Evening star., 1928-11-25
REVIEWS OF AUTUMN BOOKS
New Volumes of the Col House PaprA Romance From the
Pen of Michael Arlen--Life Story of the Vice
President-elect.

tine, yet have a grievance against
him-nothing at all to do with his art
either, or has It? Now why does he
why do ne and Rsbecca West come
here. seem to enjoy Our over6cno hos
pitality, then go home TO conIIcnt
openly-Arlen In this novel, simply lugs
the matter in, and Miss West 10 loc-
ture--to comment openly uron the crude
manners of the United States. Speak
ing of manners just why 90 they do
this? Let's forget IT, Lily Christine Is
Michael Arlen's best bit af creative ait.
PrNELCPE'S MAN: The Eoning IN
stinct. BY John Erskine. author Of
The Private Life of Helen Of Troy"
etc. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill
Co.
DENELOPE knew it all the time
L that Odysseus philandered and
dawdled away 10 years willingly, though
he was pretending to her deep grief at
not coming home from Troy in all that
long time. OF course, Penelope knew,
Any woman would. But Odysseus, like
his kind, had perfect faith in the quality
of the alibi that he offered. in the ap-
pearance of innocence which he fondly
believed himself to carry. But, let
that go. The point right now is that
John Erskine has written another story
in the enjoyable intent of revamping
the classic tales for modern usage.
Helen. Galahad, Adam and Eve, and
now Penelope's man. have all been
brought up to the bar of modern
| opinion for a common current iudg-
ment. Splendid wit, good fun and the
| basic stability of human nature that
| carries these tales across believably into
| the present, these are the elements that
| give zeSt and enjoyment TO the work
| of this school teacher, reverted to the
| human. To hold to the classic in effect
while turning to the form and spirit of
! the modern appears to be an ACHE
ment, but here that conjunction is
made, apparently without effort and
certainly with tremendous effect Of
| the whole upon any reader. Delight
goes with the reading.
BEN-HUR; A Tale of the Christ. b.
Lew Wallace. New York: Harper &
Bros.
THE stage, the film and the original
L romance itself have made this great
story more or less familiar to all readers.
young and old alike. Yet, here it has
been produced again, this time with an
eye single to boys, to making a story
for them alone. One cannot think of
a finer tale to give to boys and girls
than this one Where so much here is
familiar. the one thing to mention in
praise of this edition is the knowledge
with which it has been reduced to
bulk more suited to the use OF younger
readers. That was the only point to
make-to shorten the adventure, to
pare it down to the measure of a rest
| less boys lack of interest in any over
long matter. So, without in any way
disturbing the essential business of thc
story without in any way diluting tn"
action, or in any way dimrning its CO.
ors. or slowing up its movement, here
a master hand at this sort of work has
produced an abridged "Ben-Hur" tina
| is shaped to rival any classic tale. CT
modern one for that matter. which
stands so secure in the reading pre-
nared for younger readers. "Writino
! down" to children is a stupid. indeed, a
| futile, performance. No such treatment
has been given to this "Bcn-Hur." II
is as sturdy, as nleaty. aS the origina'
book. Just a Shortening of the whole
by leaving out some of the things that
do not count vitality in the sweep and
conclusion of the whole. Any boy, any
girl. would take deep delight in this
book, a delight that would count in the
way of other readings of equal beauty
and substance with this one.