Evening star., 1925-03-17
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. M.
ARRowsMITH. Sinclair Lewis. Har

/. G.. M.
ARRowsMITH. Sinclair Lewis. Har-
court, Brace & Co.
A plan good enough to sweep
"Babbitt" and Main Street" in upon
a tidal wave of popularity is, ac-
cording to this properly reasonable
author, good enough also to serve for
the launching of "Arrowsmith." So,
once more, we have from Sinclair
Lewis literal transcription of every
day American life as 1t centers upon
the affairs of a company of everyday
people. All three novels are of
liberalism that exceeds mere realism
as definitely as the latter rejects
romanticism itself. This method. laid
out with so great care by Lewis and
followed in so infinite a patience.
turns these average men and women
into written words-their own out
stretched arms neatly crossing all the
ts. their own optics tidily dottfng all
the rs. Or so one easily imagines it
to be. And with the advent of "Ar-
rowsmith"- the old quarrel becomes
brand-new again. An unequal quar-
ref to be sure-a scant handful of
SIX keptics on the one side, a bowling
mob OF enthusiasts on the other. On
top, the wrangling sums, on the one
hand, to: MAIN Street is plain
punk"; on the other, to: Main
Street Is the greatest novel of the
day" just under this turbulent sur
face the fight shifts to the purpose
and mission of the novel. Is it to
mirror life, thereby setting out the
certain sequences of character and
behavior, to act as guides to conduct?
Or is it to give life an inspiring lift
out of its stupefying dreariness?
Substitute this new title for the
older one and the conflict may go
merrily on with no other change of
feature However. If sales and roy
alties may be counted as evidence,
the case of Sinclair Lewis points to
the transcriptive novel as the choice
in American fiction. Some, whose
job it is to read novels. had a hard
time getting through Main Street"
Wasn't it Haywood Broun who said
he didn't believe anybody ever read
it through? But-there is that amaz-
ing majority in its favor.
The new novel is, in its mode of
growth, like Rabbit" and Main
Street" 1t is the biography OF Mar
tin Arrowsmith through that long
that commonly passes under the
name of youth. 1t is only at the
very end Of the long story, and II
is a long one, that Arrowsmith is
saying, 1T feel as If were just be-
ginning to work" Yet there Is al
ready quite a stock OF doings behind
him. Minor things. to be sure-fall-
ing in love and out again; getting
married. twice; making friends ana
losing them: seeing visions and let
ting them slip away into the horizon;
the money troubles of schooling and
a living; indeed, all of the wearing
things that beset youth with vigor,
even with venom 1t seems, as IL to
try the stuff of him. One is likely
to give any novelist credit for dellb-
erately trying to produce the effect
that his novel does have upon
the reader. So, here, one gets out of
"Arrowsmith" the fact that work is
the supreme function of life. That
all other thinss-frtendship, iove'
marriage. the family even-are, by
comparison, mere advertisement. Not
definitely so stated. not directly so
treated. But, ta,ctily, just this Ar
rowsmith, when he strikes his own
gait, Is a worker. His field, that OF
science in its power to prevent the
physical ills OF mankind. An ao-
sorbed and enthusiastic bacterlolo-
gist, bent upon the nature and enect
of these organisms In relation TO
man. It is his fight In this field that
makes the substance Of the story.
That which he has to overcome Is, IN
mart. the secrets OF this subject. In
other part, it Is to resist the pre-
lenses of nature takers, their pom
pous self-seeking, their zest or pub
LOFTY and promotion, their generaiiy
yainglorious attitude before the mat
ter. In still other part, Arrowsmith
has some fighting to do against MIN
self. against the easing claims OF his
human n nature whimpering for amuse-
ment and soft places to sit down In
He is. on the whole, an unsophls-
tfcated and straightforward feller.
For instance, when two girls at the
same time engage themselves TO MN,
he knows no way of getting out OF
the mess except to invite them ooth
TO luncheon, where he simply lays the
case down on the table before them,
putting 1t UP to them to settle 1t. Not
q, bad way, after all. This, no more
than an index of his general sim
plicity toward all the common aiIairs
of his life. If you are proper minoeo
Won will not altogether approve OF
Arrowsmith. He gets drunk TOO
easily when things go wrong: he
fails to shine in his college work. so
much of 1t is to him futile and wide
of the mark. And it is characteristic
of the fellow to slip out from under
load that gets overheavy, with, per-
hans. too little regard for the load
itself. This applies to everything ex-
cent in relation to his pursuit OF bac-
terra, There he stands four-square ana
stable. You will be surprised, ano
pleased, with the tremendous amount
of work that Lewis has done to make
this young scientist authentic and
heIievable as a scientist. No more
than he should have done-but al
most nobody else has studied so
deeply for a similar purpose. 1t is,
indeed, quite conceivable that
Simon-pure investigator will read this
part of the novel with respect and
approval.
Crowded with characters and not
always snugly organized, the novel
will now and then irritate the reader
Who likes his stories to keep
straight and clean stride. There is
confusion here at times, one that OBJ
scures the course of Arrowsmtth In
his quest of himself. Still, that Is a
way that life has, too-crowding
space with all sorts Of nondescripts,
permitting conspicuous characters to
dim themselves into obscurity over
and over again along the way OF a
career, And since Sinclair Lewis
takes his pattern straight from life
itself, we cannot grumble when he
does the thing exactly as he has
planned to do it. You will have a fine
fight over this novel-but you'll not
ignore it. That is main point.
n II X
"Arrowsmith" is a lineal descendant
of Main Street. Not only in it's
method of development, but in general
setting and theme as well, 1t has come
down in a straight line. Both have
their roots in Sauk Center, Mimi,
.Ir. laI nd cd