The New York herald., 1922-06-18
THE interested outsider gets

$40 01VO0o Al GWO tACSCht
volumes Of Russian stories, both
issued from Reval press. although
both written within the Soviet Re-
public. THE Numbered Days." by
<Feodor sologub. adds another book
Of short stories to a striking prose
Gupre, most Of which is accessible
in English. Besides a moral fairy
tale conceived in the manner of, a
Dunsany dramatic fantal y, the vol
ume contains three tales, two Of
which carry US back to the war days
when the old Russia darkly sensed
her approaching end. Over the
whole book there hangs the forebod
ing of the coming cataclysm, and
Herewith a faith that the Russian
phoenix will arise from it's own
ashes. "Our house is wrapped about
with a great fame" the authors
foreword> has it, "and the snake
which lives in the fire raises its head
and demands the sacrifice of many
precious things. Yet from the fiery
baptismal fount we shall emerge into
triumphant joy" ''The Noise of the
City," by Remizov. a quaint stylist,
brings to our ears the groans and
clamors of cold, hungry, blockaded
Petersburg An unforgettable de-
tail which epitomizes the unspeak-
able misery is the picture of a dog,
dying under fence, his blood stained
jaws chewing on chip of wood. And
yet somehow these sketches of
wretched and Inundated man i'm
press the reader with the sense of
the spirit which rises indomitably
over suffering.
One approaches much more closely
TO thd heart of.these times in Russia
through the Petersburg Miscellany
for 1922, published by The House of
Men of Letters. This volume re-
sumes the publication of unperiodical
collections which were common
place Of the publishers lists before
the revolution. The, Introductory
editorial note breathes hope. Life
is again coming into its own. The
old forms of existence will not rise
from the dead. But its features.
large and small, are now renascent,
and, scattered though they are, they
remind us that it is unthinkable to
build the new, by rudely disrupting
the connection with the old. Such a
\ synthesis of the old with the new
the editors of this collection have
had in mind. .. 1t was their
intention to assemble in this volume
the work of all the authentic literary
artists living in Petersburg, poets
and prose writer's, venerable men and
beginners. Not all their plans could
be carried out. Not all are repre-
sented whom they wished to see here,
and of those who are not all have
given their best. Nevertheless, the
reader will find in this collection a
survey of the present literary forces
Nof Petersburg"
The showing is not by any means
remarkable. OF the contributions Of
the thirty poets and short story
writer's many are insignificant. And
vet at least two stories stand out,
curiously enough, both by unknown
men. .Vsevolod Ivanov deals with an
incident in the recent civil war. A
village is burned, and the fleeing
peasants are intercepted by a White
General, who forces them into his
troops. It is hard to convey the
peculiar power of this narrative. The
febrile, frenetic, expressionistic TECH
nioue which the author employs is
well adapted to the confusion and
misery which he portrays. w Het-
zki's "The Insult" is a moving tale
of an old man who loses his faith in
a God who will not spare him to see
the outcome of the upheaval. Olga
Forsh contributes humorous
sketch, wherein we behold Pricdt-
dozent of mathematics hired to ex-
plain the films to a movie audience,
professor of theology earning
his bread by reading the SER
vices at a village church, and an