Evening star., 1925-05-30
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOokLoUer.

The everyday and altogether petty
life of small Norwegian coast town
is described in Knut Hamsun's last
novel, "Segelfoss Town." sequel to
Children of the Age" The struggle
for existence is a hard one, each man
and each woman thinks only Of self
and holds the philosophy of "the
devil take the hindmost." Wil1atz
Holmsen. lord of the manor, but with
out any money to-keep up his estate.
lives abroad and studies music. with
only short Summer visits to Segel-
foss. when he makes lukewarm love
to Mariane. the half reed West In
dian daughter of Herr Holmengraa,
the mill owner. Herr Holmengraa
himself is a derelict- Once the pros
porous financial dictator of the town
he now goes about in baggy old
clothes covered with -four from his
mill. struggles ineffectively with dis
contented workmen and has difficulty
in gathering a half dozen friends for
supper at his house. presided over
by the excellent housekeeper and
cook, Fru Irgens. Solicitor Rasch has
risen to prosperity as Herr Holmen-
tie all the legal disputes of the town,
which are many, and grows rich
thereby; but his wife weeps at home
because she has not married the man
she loved. District DR.. Muus. a
degenerate in appearance, with low
skull and big misshapen ears, Is "a
man of no particular ability. and so
cold blooded besides" Nevertheless,
he continually gives out his views on
men and the world, on life and
death, and at one time aspires to
marry Froken Mariane Holmengraa,
who discourages her elderly admirer
by an impish trick. These four men,
Willatz Holmsen, Herr Holmengraa,
Solicitor Rasch and DIR. Mus, consti-
tute the aristocracy Of Segelfoss.
X 4 x 4
The lower ranks Of Segelfoss Society
have no exaggerated respect for their
betters and ruthlessly measure them
by the money standard. Theodore of
Bua keeps the village store and quar-
rels about its management with his
old father, who lies bedridden in a
room above. and when he is not given
his own way bellows loudly SO that the
customers may hear. Old Lars Man
uelsen does not work with his hands
any more, because he is father to l..
Lassen, the great pastor away in the
South-the scholar with the makings
of a bishop" Julius, who runs Lar
sens hotel down there by the quay" is
another son of old Lars. "Daverdana,
too. is one of his children; she that is
married to the assistant at the wharf
and looks as warm of blood as her hair
is red" Baardsen, the telegraph
superintendent, plays the cello well
and performs secret acts of charity:
but he is drunk much of the time, and
this accounts for the cash shortage in
the telegraph office, which is likely to
cause the loss of his job. Pastor Land
marck takes no pleasure in his clerical
office, which he considers "a foolish
and tiresome way of making living
for a man that could use his hands"
So he puts up a smithy and a work
shop at the parsonage and spends his
happiest hours in the midst of shay
ings and the smell of the forge" doing
odd jobs for the townspeople. to the
chagrin of his wife, who, when she
married. had never dreamed of hav-
ing to lead such a life" These and
many others appear in the pages of
this chronicle of smalltown life.
'The Sociology of Revolution" by a
rim A. Sorokin. is singularly lacking
In bitterness or even personal feeling.
Prof. Sorokin, the author also of
Leaves From a Russian Diary" is
one of the Russian intellectuals who
have suffered SO much privation and
hardship at the hands OF the revolu-
tionists. The Sociology Of Revolu-
ton" is a scientific study, based on eX-
tensive research of the phenomena
of revolutions and the reasons and
emotions which cause them. The book
is not historical, but, of course, makes
use of historical illustrations. 1t
shows that psychology cannot be sep
arated from sociology. Prof. Sorokin
says that a revolution is "a change
in the behavior of the people on the
one hand and in their psychology.
ideology, beliefs and valuations ON the
other" At the end revolution is the
change of fundamental social proc
esses." He gives the different phases
OF revolution: First, a period of initial
disorder; second, anarchy leading to a
struggle between Reds" and Whites
for supremacy and the establishment
'of a dictatorship, and, finally. an era
of terrorism and the end of the revo-
luton. Some of the important reac-
tions discussed as the accomplishments
VI revolution are the reaction OF
speech, the reaction of ownership,
sexual reactions and religious and
ethical reactions.
x x * =
The genealogical novel, with family
tree appended. was given the effect of
a real chronicle by Galsworthy in "The
Forsyte Saga" He is now honored by
initators.. In G.. 3. Stern'S novel, THE
Matriarch," the Rakonitz family of
Austrian Jews rival the Forsytes in
philoprogenitiveness and longevity. il
not in interesting personalities In
1906 Simon Rakonitz and 16-year- old
Babette Neinburg of Pressburg were
married. They became the ancestors
of q long line of Rakonitzes, who, in
time. migrated from Vienna, some to
Budapest. some to San Reno, some to
Paris, some to London. The more
prosperous Of the men were in the
early generations wine merchants, in
the later dealers in precious stones,
making fortunes in Burmese and ST.
amese rubies and sapphires They
lost the fortunes. too, so that at the
end the prosperity and glory of the
London branch of the Rakonitz fam.
lily. departed. and most of them de-.
scended from mansions in Holland
terrace to small houses or lodgings in
Ealing. Anastasia, granddaughter of
Simon and Babette. married her first
cousin, Paul Rakenita,. and to this fact