Evening star., 1926-12-14
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
4. C.. M.
EvERYBODY's PEPYS. Editor. o.
r. Morshead. Harcourt, Brace &

BTOIneTS.
Here are two books. identical In
purpose, that are separated in pro-
duction by about 900 years. Popular
today, both of them. Therefore.
truly vital essence must sustain them
against the destructive effects Of time.
These two books represent one and
another of the forms Of gossip into
which the great bulk Of all printed
stuff is nowadays gathered. Here Is
the diary at whose head stands the
immortal Pepys. supported by John
Evelyn Of his own time. and emulated
by q host Of later and lesser diartsts.
Here again Is the memoir, with saint
Simon as one Of its classic eXponents,
which has bred so fecundly through
the Years. Here belongs the second
of these volumes, More Uncensored
Recollections." And, once more again,
there are the newspapers of the day
devoted in impressive bulk to gossip.
And nine-tenths of the popular novels
depend upon gossip for both existence
and sustenance. Only deep uni
versal demand could produce such
unanimity of response.
"Everybody's Pepys" is a most intel
ligently projected abridgment OF the
full Pepys record. Expurgation. as
commonly understood. seems not to
have been the controlling purpose
here. Rather was 1t the intent OF this
editor so to select from the great diary
as to present true and proportioned
view of both the times and the man.
A competent and satisfying volume
greatly enhanced in enjoyment by
pictures whose underlying ideas take
form in a delightful artistry.
More Uncensored Recollections" Is
a continuation Of this anonymous
writer's earlier effort. A volume OF
shrewd brisk gossip surrounding, IN
the main, the figure Of Edward VII,
both as King and Prince of Wales.
An amusing body of comment, clearly
calculates 20 give general pleasure,
that brings out many a conspicuous
Englishman in good revelation, that
brings out the author as well in self
revelation.
Looking carefully into the matter.
1t becomes fairly plain that gossip Is
natural human function, as digestion
is or circulation.
BY as true an instinct as food OF
! various sorts passes into the stomach
and out therefrom into the blood, 50
into the special human NAV Of gossip
do the multitudinous affairs Of other
people pass and from this into the
individual system for certain legiti.
mate uses and satisfactions. s
This common function, this univer.
sal practice Of gossip, has lost its
natural birthright of genuine useful.
ness by virtue of the fact that the
world, persistently failing to appre-
hend its real nature, has misplaced It
in the scheme Of existence and has
taken before it a false and ignorant
orientation.
The general polite posture before
this benef1cent function is that of
execration. regret. denial even-an
attitude Of sheer hypocrisy. or plain
lying, or quite moronic brand Of self.
delusion.
Gossip Is, in essence and natural
effect, the great human safety valve.
It gives voice and currency to a thou.
sand secret individual desires. 1t
Qbjectifies--in broken acts, to be
sure-but 1t does objectify the drama
of ones own deeply buried dreams
1t offers vicarious courage to timid
retreating souls. 1t mouths in the
open day innumerable tabus dear to
the heart Of many a>stern upholder of
accepted conventions.
These desires and dreams, these
timidities and fears--all coming from
God knows where-f pent up with
out easement in the deep heart of man
would make Of every human in the
world an Etna, a Vesuvius. whose
outbreak and self-destroying eruption
HxyO hgYf q Fnaffor ~
favoring circumstance.
But happily for the individual these
emotions are not pent and confined.
Instead, through the natural outlet
Of gossip. they escape In q thousand
rills Of tittle-tattle into the universal
sea Of hearsay and rrimor. a
The very word itself bespeaks a
pure origin and substance, with even
religious implication about 1t. The
word gossip" is neither more nor
less than "god-sib." The second syl.
liable connotes alliance; the first one,
God" So, originally. gossip is COM
murion--communion among friends,
communion with God even.
y X Il +
It is an odd and puzzling circum.
stance that this function, sourced In
should, in turn, have become pervert.
ed through an affiliation with reli-
gious rite. You recall that the God Of
the Hebrews accepted the ceremony
of the scapegoat: II will unload my
sins upon this creature and I will send
1t forth into the wilderness that my
self may walk upright and go forth
without blemish." Clearly, It was the
religious theory of the scapegoat, tai
lying SO close to the natural fears and
cowardice of man, that brought gossip
to it's ultimate downfall as a means
Of self-revelation and self-rescue, to
was this that converted 1t, instead. to
most fruitful means Of general pollu-
ton. And how does the scapegoat
theory of gossip work out In fact?
Let one be accused Of theft and every
potential thief joins Justify with the
pursuing rabble. Let some one be
suspected of murder and the man In
whose heart murder Is possibility Is
the first to support the suspicion. It
takes a thief to catch a thief and a
liar to uncover a liar. Let a social
charge be laid against one. In the
twinkling of an eye the great army
of the suppressed, of the overfed and
sated are the most CLAIMANT of the
accusers. And so 1t goes through the
whole catalogue of human conven-
tions and inhibitions. Such perver-
sion of a clearly wholesome and natu-
raj function under the meretricious
theory of the scapegoat accounts, in
part at least, for the great common
hunger for news gossip. for the gossip
of novels and plays. for the small NAL.
ice of the people against one another
all unloading their own possibilities
and potentialities upon some one else,
upon any one else. And since sex
emotions are the single universal
prepossession of mankind the gossip
against this common endowment is of
special virulence and hatred Within
1t. indeed. the world itself is entangled.