New-York tribune., 1922-12-17

Brce, the mimetc artlsli Juhua i"''''''
the racontcur: Jazz music and other mat
tiers. after which Mr.. Bernie drove nae 20
wanamaker's, where. as part Of the program
for the Book Fair. hoped TO see Graeialita
dance the jota which Hergesheimer features
in The Bright shawl" She did not 20 on unit!
late. however. and / had TO get back to the
office Whatever may be its other
merits. the Barrymore Hamlet has tur-
nished enough conversational material TO
last for some time to come. Everywhere I've
,o,o recently have heard discussions Of
the play. Tonight / saw it in company
with Ross Whistler, granddaughter Of the
,rc,s wasp Of the '90s; Henry James Forman'
author of 'The Man Who Lived in Shoe
and a young Harvard chap who IS just back
after two years residence in Paris. Whistler
is thoughtful host and his expfrtness was
a silent rebuke TO his guests, who had done
everything except eat sandwiches in anuei-
nation OF the dinner. Mr. Forman told me OF
his visits last year TO May Sinclair
whose new novel, "Anne Severn and the
Pieldings.r we both think so highly OF.
He described her as rather prim and Puri-
tanieal looking little woman. very shy and
self-ehaeing; one whose eyes were almost
ruined when she was a young woman By long
hours Of manuscript reading for publishing
house (she had herself and others TO sup
port) and by extra work in the British hu-
scum, where she collected research material
for scientists, and who now lives in house
she has bought, part Of which she rents out
during certain seasons. Mr.. Forman also
told me much about Rebecoa West. the
critic and author Of "The Judge" Miss
West, he said is a dynamo OF energy, aPpa-
rently interested in everything under the
sun, ready 10 discuss eugenies or show one
her collection OF modern art (many Of them
highly eTpressionistc and erotic in eharae-
teri. argue about oceultism. disseet the latest
novel, cxpound Sovietism. inquire about
American slums. or point out the merits Of
Shoenberg and Strawinsky. She is quite
striking looking he said, but not especially
pretty; she has had a rigid upbringing among
respectable British middle class parents and
looks il, which makes the frankness Of her
discourse seem all the more naive and anon
Alous, and she runs away from the social
life Of London every once in a while to a
place she rents in the country. and there. in
solitude, she writes. The young
Harvard chap. who never caught my name
1--WE were in the same boat said: ~who
n this young fellow | heard about in
Paris and London and over here who
writes for The Tribune and Is raising hell
and stirring up all the old fogies by crack
ing up modern authors at the expense Of the
classics" kept Forman and Whistler quiet
with frown until he had finished. It just
goes to show how reports get exaggerated;
he said he had been told he ought to read
what ! write, because showed up Shakes
peare, chased college professors up the street
with squirt guns, challenged the whole
Victorian era and knocked them each
out seriatinl, kicked the foundations out from
under all critical standards Of the past and
raised great ballyhoo for James Joyce
James Branch Cabell. r. S. Eliot. Sherwood
Anderson. Sinclair Lewis, Ben Hecht and
lot Of poets and novelists who are just con-
ing up. In a way. / suppose, il is all very
hattering; but Il is very far from the truth
To my certain knowledge have never writ
ten q word in disparagement OF the genius
Of Shakespeare; for my personal pleasure
read the classics often BY preference to
modern literature; my only quarrels with
critics have been with contemporaries: and
think that the Victorian era, taking every
thing into consideration, produced some very