Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-07
BY the Booklovss

The life of the poet Heine was
never oriented, because he never at
tanned q philosophy, spiritual habitat;
or, as Lewis Browne puts IL In his BIZ
ography "rhat Man Heine," "he could
not belong" Born Of German Jews at
Dusseldorf, he went at the age Of 4
to a rArsery school kept by an old
woman, whom he yehemently hated. At
5 he was shifted to Hebrew school
in the ghetto. where he learned to
chant Hebrew verses and to recite
Hebrew ritual There "the soul of little
Harry Heine became definitely that Of
a jew" II he could have retained his
Jewish religion unimpaired, all might
have been well, but no such unity OF
purpose was to be Heine's. At a Fran
ciscan monastery school, he learned
Latin in sight Of a great crucifix, as
ISOLATED with Christian boys, whom he
longed to be like. and was insensibly
influenced by the priests who were hts
teachers. I'm the Franciscan school he
had been so weaned from the religion
Of his ancestors that he would no
longer conform to the laws of Moses.
But at the same time he had not been
converted to the religion of his neigh
bors, and he could not conform to the
dogmas of the church. Nor
could he root himself nationally. He
was. after all, a Jew; q child Of a gypsy
race. Today his parents sojourned in
Dusseldorf. but tomorrow they might
move to Danzig or Delhi. And even
though they remained in Dusseldorf
what was he then? A German? Hard
ly He had been born a German, but
from the time he was his native
town had been French. That
was the root evil in the life of the lad
he did not belong anywhere" In
1925 Heine received Christian baptism
because 1t was requisite for admission
as a candidate for the degree Of doctor
Of Jurisprudence. He was christened
Christian Johann Heinrich and was at
last respectable" but he was as much
as ever without a belief, philosophy.
M u
Mr.. Browne diagnoses Heine's spirit
ual psychology thus: I'm his breast
there ragged a perpetual conflict between
two hostile and apparently irreconcil-
able natures. In later days he named
these the Hellenic and the Nazarene. or
the Pagan and the Jewish" But a new
element. social religion. came into his
life in 1884. after his exile to France
He then first fully sensed the 10y of
salvation through acceptance of the
Saint imonian religion" For a time
at least this assuaged his spiritual con-
flict, but 1t was also responsible for
further embroiling him with the.auto-
cratic German government. His books
advocating the Saint Simonian doc
trines OF the rights OF the individual.
feminism. free love, pantheism and
anti Christianity were promptly pro-
scribed in Germany and source Of his
income was cut of. Toward the end
of his life. Heine discovered Saint
Simonism to be sterile and vapid" and
paganism to contain no help for him on
his mattress grave" SO he returned
to the faith OF his fathers-Judaism
He wrote: Il am no longer q Joyous
HELENE. sound in body, smiling down
gayly on the melancholy Nazarenes. I
am now only poor sick Jew" Lewis
Browne sums up the tragic lack Of unity
in Heine's life: Heinrich Heine had
completed the cycle OF faith. Through
Catholicism. Paganism. Professionalism.
Atheism and Saint -Simonism. he had
at last returned to his starting point
that battered. despised. but for the
jew apparently inevitable religion
called Judaism
The Kentucky mountains and the
friendship covenanted between two men
seem almost equally rugged and primi-
tive In The Lonesome Road" by Lucy
Furman. Jared Stoll. grandson Of the
preacher whose name he bears, and
tts,w ~ AAf- -
OF friendship. For the disturbing ele-
ment in this friendship. as usual.
"chercheZ Ia femme" The woman is
preposSessions In favor OF convention,
or even law. The trouble she causes
the two young men makes the story
The old preacher Jared Stoll and his
wife Cindy. in their rigid morality and
their fixed ideas about every phase of
their mountain life. are q contrast to
the young people. tossed about on every
tide OF emotion.
The publication OF The Heart Of
Thoreau's Journals" edited by Odeli
Shepard. gives opportunity to read in
compact form the best Of the mass Of
journal entries Of the philosopher Of
Walden Pond In these selections. ap-
pears the real. eccentric, unsocial
Thoreau --- transcendentalist. lover OF
nature and Of solitude. Follower OF
Emerson he undoubtedly was In tran
scendcntalism: in all else he was fol-
lower of none but his own inner self.
Nature he loved in all It's seasons. in
Its smallest manifestations. He once
said that the largest territory any man
could hope 10 know well was an area
6 miles square. and SD he devoted
himself 10 the well loved region about
his Concord. Here no lake or stream.
no tree or flower. no fish. bird or insect
escaped his brooding attention. Soil
tude was as necessary TO him rs nature
He was not humanitarian: he did not
love his kind. though he did refuse to
pay poll tax 10 government which
permitted slavery. One entry In his
journal reads: II thrive best on soil
tude, II have a companion only one
day In the week. unless 1t were one or
two I could name. ] ind that the
value OF the week 10 me has been sers-
ousiy affected" So IL Is probable that
the two years which he. spent In hut
on Walden Pond. with nature and with
solitude. were the happiest oil his NE
Mary Johnston admits that the island
which Ii the scene Of her romance The
Exile" Is difficult TO ind on any map"
SO are mary other famous islands. AS
Robinson Crusoe's island. Gullivers
L!lliput and Iaputa, MoresS Utopia ana
Bermoothes. Mary john
stems island Is called Eldorado and Is
supposed 10 be fragment OF Virginia,
II Is u haunted island and ghosts share
Its wooded paths and sandy beaches
with two pairs OF lovers. A new war
breaks out and the island bears Its
share of disaster. The Exile Is like
many better novels since the World
War. a protest against the madness ana
brutality ot all war, There's got 20
be some kind OF FIRST step
-
Whether true or not. "Cannihal
Nights, the "reminiscences OF a Free
Lance Trader" by Capt. IL, Y. Raahe.
Is a stirring yarn The captain started
his pursuit ol the sea As StowAway.