Evening star., 1925-01-18
Reviews of New Books
OUTLINE GUIDE TO SHAKE
SPEARE. BY Paul Kaufman, Phi. ID.
Nap York: The Century Co.


~ 0 use this Outline OF Shake
speare" is to set its high value
at once. 1t is not easy to con-
L ceive so much of actual prac-
tical assistance as this little
book is prepared to give, not only TO
tho student of Shakespeare, but TO him
who is something less than the student,
the one who finds JOY in merely reading
this phenomenal all-men-in-one. A
small volume, this one. easy to carry
about-literally a. handy book. A book
that is bursting with good help. Here
Is the historic background OF Shake
speare without which no literature may
be justly considered. Hero are the
salient facts in Shakespeare's individual
and family life-documented and au-
thentic, Here is a synopsis of the plays
AN admirable piece Of condensation,
most useful feature in a book OF this
sort. The characters themselves ap-
pear here, and with them an analysis
OF the plays which they animate and
project. A whole array Of useful fea-
lures of lesser import follows these
greater and more vital points. Here is a
vocabulary explaining the more diff
cult words OF the plays. Here also
pronouncing list Of words and digest
OF the grammar employed by the poet
A metrical analysts of the plays. an in
dex of the songs, list of familiar
quotations and a working photography
for the study of Shakespeare-all this
tells something of the richness and use
fulness Of this comprehensive guide. 1t
indicates, also, the amazing amount OF
research that went into this study. And
after the collection Of material from
every conceivable reliable source, then
the stupendouS work of condensing this
mass to. the limits of the book in hand
Selection, order, coordination, graphic
forms of ready seizure by the eye-so
many. kinds of knowledge and insight
have gone into this little book that one
looks upon it not only as one of the most
competent of guides, but as model also
of the peculiar genius and purpose Of
the modern outline.
SAILS OF SUNSET. BY Cecil Roberts,
author of Scissors" New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Co.
Just a beautiful romance set
against a gorgeous back ground. This
is all il aims to be. No social study,
no deep .introspections, no sodden de-
sires, no violence to the marriage
bond, no new woman, no free life
not one of the Vogue-rldden themes
just now so wearisomely overcrowd-
ing the field of fiction. Instead
love story, wherein the course of true
love is tested by any number Of out
and-out obstacles such as one can
oh. no, not by the lovers. By the
old folks instead. A difference in
tionality-projected as a barrier
by these same cold, old folks. The
tide is too swift and strong. And so
the young Englishman wins the girl
of the Italian fishing village. Not,
really, mesalliance at all, as it turns
out, for the girl is lovely and cul-
tured and all the other things that a
young Engishman deserves. But II
is. after all. the splendid background
of this romance that captures one.
With true skill and genuine feeling
this author portrays Venice in it's
unique beauty, in its historic f1avors
and in certain Of its special moods.
Against Venice he makes a beauti-
full use of Chioggia, a fishing village
of the Adriatic coast. A very beau
tiful story from every point of view.
A story that makes a point of beauty
and achieves 1t in delightful measure.
THE GOLDEN VILLAGE. BY Joseph
Anthony, author of "Rekindled
Fires" etc. Indianapolis: The
Bobbs- Merrill Company.
A writer of the vagabond tribe will
use any excuse to take to the open
road. And readers of this tribe will
accept any of these excuses to fol-
low their leader into the open with
JOY anu BlduUeSS. OOSSpH ~AIAlLOAlS
is a writer of this order. You and /
are of the same" breed. 50, out wei
go, on the trail of an old man and
his grandson. The boy, almost an
American-not quite though. else he
would not so readily have fallen into
the elusive quest set up by the
grandfather who has come TO the new
world to find the golden wheat fields.
said to spread so widely here, and
i TRr,,- ~
and Perenyi and Krivatsy and Torok
-Hungarians, all, who had come
over 20 years before. The boys
father and mother had died in Amer
lea when Stephen himself was moth
ing more than a baby. And some
thing in the blood made him step
off beside the old man in a deiectable
journeying up and down and across,
looking for the golden fields and the
old friends Of his grandfather's
younger days. And, believe it or not,
they do finally come upon this group
that so many years before had left
Hungary for the new world. Then
the old man. leader over there and
wrongfully held in prison when he,
too, was about to sail with the others,
comes into a very beautiful atmos-
phere of friendship, even of homage,
from these friends who in the old
days had so looked up to him. Very
dear and delightful, the whole of 1t,
both in spirit and in the sheer sim
plicity OF its outer form.
THE SACRAMENT OF SILENCE. BY
Noel Sylvestre. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
This is the story of a priest who
under "the sacrament of silence"
goes to prison rather than violate
,5,-sS l,S- nf11 nv
divulging what has come to him in
that capacity concerning a crime COM
mitted in the neighborhood. A very
unusual theme, this. One that calls
for a good insight and fine discrimi-
nation in its adequate handling. To 1t
the author applies just these quail
ties. And out of this sympathetic
conception very sincere and appeal
ing story comes into the hand of the
reader. A story wherein manly cour-
age linked with human understand
ing and something like a divine
sympathy produce a character calcu-
lated to clear anybody's sense of
human values and human obligations.
Yet, not at all a story built on the
lesson plan and purpose. Just a story
instead-simple, true, idealistic, be-
lievable-involving the simple lives
OF a lowly class of men and women
SARD HARKER- BY John Masefleld,
author of Saltwater Poems and
Ballads" etc. New York; The
Macmillan Company.
Part of the time pursuing dream
and part of the time involved in a
series of events that sum to stren-
nous adventure, Sard ,Harker here
gives a mans account of himself.
The dream surrounds a woman,
girl who had crossed the boys path
svhan hnth were litfle mora than