Evening star., 1927-10-18
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. M.

Seen through a good range or time
and space, the pioneer looks like a
hero of high adventure. Out from
our own early days there stand as
such Puritan and cavalier, French
voyager of the North, Spanish con.
quistador of the South. Sheer ro-
nance at this distance, it seems, to
bring to heel the untamed wilderness.
Romance, to be sure, whose glamour
heightens and whose enchantment
deepens with the assuaging years that
lie in between then and now. Padded
in the securities of our own safety
first existence, we thrill to the picture
of "The Covered Wagon" wistful,
maybe. toward the lost simplicities
of that time. while realizing not at
all the terrible toll exacted by it upon
the brain and Drawn and soul of the
individual pioneer.
n 4 n X
In the opening up and settlement
of the immediate Northwest-Wisco
sin. Minnesota, the Dakotas-Swede
and Norwegian played a part so con.
siderable as to have stamped that To-
cality with the indelible imprint of
the Norseman. Such racial prepon
derance, 90 stable in native trait as to
impress the surrounding life rather
than to be impressed by 1t, projects
an interesting and illuminating unit
Of fact bound to be of value in any ul-
innate appraisal of the composite
character Of the people of the United
States.
"Giants In the Earth" Is story of
the opening up of the South Dakota
prairies by handful of Norwegians-
q few men with their wives and chill.
dren. In spread and depth of concep.
tion this pioneer tale is a true Morse
saga. Here is the familiar theme
man in conflict with the unseen, mys.
terious forces of sinister intent. Fiery
dragons and other fierce monsters
they are in the old Morse legends.
Here in the New World, however,
they are instead the boundless, un.
charted prairies from whose depths
emerge giants of Illustration to in.
timidate man and to defeat his pur.
pose of peaceful occupation and
happy home making. These giants of
defeat and retribution march in the
long and stinging Winters, in great
blankets Of snow, impossible and iso.
lating; in billiards. of wind and ice and
cold unbearable. And each is the pitt.
less agent of loneliness unspeakable.
None the less active in Summertime
also are these malevolent enemies of
man. The short and smiling season of
growth is shot with drouth and tor.
nado, with whirling insect clouds, set
tling and ravaging, then moving on
from the fields that have been SO
swept and garnered. The one con.
stancy of evil Is the brooding and
consuming loneliness. Facing this
outraged enemy so resourceful in ways
Of overtaking is a handful Of mere
men and women, stanchly building
their sod houses in clustering groups
meant to serve a human neighborli.
ness of contact as well as to meet the
more obvious uses of house and home.
These men and women are. in the
main, of pure pioneer stuff. They
have to be. Here is one, however,
who-homesick to death-can get
neither foothold nor hearthold upon
this strange and unwelcome way of
life. Such, most sketchily given, is
the general effect Of the story.
X X + r
"Giants in the Earth" holds to the
purpose, not Of romance, but of the
reality instead Of that lies in the proc.
ess of pioneering. And this actuality
stands so close-not two full genera
tions away-as to permit the accuracy
of direct report as against the inven-
tional additions that picture of a re-
moter past so naturally present. The
substance Of this tale of Dakota be.
comes, then, an accounting of the
human stuff that goes into tanning and
breaking the wilderness. 1t is the
h EV.d &v.f,, - 90 h. IL
that sets the course of the action, q
course made deeply poignant by the
defeat of one not able to carry the
burden imposed by the situation. The
victory Of the pioneer is embodied here
in the slow winning of the wilderness
to the uses of the settlers. The deep
defeat centers In the person of Beret,
wife of Per Hansa, who was himself
undone finally by Beret, though a true
pioneer If left to himself. The
woman Is as real part of the story
as are the sturdier members Of the
group, so her right to very signifi.
cant place in it is undeniable. A
somber tale throughout, as indeed it
must be in fidelity to the content of
the theme. A big story, nevertheless,
one whose manner Of projection is a
wonder of clarity and simplicity.
Words fit ideas so exactly here as to
enable one to look through these
words to the ideas moving under
them-as looking through clear air
one sees the features OF the land.
scape, sees men and other creatures
moving from place to place. So, in.
stead OF reading, one has the impres.
sion of being an actual part of this
pioneer group, taking q hand In the
winning of the Dakota prairies, shar-
ing the hardships and the desolation
of loneliness that these men and
women endured. Drawing away a
little from such immediacy Of effect.
one comes upon the realization that a
rare and enduring and beautiful story
OF American life in one of it's i'm.
portant aspects has come to hand.
An illuminating way-place, this, on
the great American pioneer move.
ment that Is even yet finding frontiers
to meet and conquer.
X " X
Going along with this story is an
account of it's author and a brief sum.
mary of the novel itself by Mr.. Rol.
vaag's friend. Lincoln Colcord of
Minneapolis. A most interesting close.
up 1t is. too. Here is an American,
for Mr.. Rolvaag Is an American, writ
ing his novel in the Norwegian Ian
guage because that language is. Won
see, deep in the blood of the author
whereas American speech, living
nearer the surface, is necessarily a
less adequate medium, not so rich a.
vehicle. Oddly enough, turning the
book back into English appears not to
have taken away from either its value
or its charm. Read what Mr.. Colcord
has to say of this professor of Nor
wegian literature at st. Olaf's College
out in Minnesota-once a fisher lad off
the coast Of Norway, as all of his
people for generations had been, then
an emigrant to the United States.
making his way West and doing odd
jobs to earn his passage; then a stu.
dent, then professor. The sketch
gives this authors career, so far, as a
novelist. The whole sums to a fine
side light upon the personality and
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