Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-15
THE LIBRARY TABLE



subject, 1.-The Victorian and the Mod
ern Novel" Hugh Walpoie Is a mod
ern novelist, who does not despise
the Victorians and even the pre-Vic-
torians. The Booklover has heard him
express great love for Sir Walter
Scott. Mr.. Walpole himself il prob
ably one Of the two or three foremost
English novelists today, so when ne
compares the Victorian and the mod
ern novel he In likely to say Some
thing worth while. One who knows
Hugh Walpole's different novels some
times imagines that he can trace In
them the influence ~ various VIC
torians. for example the influence OF
Dickens In "Fortitude,' Of Trollope
IN 1.-The Cathedral Of Jane Austen
In 1.-THE Green Mirror" Of Thackcray
in nearly all of them. Yet none are
in any way initiative; all arc entirely
modern" In small group or PEG
pie discussing Hugh Waipole the
other day, the question was raised
(which Of his novels best represents
his type" 1t Is q question which
cannot be answered. because he has
no one type. He has many tyres.
In fact, his great variety distinguishes
Hugh Walpole from most other mod
ern novellsts. 1t In difficult to think
written so many different kinds OF
novels.
* Il y x
"Fortitude" is big biographical
novel, the story of the life of Peter
Westcott from the time when. as a
little boy, he perches on a high, an
cient chair in the great kitchen be-
hind the taproom of Sam Figgis, the
innkeeper, and listens TO the talk of
Frosted Moses and Dicky Tasset and
the others; until, q mature man, dis
illusioned, with one stage of his life
disastrously ended, he sits alone on a
hill in Cornwall above the sea, and
discovers that he still has the one
thing needful to face the future
courage. Peter Westcott's further life
is indicated In THE Young En-
chanted," which is primarily a con.
tinuation Of 1.-THE Green Mirror" a
record of the lives and conflicting per-
sonalities. of the struggle between the
older and the younger generation. OF
the Trenchard family--George Trench
ard and his inscrutable wife, Harriet
and their children, Katherine, Henry
and Millicent, as well as Grandfather
Trenchard, Greataunt Sarah, Aunt
Aggie, Aunt Betty and Uncle Tim.
l.
chester Towers" is a picture of the
life. chiefly clerical, of cathedral
town, with indications of some Of the
secret springs of action. The great
mass of Rochester Cathedral inftu-
ences, sometimes dominates, the char
acters of all who live beneath its
shadow. Rochester is also the scene
of one of Hugh Walpole's most arts
tic novels, and certainly his most de-
pressing one, 'The Old Ladies'" a
study of old age, poverty and loneli-
ness, all together. Polchester Cathe-
dral appears again in Hugh Walpole's
most recent novel, "Harmer john" a
modern morality, in which the cathe-
dral serves as the symbol of an ideal
which puts to shame the life led by
the inhabitants of the town. The
Dark Forest" and 1.-THE Secret City
have Russia for a setting, and are
the result of Mr.. Walpole's service
in 1914-1916 with the Russian Red
Cross. They also show a decided in
terest in psychic phenomena. In
Jeremy" and Jeremy and Hamlet, -
Hugh Walpole shows himself an in
terpreter of child life and mind.
Jeremy is no commonplace child, but
q child of many fancies and keen in
buttons, and his dog, Hamlet, Is as
original for a dog as Jeremy is for a
boy. In 1925 Hugh Walpole INDUCED
himself in a fantasy, a tale of mys-
terry and horror unsurpassed by the
Victorian Wilkie Collins or the mod
ern Edgar Wallace, Portrait of a
he frankly enjoyed writing it, and
though it is very unlike any of his
other novels, it shares with them his
vivid sketches of places and his de-
lightful way of telling story.
* 4 = !:
Children of all ages from to so
who enjoyed A. A. Mines 'When We
Were Very Young" will find renewed
delight in his "Winnie-the-Pooh." This
is story of a Bear with Little or No
Brain at ALP and his master, Christie
pher Robin, and their exploits, includ-
ing an expedition to the North-Pole,"
when they were too proud to admit
that they didn't really know what It
was like or where it was. Besides the
Bear and his inevitable bunny"
there are in it confused little Piglet,
who followed Bear admiringly about:
Eeyore, the sad grey donkey who lived
by himself in thistly part of the for
est and sometimes thought to himself
"Why?" and sometimes Wherefore"
and sometimes "Inasmuch" and some
times didn't know what he was think
ing about. There were also the Wise
Old Owl, who used such words as En-
cyclopedia and Rhododendron: the
careful Kanga and the irrepressible
Baby Roo, Rabbit, all of Rabbits
friends and relations. Pooh corralled
them all in his Sing Ho! song:
They all went off to discover the Pyle p},
Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all: -,
~ By owl and Pislet and Rabbit and all.
And Rabbits relations all went emit soo - than
Sing Hey! for Owl and Rabbit and all ~
Read about them in these tales. and
we believe you will agree that here is
the same irresistible charm that won
so many readers to when We Were
Very Young"
If one wants a very brief authori-
tative and interesting article on evoiu-
ton he will find something to his pur'
pose by DR.. Vernon Kellogg, secre-
tary of the National Research Coun-
ell. In the January American Fedora
Zionist. the official magazine of the
American Federation of Labor. II the
reader has not seen a recent number
of the American Federationist he will
be surprised at the transformation
brought about during the last year
or two by the use in that journal of
better editing. better Typography and
the introduction into every number
of one or more articles on subjects of
general culture. like DIR. kellogg's
and It's implications.
x x * X
Red hair often figures in mystery
stories. probably because it is striking,
like Jazz music and cubist art. One can
hardly suppose that crime and red
hair have any psychological con-
nection. One of Conan Doyle's Sher-
lock Holmes stories is THE Red-head-
ed League" Hugh Walpole's one ex-