Evening star., 1926-08-15
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

New York: Simon & Schuster.
NHE radio has served already to
bring into general considera-
tion and affection many a
Il genius who. prior to this in
Vention, claimed but a limited
ana exclusive audience. And a listener
IN nowadays is able to make an ac-
quaintance with the music of Wagner.
and Bach. and Beethoven, and Verdi,
and another. and another. Frequent
arias from "Rigoletto." and I'll Trova-
tore" and LA Ira viata," and Aida, :"
bring to the fore in our minds that
Italian composer. Giuseppe Verdi, who
was so actively in sympathy with MAJ
zini and Cavour and the other patriots
working for the liberation of Italy
from Austrian domination Verdi and
Wagner are here contemporaries, and
in sense rivals. 1t is GiuSeppe
Verdi that this German writer has
selected AS the hero of a long romance
of operate drama. The background
of the novel is Venice, where Verdi
had already had so many triumphs
But the story is not one of the
maestro's successes. Rather does it
cover later 10 years, when Vertli's
genius had gone stale; when, morose
and frightened, he was looking out
upon exhausted energies, upon no
promise for the future. Here, too,
under his eyes was the buoyant and
self-SatiSfied figure of a great rival
Nagner-Whom he hated in a jealous
fear. Such. in a word, is the theme
upon which this young German writer
has expended his German genius for
analysis and introSpeCtion and pains
taking explanation. We have a way
of calling compositions of this sort
hnnItn1nnf>-
more here than such a registering as
this name implies. For there is
drama here, tense and vital-nOt only
the drama set by these two rivals but
the greater drama of d human mind
contemplating its own impending
downfall. There are here, too, many
minor stories that sum to a picture
of the life of Venice at the period
when Verdi and Wagner met there
1t is big and important story of
geniuS-a story that is developed in
the best manner of the young Ger
man who is shedding some of the pom
derOuS qualities of earlier German
writers, and who is at the same time
retaining the SoundneSS and sincerity
of that earlier work.
): = *
RICHARD KANE LOOKS AT LIFE
ton Miffiin Company.
HERE is a university professor who
has kept himself sufficiently open
and sufficiently mellow to speak about
many vital matters with wisdom and
intuition. with sympathy and under
standing. An uncommon phenome-
non, this. There is something about
the authority that lies in the teachers
position. something about the sup
posed invulnerability of his knowl-
edge. that shuts this class up tighter
than drum as a rule-Something
that makes them as sounding and
reverberative as a drum also. But
not this man. For the sake of the
jectivity, DIR. Edman here selects a
student, or a composite student, or
possibly he creates one out of whole
cloth, to be the party of the second
part in this series of talks about the
things in which youth is naturally
engrossed. Here the doctor and
Richard Kane. the two quite on
level except in experience, take up
the college life of Kane, with it's
visions and incertitudes. From this
point they move 10 kane'S travels in
Europe; to his subsequent settling
down, where he develops a conscious
ness Of his part in the life around him.
IN its morals. in politics, in education,
in art. in religion. This, however, IS
mere schedule. 1t is the manner Of
the professor that counts with the
reader. 1t is his wisdom. his keen
and patient insight. his wide knOwl-
edge, All seasoned with liberal think
ing: his understanding of human
foibles, as well as of human obliga-
tionS. One feels the scholar back of
these talks-feels him without resent
ment. So one trusts this wisdom and
loves the gracious spirit, and follows
the scholarship gladly. A beautiful
outlook upon life, and a sound one,
these two-the Professor and Kane
have achieved. And here Is a gem of
Il book for YOU and for me as a result
OF the free condolences Of these two.
TRAIL SKETCHES. By stuart Fal-
coner Forbes. Boston: The Chris
topher Publishing House.
HERE is lyric record of many a
joyous adventure. Lone adven-
lures these appear to have been. But
happiness is a SoCiable. open ha nded
thing. eager to give out freely that
which may have been boarded in jeal-
Gus secrecy. So here. by way of more
than half a hundred songs, this trailer
of the West makes open aVoWal of
his passion for the wild. unbroken
distances lying toward the sunset.
Every poem is a picture; every one is
an unpretentious little song. running
along in the pattern of familiar verse
the pattern created to fit the lyric
mood. Here is a moment of dear eX-
perience. There is an instant of pecul-
lar thrill at some sight or sound. at
some secret message out of the beauty
of mountain. or sky, or wood, or leap
ing stream.
There is a genuine quality in this
book that any one is bound to feel
and equally bound to like. 1t is as if
these verses came because they had
to come in sincere noblesse oblige
for the bounty of these solitudes to
this ardent wanderer among them. 1t
IS as if the songs were sung for the
wild and enthralling scenes them
selves. not primarily for critics and
readers and other more or less indif-
ferent folks. Nothing could be more
engaging to such outsiders. however.
than this complete devotion of the
writer to these rich sources Of his
solitary and joyous adventures.
PRODIGALS OF MONTE CARLO.
BY l.. Phillips Oppenheim, author
of The Golden Beast" etc. Bos-
ION: Little. Brown & Co.
TT was not fairy tale, that one
= about Cinderella Cinderella actu-
ally did live once upon a time. She
did marry the prince and they had a
house full of children. From time to
time in succeeding generations one or
another of their offspring has kept the
family romance alive by re-enacting
the old and familiar story. King
Cophetua, who married the beggar
maid, was one of their grandchildren.
And today the newspapers every now
and then point to some one of direct
descent from Cinderella and Prince