Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-09
REVIEWS OF SUMMER BOOKS
Forecast of Pacific Aars-Some Interesting Adventures in
American Dipomacy-Fiction From
Several Writer'S

projection and Of poetic insigb.
throughout.
BIRDS AROUND THE LIGHT. BY
Jacob Paludan. Translated from the
Danish by Grace Isabel Colbron.
New York: @. p Futnam's Sons.
CANDHAVEN on the coast of Dem
~ mark places this story. It is. in
substance. a record of modern enter
prise chronicle of effort and failure
of fresh beginnings sustained ever by
new and higher hopes. To build at
Sandhaven a great harbor to invite
commerce. making of this scant strip
of seacoast one of the markets of the
world--something like this the vision
ran And the work was begun. Eight
years went into the building OF the
breakwater alone. In the meantime the
small shop-keepers and the poor fish,
ermen of the hamlet became land mad,
as credulous people do under hyp-
nosis OF land boom" So, they put
their scanty savings into this patch Of
sea-sand or into that one, rather de-
spising the slow ways Of saving that
held before the fine harbor that was
to convert Sandhaven into a metropolis
was conceived. Then. at last. came the
day for celebrating the completed en-
| terprlSe. From every quarter for miles
around the people came to take part
in the birthday of the hamlet as a
world center of shipping and commerce.
1t turned out that on that same day
/ the North Sea itself had an adventure
m hand. A great emprise-nothing less
| than sweeping completely away this
| trifling structure. these futile hopes Of
mere men deluded by the fiction of
their own power. Such Is the heart of
/ this romance. Beside it runs. in clear
realism. the small daily life of that
coast hamlet Over it broods the i'm
| plfcation of mans weakness in the face
| OF any one of the real powers of ma
ture. Like moths around the table
lamp are men. like migrating birds
beating themselves to death in the
binding glare of the lighthouse tower
at Sandhaven. so man in his ambition
dares forces that are uncomfortable
and goes down in defeat. At least. so
this story says. Strong. straight-for-
ward, single in purpose and effort. this
tale OF allegorical slant is one of deep
~ interesting substance. Clearly of the
scandinavian school of literary crafts
men. this author Is truly fortunate In
a translation that leaves unimpaired
the clarity. the simplicity, the austere
artist conscience of the important writ
ers OF Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
y 4 x
MEN ATWHILES ARE SOBER. BY
Stephen Raushenbush. New York:
Albert and Charles Boni.
That may be true. In this novel
however. there is no evidence that IL is
true. On the contrary, the central fig
ure, the representative character. is
every minute. day and night dead
drunk with following his own will.
which is the winds will Attractive p
Oh, yes, he has to be to fill the role.
And womcn--well, every little girl Is
rSssessed with passion for nursing a
bundle OF rags her baby. That's
what's the matter with women in re-
spect to men. many men. They are
nursing bundles Of rags, in a mother
ing passion. So it is here A hopeless
business followed with tenacious hum
ger for getting this fellow out into the
open just as he is. A most disauieting
occupation for the reader, to follow the
clear truth about man of this sort.
The trouble is that the story engercers
the suspicion, or confirms the opinion,
that this case is not an isolated one.
Reading. this one and that from the
actual lite roundabout. stand for the
picture here in one and another of the
situations that make up parts of the
story. Well. it is a miserable business,
from start to finish. The most discon-
certing feature of it is that it Is 50
hopelessly well done. Let's talk about
the author instead. Pleasanter. Only
little over 80. Maybe that is what Is
the trouble. College man-AmherSt at
that. With the French army for two
years. Explorer in Venezuela, acting
American and French vice consul al
Maracaibo. off in Mexico with. an oil
company. in Washington in 1924 with
Senator Couzens. secretary to the COM
mittee on coal and giant power. He has
written The Anthracite Problem 1.-The
Peoples Fight for Coal and Power" and
other articles of like substance and i'm
portance. Men Atwhiles Are Sober" Is
the story of man lost in a strange
land, romantic. lost in the rock age
of the sophisticate present. A terrible
story-probably product of the clinic
under the hand of an expert.