New-York tribune., 1922-04-09
A LEXANDER KUPRIN has written in

A LEAANDER KUPRIN has written in
"The PITT novel Of prostitution
as we'll as story about prostitutes.
The scene Of the book is laid in a
house Of i'll fame and rarely leaves
1t except to give us glimpse Of SINH
lar establishments and to describe the
undertakings Of a white SLAYER, whose
business trips, commissions and mer-
chandise are set forth with the matter
of-fact care for detail which Dresser
would eNpend upon an American drum
mer. That, indeed, is the dominant
note Of the book, and the one which
lends 1t all its power and fascination
the complete absence either of mclo-
drama or moralizing or sentimentality.
The author begins by picture Of
these women in the doldrums Of the
afternoon, when they sare Just waking
up to the daily round, and from that
moment until the end he carefully
records the routine of the ancient pro-
fe8sion-the raids, the fights, the
dances, the drunks and the thousand
and one events of the lives of "four
hundred foolish, lazy, hysterical, barren
women" whom he describes as the
'guardians of the honor of the family"
The inevitable rescue from a life of
shame also takes place, and with fine
touches Kuprin brings out the 1utility
of it, ending with the return of the girl
to her companion, to the respectabllity
Of an organized trade, where certain
rights and privileges are guaranteed.
Bernard Shaw as the author of "Mrs
Warren's Profession" would relish
some of the Shavian wisdom put by
Auprin into this statement Of the
morality of the underworld. AS a
good trade unionist and collectivist he
would be struck by that aspect of the
profession which his own rather con-
ventional treatment of the subject
ignored, namely, the acquiescence of
the profession in it's organization and
regularization, for protection against
degradation of domestic service-for
the girls are unanimous in prcferring
their trade to the position Of servants
They feel that in the latter they are
subjected to most of the disadvantages
Of the former, without any of the com
pensations.
But it is not out Of any specific state
ments that Kuprin builds up this epic
of prostitation, bus out OF TIE patient
massing Of facts, which tel moro then
all the djssor rtatiors Tor and against
the recognition Of this evil. His own
words perhaps viii convey more sue
entity than I can both The attitude Of
the author and the mood Of the book;
Not at all terrible ara the loud phrases
about the traftio in women Ncsh, about
a corroding tester and 50 on. No,
horrible are the everyday, accustomed
cial reckonings; this thousand -year-old
science OF amatory practise; this prosaic
usage determined by the ages IN these
unnoticeahle nothings are completely dis
solved such feelings as resentment. huml!i
alton. shame. There remains dry pro-
fession a contract. an agreement q we'll
than. say. the trade in groceries
ALI the horror is in just this-that there is
no horror! Bourgeois work days-and
that is all
The newspaper reporter, Platonov,
who is the author's mouthpiece in the
novel and who explains how such
study came to be written. speaks of the
"little prosaic strokes" that suddenly
knock you all in heap, like blow on
the forehead" and which reveal the
real significance of prostitution. The
Pit" throughout the long sweep of its
4oo-odd pages is "a skillful and power
full succession of such strokes. 1t is
the first and last honest word on the
subject. Mana and Sapho and Manon
and Marguerite Gautier are figures out
of the world of romance, but Little
Manka, Tamara, Liubka and Jennka
out of the underworld of modesn Hsos-