Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13
REVIEWS OF WINTER BOOKS
An Autobiography of the Civil War
of Birds Studied by Smithsonian Official
The Newest Fiction

/ man and events, burlesques and trag-
edies, cabhages and kings and some
| times W and "
X i X X.
FIGURES OF THE PAST By1Josiah
Quincy. Glass of 1921, Hazard Col
lege. Boston; Little, Brown Co.
HERE is the happy revival of an old
issue, embodyng recollections OF
certain well known people from the
| standpoint of a day so much earlier
| than the present one. In an intro
| duction Mr.. De Wolfe Howe fixes this
| particular Josiah Quincy among the
three others of that name, and adds as
well the circumstances under which
these recollections We're written and
| the additional good reasons for this
| latest issue of the memoirs. Graduate
| of Harvard and orce the mayor of
| Boston. this writer from such points
| of advantage tells of friends and asSO-
ciates whose names are generally fla
miliar and in whom there has been a
lasting interest. In a manner of zest-
full enjoyment and easy speech this
writer tells us about Harvard as 1t
was century ago. III the intimacy
/ of personal friendship he recalls inn
pressions of Daniel Webster and John
Randolph and Andrew Jackson. spic-
ing these with a keen wit and an
unfailing good humor. Here is John
Adams. as he looked in those days.
| And here is a graphic picture of La
| Fayette. The book as n whole
breathes the atmosphere of that older
day in the life of New England. and
| ii is by virtue of this effect that 1t
| appeals more strongly than any re-
cent writing OH similar topics possibly
could do. A valuable memento of an
older New England than this, one
projected. too. from The very heart OF
the affairs -of that dav
EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE. BY Felix
Rosenberg. author of Under
Sail etc. New York: Harcourt
Brace & Co.
EELIX RIESENBERG stands as
another case of the sailor turned
writer-like Conrad, Melville. McFee
and another and another. AS il sail
| ing The seas. with its enforced seclu-
sions and it's far horizons. makes for
definite sort of artistry in the do
main of literature. The story in hand,
| however. is not a sea story, even
though ii opens in a catastrophe by
way of the nearby waters OF New
York. This opening device serves not
| only to timber this seaman's writing
| hand with matter as familiar as his
own blood flow. but ii serves as well
| to land the hero Of this tale in the
great city which. thereafter becomes
| the clear preoccupation OF both writer
and hero From East Side to West
| Side of the monstrous town the bust
ness of this novel shifts in a particu-
larity of detail that sums to the very
essence Of realistic invention. Maybe
| tho h0nl< 10 cfOUrdo6 with tho in
and outs of East Side. with the ups
and downs of West Side. to deliver
the Clearest of effects. Certainly it
does stand as welter of visual effect
now damned and packed with the
alien life of one half of the city, now
gliStening with the leisure and wealth
of the other side. THAT in this excess
of detail the author is able to steer a
fairly straight course for his hero
an ignorant lad, half drowned at the
outset--to make of him keenly
exciting character as we'll. stands as a
clear and high tribute to the seaman.
ship of this author of several books
All founded upon his own personal
knowledge of sailing the seas.
DUBLINERS. BY James Joyce. au-
thor of Ulysses" Introduction
by Padriac Colum. New York:
The Modern Library.
FIFTEEN short stories in this James
Joyce.volume sent out by the Mod
ern Library. Hardly stories. either,
any of these. Rather an incident. or
mood, or even a fugitive hiding
thought. stands as the foundation here
of Joyce's adventure into the field of
human feelings and Illustrations.
| Here are sketches that, as rule,
stop suddenly, quite incomplete-just
as nine-tenths of all experience does
shut off before it has approached any
thing like definite conclusions One
reads bit grudgingly here, because
he knows well that the author Is
going to follow life as it is. going
to follow 1t also with a remarkable
insight and a terrible truthfulness-
and one, reading, doesn't want truth.
Instead. he wants a story that will
run away from reality into some
lovely and unrealiZable corner of utter
romance. And that's exactly what
he'll not get from this writer. An
introduction of the volumn in hand
by Padraic Colum gives fair and elo.
quent appraisal of the genius of
James Joyce-a genius that i'm certain
| outlook and manner of projection is
proved by this book of sketches.