Evening star., 1923-01-27
The Library Table.
ny THE BooKLovER.

The ever increasing number of
American novelists. good. better, best,
makes a reader grateful FOR an oc-
dasipnal guide book to assist i'm
selection. Such a guide book 10
Carl Van Doren's Contemporary
American Novelists." The book is
not too theoretical. but passes 3udg-
ment on specific novelists who are
now claiming attention. For example.
Mr.. Van Doren believes that Zona
Gale. in Miss Lulu Bett," accom-
plished comic or ironic or tragic
meaning packed in q syllable: that
Hamlin Garland missed being q great
novelist because~he lacks great imag-
ination; that Theodore Dresser. in
spite Of crude technique and chaotic
tility; that Winston Churchill, in his
later realistic novels. is a purveyor
of stale. outworn ideas and tedious
moral platitudes; that Edith Whar-
toms prestige Is due to her we'll bred
irony; that Joseph Hergesheimer
has managed to use exotic, hambuoy-
ant material. and at the same time
to achieve the effect Of austerity. and
that Booth Tarkington's Alice
Adams" is a true and significant piece
Of realism. Among Mr.. Van Doren's
observations about general tenden-
cies in American fiction are the state
ments that the cult of local color has
been run into the ground" and that
the small community has ceased to
be an object OF sweet sentiment and
has become an object of detes.ation.
Gastronomy, or the art of preparing
and serving appetizing food. is of inter-
est to every one except the confirmed
dyspeptic, who perhaps is more con-
cerned with the subject Of kindred root.
gastritis. This interest in food, together
with another human foible. the interest
in personal details about prominent per
sonages, Is capitalized by c. Mac Sheri-
dan, in his Stag Cook Book" made up
Of the favorite recipes Of the great, from
President Harding to leading cinema
stars. We learn that President Hard
ing Is particularly fond Of wafnes that
Secretary Hughes likes corn bread and
frankly enjoys the vulgar onion, and
that Booth Harrington chooses corn
flakes. Some other people of impor-
tance are not SO simple in their tastes.
as irwin Cobb selects hog Jowl with
turnip greens. Otis Skinner artichokes.
and Oliver Herford fried elderberry
blossoms.
Among writer's of fiction who have
been more or less Influenced by the
Freudian psychology. May Sinclair Is
perhaps the most sane, as we'll as the
most artistic. In her novels. Mary
oliver" THE Romantic" and THE
Tree of Heaven" the Freudian idea
OF childhood complexes as prevailing
influences In later life is in each case
one of the obvious motives of the
story, :a1ys MSS Mis-. sinciairs latest novel;
Gone of her best, by the way). again
shows the evil effect Of suppressed or
half-forgotten emotions. Colin. the
youngest Fielding, in the terrors of
his shell-shock illness repeats his
childhood night fear Of ghosts He
RECEIVERS only when "he was aware
that his recovery was now in his own
hands. and that he would not be free
from his malady so long as he was
afraid to be alone" Maisie. the un-
tacks of false angina. of which she Is
cured only when she faces the realitv.
which she has tried to conceal from her
self. that her husband loves another
woman, and then sets him free.
~ r
The first of a series of articles on
modern morals, by the Rev. DIR. Harry
Emerson Fosdick appears in the
January Ladies' Home Journal. En-
titled First Things First" 1t Is de-
voted in considerable part to the
place Of books and reading In modern
life. A few extracts will show the cur
rent OF the writer's thought. He
writes: when one considers how
reading seeps in through the cracks
and crannies of our days. what power
there is in books to determine our
views of life. II is plain that the quail
ity of a mans reading Is one of his
foremost responsibilities. Most of US
miss the best books. not because we
choose the bad. but because we litte er
up our minds with casual trash. We
read for efficiency in daily work. ANY
man to be an adept. must read the
specialists. We read to keep up with
magazines and books. We read the
books that are talked about just be.
cause they are talked about. Ye. sc
continuously reading, we read every.
thing except the books we should reac
hrst Of all. The great books are
habitually crowded out Nevertheless
: the great books are waiting for u.s.
| The entire article, from which thes.
sentences have been culled, deserve,
reading.
! Generations of fiction writers arise
capture the public and decline, with
great rapidity. when viewed from tn,
standpoint of a century We hay,
| just become accustomed to think o.
Joseph Conrad. H. G. Wells, Johr
Galsworthy, Arnold Bennett and Ma,
! Sinclair as the leaders Of present da,
British fiction, when we discover tina
a younger generation has arisen
j ready to take their place In tn,
Yale Review for July. 1922, an articl,
! by Ford MADDOX Hueffer, called -
! Naughty and Proud Generation" II
| devoted to what the author calls tn,
second flight" of British novelists
| in our literature Pushkin's 'haught,
i and proud generation; vigorous anC
/ free In their passions and adventure
| they are such writer's as Norm;
| Douglas, F. Wyndham Lewis, D. H
Lawrence, Frank Swinnerton, Kathe
| rothy Richardson and James Joyce
| These writer's are, in Mr.. Hueffer'i
: opinion. going on to new adventure!
! in material and new explorations IA
method. They are writing the prac
| tices of Henry James and JOSEPH
! Conrad and carrying the process ont
| step further. 1t has remained fol
! them ito carry the conviction of tn,
| grinning, complex world into tn,
! consciousness. into the springs Of &C
| tion of their characteristic render ii
not effectively, but from the inside
n X
| washingtonians who rejoice in oul
trees and parks and who are desirou.