn
And the whole of it is a joy-a Joy
of adventure of open speech, of bright
vision, of sturdy manliness-young
America as young America ought to
be. Delightful.
THE RAGON IN SHALLOW
WATERS. BY V. Sack kville-West.
author of Heritage" New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Two brothers-one' blind, the other
people. man and woman-the wife OF
the dumb man, the friend of the blind
one. Working people. all of them.
terrible story Of hatreds born of per-
sonal afiiction, of craft, of cruelty,
OF plans or revenge against the two
each other out of the horrors OF their
| immediate surroundings. AS a story.
you can see, this is quite impossible
for the usual reader and the unusual
one. AS a SYMBOL anu IuOH-
strous forces entoiling the defenseless
human, a symbol embodied in austere
and beautiful words, it is a triumph
of Imagination and literary art The
author writes in pictures-often with
blasting effect. And not once does
sunlight. At the best gray and men
acing shadows prevail. Just a few
people will read this book, but these
few will read it with appreciation OF
it's grave meanings and its severe
grace of form
THE ENCHANTED CANYON. By
Honore Willsie, author of @The
Forbidden Trail" etc. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Company.
The high point of this romance
comes with the thrilling passage OF
Canyon. Sheer adventure here, work.
ed out in an astonishing riot of haZ-
ard, Incident and imagery-an ex-
perience that makes the reader hold
on tight to anything at hand. There
is, however. a good deal Of story be-
fore this point, and q good deal after
! it as well. One first meets the hero
| as a New York waif, answering to
| the call of '.Nucky." Then chance
takes Nucky across country. where
| with the great canyon. There he be-
| comes friends with little Diana of the
canyon In the changing course of
American events Nucky becomes
Enoch Huntindon. Secretary OF the
Interior. in some vaguely defined ad.
! ministration. And Diana, big girl
now, is in Washington, too. This au-
thor has the gift of making believ-
able people, such as one might meet
on the outside, walking about and
! doing things. Diana and Enoch are
both of this stripe. These two char
acters-and all the others, as we'll
together with the desert and the can
yon of the western country, give the
story its fine appeal and stir. While
the Washington episode is colorfuI
dealing with government policies and
everyday politics Beside her other
work in this story one feels that this
is not her strong hand. We've in.
! nocent :countrymen of the Capital
eosmVs city Of Ws.bserton Gge snS n Eli over
this "jaded and cynical Washington"
But-any one is likely to be misun-
derstood. Any one is likely to mis-
understand, and that has nothing at
all to do with the stirring and pic
| turesque quality of this tale nor with
the decided charm of Its real people.
nor, above all, with its stupendous ad-
venture of running the canyon.
THE HOUSE IN DORMER FOREST.
BY Mary Webb, author of "The
Spring of JOY" etc. New York:
George H. Doran Company.
An old house, sheltering genera
tions of the same strain of blood, be-
comes vital influence, increasingly
powerful in shaping the family that II
protects. The hero of this romance
is, in effect, the house in Dormer for
/ est, and next in Importance to the
house itself is the forest surrounding
it. Both are forces of inhibition.
shutting in with their fears and su-
perstations' and old habits the family
that for many years had conformed
! I'd this double restriction. Subordi-
nately. the members Of the Darke
family struggle against the narrow
ing and mafign influence OF the. old
house and the DIRK forest around II.
One only succeeds in breaking
through the barricade set by time and
| custom. To this extent. the story is
that of young and happy love. The
story as a whole, however. is a"seri-
Gus and capable dramatisation of the
effort of the individual to go free
| from the entanglements of conform
ity that bind the great mass of hu-
! man beings together.
T0 1EY HDn HfT1