Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-24
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
l. G.. NJ.

ARACHNE. Eden Phillpotts' Inc
Macmillan Co.
The spiders web. come upon per-
bans in q. corner of some dusty attlc
with a drift of sun across 1t or, MAYBE
stretched in perfect pattern from
swaving posts Of grass blade, dawn
level upon It's lap, is likely TO orlng
hack that story of long ago Wnen gooS
and goddesses made playtlme WIN Ille
sons and daughters of earth. You re-
cali the story, The story OF Aracnne'
temerarious daughter of Idom OF Lyula,
who set herself up in contest agalhSt
great Pallas Athene. The contesI tIlaL
of weaving the lovely ColorS ana iolL
of nature into shuttled fabric OF sur
passing art And you remember CndC
when the gods, set to 1udge petWeelii
them, gave the award 10 tnls nio l, oaI
girl. how Athene in rage OF nurt plIuS
DESTROYED her rivals masterpiece anu
Infinitely worse. transformed Aracnne
into a spider, condemning her forever
thereafter to spin from her own pouy
the fragile webs that, to this very Gay,
we so often see in plain reminder tna1
Arachne has been passing by. a pleas
ing variant of this sinister climax 10
that at the last moment Arachne was
rescued bv one of her two lovers ana
carried away to live happy ever AFTER
r. appears that always there has been
the clamor for the happy ending. but'
if this second version be the true one,
who is it--let me ask, that does all thlS
spinning o. nights? .,.u
Fable, legend myth, folk lore-these
live coeval with every advancing age
because they are compact OF the IN IN
changing heart of man. The esSent1aI
II gpP0
fruit opens out, constant and appn-
cable, through all the variations In the
mere circumstances of its proJectlon.
So each Is modern in spirit, as modern
as on the morning of its birth: upon
more than one occasion, Eden PhlllpotIS
has turned to some classic tale, prlilg-
ing it forward into the stream OF cur
rent events to show the force OF its
contemporaneous quality. He did TINS
in "Circe" and more up-to-date young
woman than Circe proved to be IL Wouio
be hard to find. Here he turns 10
Arachne. This is the girl VINO loves
art and pursues 1t. who seeks tame IN
the artists career, tuning ner nack
squarely upon the common entlceineiltS
of youth---love and play, more love ana
more pIav. turning even violently away
from men who have marriage In their
ewes. Athene is the great teacher OF
Arachne. Before their looms they SIT
and there are long talks about art. In
no very long time this talk breaks into
opposite trends--the new art against
the old. Here is convention with Its
stiffening rules on the one hand, and
on the other. innovation in its fluid ac-
ceptance of the untried and the I'M
proved. Then a rift between the two.
Then the open break and the great
contest. The devastating outcome TO
Arachne takes the form, In modern
terms. of capitulation, of surrender
of ambition to the mastery of life itself,
lover and marriage and babies. And
so the old story. with none Of its
beauty flawed under the tender hand
of Eden Phillpotts, runs the modern
course of young ambition, high flights,
gradual descents, a longer lingering
near the ground. then acceptance upon
these lower levels. Nature, you see, Is
after all. and In every age. the mis-
tress. irresistible, of men and women.
Such Is the story Of Aracllne-the i'm
mortal Arachne of maidenhood. Not
satire. not gentle irony, inspires this
recital. Here Is. instead. sound artist.
who, seeing the undying truth Of the
ancient myth. expends his clear art
upon its retelling with face turned
upon the present and the future for
substantiation Of this age-old fable.