New-York tribune., 1922-10-15
A Booknlan's Day Book
TUESDAY. OCTOBER 8

Aeoatah@ 's' s
;no nerson, man Of actor
i H ,uY1,cd iitterateur. He is heavy
s.f,.nscked, with hish--bridged,
s. s..s,se nose, thin lips, sparse crinkly
e. L lhrownish complexion and the
L .I.. ma manner of cavalry captain,
.s,sA by the way, he once was. His
s.,, rnme Is Captain Syyed Shaykh
..s..ds abdullah Nsdir Khan el-Iddris-
s. 4, .r,uyani. He was born In Kabul,
sxshssixtan. ae studied at Oxford and
!, ,b.a,yniversity Of Paris and took his
s.x,ea In Koranic Law at ai-Asar In
4 Cairo. Egypt. Leo Disrichsteln tells me
nat Abdullah speaks pure bsriinese
"A 4baullah tells me that he also
.nesss Manchu and Persian and that he
can aud his way about like q native IN
Tibet. Moscow, Shanghai, constanti-
.,a.r5 8sIuchistan. He was a cap
-. a n. pritish-Indian army and he
fouxhs With tbs Turkish troops in the
a..t Raiksn war. He wears the emblem
yths order Of osmanie and decora-
ou for bravery. he has roved, 1t ap-
,ssrs. all over the face Of the Orient.
yow he ever settled into the sedentary
rori of writing fiction have not ascer-
I ,alned, Possibly he began writing in
/ "a extremity OF unemployment as the
a.ndiest way Of farming an honest
benny. ! remember his telling me that
rhen be was on his uppers few years
/ mc be wrote epigrams by the yard for
( AZ aSmart Set" at 25 cents apiece. Now
ss hss half dozen books to his credit,
IL has figured in almost every collec-
tion Of distinguished contemporary
+ AMERICAN short stories and his latest
,clums, "Alien Souls" contains some
ssrnorous stories Of sound workman
dip and literary distinction.
Bis apartment in Waverley Place is
Bfs setting by Lee Simonson for
jnuatic version of "The Virgin of
| ssmhoul" The walls are hung and
.ae floor is strewn with Turkish, Per-
ass, Chinese and Afghan rugs, rich
Il and beautiful in sheen, pattern and
sytire. One admires scimitar, with
Il traced silver handle, on one side of
which the design is worked in copper,
and Abdullah explains that it was his
Gsndfather's weapon and that silver
yeass by friction, hence the copper.
0ro Is pleased by portrait OF a
;qeass-bearded old fellow of distin-
sashed mien and a well fed, important
/ lpses, and one learns that this, too,
d " an ancestor and, moreover, that
1t was painted In defiance Of the Ma
honesan law, which DEGREES that no
living erutures may be represented in
art3 sHsnce," says Abdullah, "the
cHEentionslity OF Turkish art, Turk
ID afrhitecturc, Turkish rug weaving.
I y an art of geometrical designs"
lsais Is a divan piled high with
assions, bronze silva of the four
ssrth century, landscape in Persian
! abroidery, Brahma, with more arms
Aa q caterpillar, which Abdullah ad-
sasis messy because of the Hindu in
aate; Samurei sword of tempered
Gss with carved ivory handle; a
gasn prayer rug, with design sug-
sang the entrance to mosque; a
aadred bits of decorative interest IN
latSls, swords, knives, inkstands, in
arse burners, and so on.
Clad In tweeds and oxfords, Abdul
ah moves about in this setting, ges-
|4dsulating. Many things annoy him.
Ills head Is stuffed with the most ab-
Mrd notions. He solcnniy believes
lhat tho Messrs. Percy Hammond,
iiexAnder Wooilcott, Haywood Broun,
sBurns Mantle, Lawrence Reamer, John
neorbin and Kenneth Macgowan fore
+ gather ssveral days in advance OF the
production Of each play and decide
+ whether they shall boost or roast It,.
he 10 irreparably convinced that
every factor except an honest opinion
may: enter into this decision. II Mr..
Woollcctt Is able to contend success
my that tbs issue of his current ro-
ace depends upon the proper criti-
! reception Of play, or if Mr.. Broun
shle to contend successfully that
sae status OF the mortgage on his
connecticut estate will be affected by
ao Plays endurance, or If MIR. Ham
40aa announces that check will be
'0'saeoming large enough to split
,'sa ways, they will all, according to
'0uaslah, search the dictionary for
saoaSms for "good." If, on the other
'aa' saere are no material or person
lsasons why they should indorse a
sH u Is Abdullah's firm conviction
s.s 'ney will agree to plan it. My In
'eace that these gentlemen hate
~ ether cordially and that they
come to no agreement on any
s, OUT Of sheer distaste for each
as Judgment, left Abdullah un-
aaced. The critics Of literature,
opinion, are just as bad, If not
~ iwo-thirds Of them. he thinks,
HI 'pssarts out of Princeton and Yale
.s ready to declare that q ma
u singapore does not give the
atmosphere of Singapore in his
a o. that chekhov doesn't know
snEsa NE. Kenelm Digby and DR..
s.Ss. ~ smythe, it is Abdullah's firm
meet every Tuesday at lunch
81. Snpare notes on what they shall