Evening star., 1928-04-03
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
1. C.. M.


the big parade. Keeping UP with the
Joneses" is more than a mere comic
strip. It Is, rather. a clear closeup Of
the essence of modern philosophy itself.
Business and politics, religion and
pleasure, all alike. recognize the po-
tency OF this pursuit, inventing devices,
many and ingenious, in support of the
great game Of keeping up with the
Joneses."
case In point Is that of keeping up
with reading, with literature-novels,
biography, poetry, plays and the other
whatnot Of ambitious authorship. It
has come to be an organized business
on the one hand, a pell-mell individual
race on the other. Circles and bands
With names as colorful as those Of the
cult of the cafeteria abound. Busy
women are invited to master current
literature by way of The Yellow Lam
tern Reading Hour" THE Purple Pea
cocks with the Poets" and other such
lures to the intellectual life. The am
bilious reader at home rivals those gas
tronomic performances with dozens Of
eggs to the man, with gallons OF cuffee
to some prodigy of liquid absorption, OF
which the press now and then tells.
From both classes Of readers there is
sure to be, sooner or later, an urgent
SOS sent out. One set is the victim
Of n1alnutrition from predigested pellets
OF reading. The other is gorged with
words, suffering all sorts of mental dis
orders and confusions in respect to cur
rent reading material.
This is the moment for the entrance
of Ludwig Lewisohn. Here he comes,
in this case, first aid to unwise readers.
A brisk man who puts little time on the
f0r0f0cCiOHoi q
From his kit he pulls out Cities and
Men" 1t is from this that he offers
remedies for the bad state of reading
with which the public pretty generally
is clearly under the weather" Here
are both good medicine and good sense
"a promising combination.
Cities and Men" concerns itself with
the present of literature. or with q past
so immediate as to be still warm and
vital in Its effect. The attitude of Mr.
Lewisohn Is that of the critic who has
cut himself loose from bondage TO the
past. This spirit of these essays as a
whole is that Of protest against the
overlong stay above ground Of dead
body that should long ago have been
decertly buried. And, finally. the man
ner of the book is much like that Of
bullet singing its way straight to the
bulls-eye.
The protest is against a longer devo-
ton, in the name OF culture, TO old
worShips projected in a rigid and ex-
elusive Journalism Of orderliness, bal
ance. symmetry. progression. These are
not the stuff of which life is made.
Therefore. these are not the potent
vehicle Of life by way Of literature. The
protest Is against a longer hospitality
to the old mythic state OF mind, the
ny hnYn hn Al 80 .f
high mightineSses on the one hand, of
deep servility on the other-all these
framed In a literary medium as dead
and gone as they themselves are. The
essays are more than protest They
are pleas also-no. not that. 1t Is not
easy to see Ludwig Lewisohn making q
plea. Let US say that they are, rather,
example and argument in behalf Of the
individual heart Of man as the source
Of all in literature that is both most
useful and most beautiful. For the
writer to dig deep into his own heart
for the power to feel and TO portray the
figures Of his story. biography, poem.
play-thiS Is the road to enduring and
helpful literature. So Ludwig Lewisohn
says, and so say many other wise critics.
The subjective, rather than the objec-
tive. Is the field Of the literary artist.
It Is here that the author does clearly
helpful thinking and writing about such
noveliStS as Dresser and Sinclair Lewis
and Sherwood Anderson. setting of
from these In an easy run of views q
group of other writer's who are still
colonial in their fealty TO classic tradi-
ton. In the same vein of robust opinion
and vigorous speech the author moves
over to Europe in a waywise ana COM
manding tour OF critical literary inspec-
ton. No. there Is no dogmatiSm here.
You are quite free to disagree. and no
hard feelings. Here Is an open course
OF strong and interesting thought applied
TO current literature, a genuinely help
full book to those who are In the di-
lemma created by trying TO keep up
with the colossus OF modern book
making.
CASTLES IN SPAIN: And other
Screeds. John GalSworthy. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
II Is always interesting TO have a be-
loved novelist come on out of his stories
TO speak and behave in his own proper
person. To be sure, John Galsworthy
has made many a half emergence by
way Of his plays. But here in this book
OF essays he steps clearly out into the
open 10 talk to his many readers. Nat
urally. his talk Is about writing and
writer's. And this Is the line along
which one prefers TO follow him What
John Galsworthy thinks about this nov-
clist or that one. about this novel or
that one. is certainly of more weight
than what he might think about SUBJ
iectS with which he Is little familiar.
Six Novelists In Profile" Is one of the
richest of these addresses. rich in criti-
cal feeling, In simplicity OF statement.
In wide ranges of comparison and con-
traSt convincingly based and projected.
rich. too, in that depth OF understand
ing and sympathy which one meets in
this writer. no matter what special
theme may be his. You are curious TO
know who theSs six are-as was.
Dickens, to be sure: then Turgenev. Guy
de MaupasSant. TolStoi. Joseph Conrad
and Anatoie France.
THE six great noveliStS whose proflles
I have so lightly sketched are all hui
manists. The foodstuff for their pow
ers has In each case been gathered from
the wayward currents OF human feeling,
the varying pulses OF the human heart.
the countless ironic realities of human
existence, Whatever formal creeds tif
any, they may have Endorsed. their
real creed Is summed up in the dwart's
saying, Something human Is dearer To
me than the wealth OF all the world"
This. you see. Is just about what Ludwig
Lewisohn has been saying. too. al
through Cities and Men"
And Galsworthy says again; There
was nothing Of the literary popinIay In
any OF them, and they we're not theo.
rists--not even Observation-Disclosures who
would fit humanity Ia q scheme or art
10 a pattern. Using the stun
Of real life for the purposes OF his art, a
great novelist can by the light he
throws. forward the organic growth Of
human society and color the ethics OF
his time, He need not be conscious
only see widely. feel deeply. and be able
10 mold what he has seen or felt into