Evening star., 1924-04-15
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE INTERPRETER's HOUSE.
Strut her Burt Charles Scriln ec,S

| The House is the city of New
| York. Its engagement in this connec-
tion is to interpret it's own hectic
turmoil and perpetual hullabaloo in
terms of plain human objective and
| pursuit. 1t seeks to set out in in
telligible order the monstrous confu
| sion of this mammoth clearing house
| of modern aim and activity. Upon its
face, however. the matter bears no
such burden of design. To the reader
| out for mere diversion it is the story
Of Gulian Eyre, between his home
| coming TO New York and his conclu-
sive wooing at the hands of a capa-
| BILE, single-minded young woman, who,
sick to death of such eternal shilly-
shallying, suddenly lands her catch in
! one neat decisive twist of the wrist.
| The story closes with this triumph
"Oh, Giily! oh, my blessed one! Oh,
my dear! You're such damned
| fool"
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| The two-in-one novel-serious les
son on the one hand, diverting hour
on the other; remedial pill sugared
| to the tongue-binds it's author in
! the double bondage OF rigid exaction
and dubious outcome. It's primary
purpose, as a rule, is to project some
| menacing aspect of current life. for
| warning, conviction of sin, salvation
I-these transferred from the field of
| rellglon 10 the ethics of common ex-
! lStence. It's aim, unselfish-the world
| a decent place to live in, sharp con-
! trast 10 the pious self-centered reach
| LOT some celestial reward of con-
tessed undeserving. But grown folks
/ are like children, who instinctiyeIy
! turn Wry races away from the doses
designed for their curing. They re-
| sist the healing of their lives by any
oDElous message" whether this be
aaiIntnilstered from the pulpit or the
! with the preacher, must often, for
sooth, lodge his lesson by Yielding to
me familiar urge of young and old
alike, Tell me a story"
TO give the world of story lover.
! us way, and at the same time to have
ms own way with them, Struthers
| Burt writes down a story of one of
| the ten thousand distinct groups that
| go INTO the makeup of New York
! one whose like, too. may be found
| in any other city, in any considerable
| town besides A representative, re-
Veallng group. A family Of conse-
| euence, this-its men influential in
! matters of substance, it's women pos
J
| and. social charm. This is the family
| or Gulfan Eyre Besides himself
| tnere are the father and Aunt Vic
efnia, who refuses, properly. any sub
| ordlnate ranking whatever. There are,
| 100, an older brother and sister each
| providing Gulian with a suitable and
| satisfactory in-law A family that
| floats an aura of tradition. at least
! as much of tradition as young
world has been able to generate and
! project. Around the Eyre family is
| the familiar circle of social and busi-
| ness associates. This selection, in it,
| self, promises hopeful easement from
| the Wearying waste of fiction cast in
| the realism Of midwest aridities, or
| open-air sex close-ups, or underworld
| exposures of squaIor and obscenity.
| 1t promises relief also from the fic-
| tion banalities of mere social butter
| flying. 1t keeps both of these prom
| ises not only in the letter but in
fine overlooking of the spirit as
well.
The story gets ahead with Gulian
Eyre the center of its propelling power.
The aim is at first, an immediate
and personal one, for Eyre is seeking,
seriously, to place himself in what is
to him a brand-new situation-old
and familiar elements thrown into
new and strange combinations At
the moment he is merely rubbing the
sleep out of his eyes, suggesting
vaguely, very vaguely, that man of
/ legend who, after twentyyear
sleep among the hills of the Hud-
son, found himself walked up to a
new and bewildering life. Not that
this man is old and weather-beaten
He is only just turned thirty, uncom-
monty perSonable, too. Nor has his
| twelve-year-abs been passed in
sleep. A wide-awake period, instead.
spent in pointed travel and the af-
| forwards of a world war. But, some
| how. he has not counted on this reSo-
| luton in the old and familiar things
| of his whole life and rearing. The
| first instructive move of Eyre is to-
| ward getting himself shaken down
| comfortably into his new fashion for
| the old ways of life. Gradually this
| immediate objective lengthens and
| reaches out to compass the common
| aims of the family, the group. the
| city. the whole people, as these aims
| rise out of the confusion and take
| on definite shapes From this point
on the story is one of adjustment
! and rebellion, the balance greatly in
| favor of the latter.
!; = x x
The quiet rebellion of Gulian Eyre
rises out of the city itself, out of
it's final revelation and Interpretation
4
to affiict sorely both society and busi-
ness He searches out the malady
| first in it's bearing upon those of
his immediate Affections = family,
| friends, business associates-spread-
! ing therefrom out into a. general
| contagion. In its deepest purpose
the story deals with men and women
who, in years, stand between youth
and age. The old are out of the
turmoil of these new and strange
| solicitations. The young, boys and
girls alike, have thrown their caps
over the wall and are going after
| them-clear the way 1t is the
woman neither old nor young-like
Drusilla the lovely sister of Gulian-
| imbedded in old reticencies and re-
| sponsibilities, who hesitates and yet
yearns for the new freedom so in
| consonance with the desires of the
heart. 1t is the virile business man
! of matured success who seizes upon
| measures of larger success rather
than upon those of a finer justice.
1t is within this sphere of metro
politan success, business and social
a suave and attractive sphere-that
|Struthers Burt develops a novel whose
definite purpose is to set out along
it's way certain momentous matters
that are now infuentially shaping
the next stage in the story of the
| country as a whole, the story of the
| world as a whole. The rush for
wealth, it's methods growing more
subtly questionable, it's effects more
disruptive of any real solidarity; the
madness for social freedom and a
never-ending playtime; the general
breaking away from old anchorages
of obligation recognized and ac-
cepted-these points and their kind
| give the substance of this novel of
disclosure and implied protest.
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