Evening star., 1923-04-21
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOyER.

I The geography of fiction Is usually
far more interesting and easily mas
tered than that of fact, though in
some cases the two become identical.
| Most of US know the Scotland of
] Scotts novels much better than the
Scotland of maps and text books
Hardy and Phillpotts and Sheila
| kaye-Smith have made Wessex. Dart
moor and Sussex the most familiar
parts of England to their admirers.
In the May number of the magazine
Asia appears most interesting ar
| ticle by Robert Morss Lovett, en-
; titled, "The Realm of Conrad" THE
| pervading circumambient force of
! Conrad's novels, says Mr.. Lovett Is
I the sea, but his map covers the world,
| except central and northern Asia: On
this map are many sea routes. those
| followed by the various vessels or
| Conrad's novels. as the Brute. the
| Judea and the Narcissus. The routes
| become very thick in the region or
| the Dutch Indies. where perhaps more
! of Conrads plots are laid than In any
| other portion of the world: Ihe set
| ting of "Almayer's Folly" and IAN
Outcast of the Islands" is Borneo;
! that of "Freya of the Seven Isles" is
| mot far north from Banka"; Sumatra
! is the scene of The End OF the
Tether" and Samburan of victory,
and the Shore OF Refuge in The
Rescue" is probably in western Bor-
neo The names of Singapore, Ba-
f.! tavfa Macassar and Surabaya recur
| frequently in Conrad's novels of the
Malay Archipelago.
| X X =
! Other novels are located in other
, tropical lands and seas. in The
! Heart of Darkness the land of the
| kongo is the antagonist before which
{ human nature goes down in ruin.
AN Outpost of Progress" is also in
| Africa. The scene of Romance Is
the West Indies and "Nostromo' takes
place in South America. The awful
storm described in "Typhoon" occurs
. in the China sea. and that or he
! Nigger of the Narcissus" in the In
! dian ocean. Mr.. Lovett says: Con
| RAIDS books live by the sea-lf not on
it, at least within sound of its voice.
The novelist seems disinclined TO
linger long even in ports like Sura-
baya or Macassar."
| Conrad's storms are his greatest
masterpieces Of description. In ad-
dition to the two mentioned above
there is treacherous interisland
storm in The Rescue" in which wind,
rain and the waves contend for mas
terry over the brig. In AN Outcast
| of the Islands" there is a cloudburst
| which catches Willems and leaves
him a drenched,, detected and breath
less human shuttlecock. In contra st
TO Courad'S storms, the dead calm in
The Shadow Line" in which the
captain is buried at sea. while the
crew is fever-stricken, is equally
| masterpiece. -
Something Of the individuality and
sparkling style of the French memoirs
of the eighteenth century is to be
found in the autobiography CMy
. Life"D Of Emma Calve. Though the
great prima donna is most intimately
connected in the public mind with the
character of Carmen. she says that
this was not her favorite role. She
preferred several other parts, as
Elsa. Marguerite, Juliet, Ophelia.
! When studying for the part of Car
men she went to Andalusia and OBJ
served the life of the gypsies, espe-
cially in the cigarette factories.
| Calves family were opposed to her
! going on the stage, as families are
likely to oppose the dramatic aspira-
tions of their daughters. Her aunt
! exclaimed:
4, lastingly damned. A little girl of our
family going TO be an actress-one
of those women who could not be
buried in consecrated ground in the
old days,
Four generations of one family OF
New Workers people the pages OF
Arthur Trains novel His Children's
Children" Peter B. Kayne, who has
built with part of his dubiously ac-
quired wealth the huge brownstone
mansion occupied by the family. is a
lovable reformed rascal of eighty
| Rufus kayne, his son, is a conven-
tional, prosperous trust official who
takes disastrous fling financially and
morally when he is past fifty, and
learns the wisdom of simplicity and
sincerity just as the book closes
daughters of Rufus, represent the
younger generation of the present
day, and the picture is not hopefu
one. Claudia, after few years OF
marriage with an arlStocratic English
adventurer. returns to her fathers
house with her children, whom she
has kidnapped because she was unable
to obtain a divorce under the unjust
English divorce laws. Diana leads ar
Independent life in a circle scarcely
known to her family, and spends much
time, unchaperoned. at house parties
composed, except for her presence. en-
tirely of men. She1la, only eighteen
is a popular member of wild ano
lawless juvenile set: in her search fol
sensation. when dances have palled
she experiments with drug taking anc
Yogi practice. The fourth generation
is represented by the two children OF
Claudia, who join old Peter b. in his
| trims to Central Park to feed the
squirrels, and are with him there al
the May day festivities when he mac
the stroke" which finally causes hi:
death An appropriate ending to thi:
twentieth century Vanity Fair i:
the sale of the Kayne house at auc'
ton. coincident with the death of the
old Pirate" Peter b.
have been interested in running
Through the new book on "Th'
Psychology of Handwriting b,
William L. French. which contain:
n1any facsimiles of different hand
writings. These illustrate difference:
, in mental and physical types ant
states of the writers. from which
ldeductions as to the characteristic!
land capabilities are drawn. The bool
reproduces letters and autographs o,
. the President and his cabinet an(
other representative men and womer
of the country, of business executives
scientists, artists, editors, writers
: movie stars and criminals. In mos
eases the author furnishes ain inter
nretation of character based on the
handwriting.
| * x x X
/, The sufferings that come from
Ignorance of social conventions. wher