Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-26
THIS AND THAT


are poor, though new-they have no
definite opinions ut all, based upon the
articles in hand, but must take those
Of other people.
So the words Of an unnamed critic,
5000 miles across the sea, become for
them the words Of God, in Q literary
sense. II the Deity Himself were to
speak up for John Galsworthy, they
could accord Him no more reverence, IN
Q critical sense, than they do the Im-
known on the London Times.
We have not read ION Forsyte
Change" It may be all Of the things
the critic says it Is. There Is no doubt
Of Mr.. GalSworthy's artistry. But
whether the volume stands on its own
legs or not we are not sure. Would it
be readable by one who had never read
the novels in which the Forsytes ap-
pear?
Well, here Il where our rambling Is
getting: When you meet the charming
young woman mentioned, and she asks
you If you have read ION Forsyte
Change" or Mark Sullivan's new one,
"Pre-War America" or Feuchtwanger's
Success" or Arnold BENEFITS "Im-
perial Palace" do not put yourself In q
position to DO sneered at politely or
impolitely, but Immediately say, "Oh,
yes, isn't 1t wonderful" and she will
be perfectly satisfied with you and
think you are o wonderful fellow and o
great deal Of q critic.
Her mind works according to the fol-
lowing simple psychological formula:
Whatever she likes, or thinks she likes,
Is great; therefore whoever agrees with
her opinion, or what she thinks Is her
opinion, Is q great fellow.
~ ~
The best use Of book reviews, as far
as we can discover, Is to provide one
with enough chitchat Of authors and
books to be able to meet successfully
the onslaughtS Of these readers who
tr1umphantly assail one with the
never-failing, question, Have you
OF course, one has! One always has,
either as the result Of experience or
of reading the present article which,
we hope, contains enough of sound
common sense to enable our readers
to meet completely and perfectly all
such mental assaults.
Our complete directions follow:
/. Read the book reviews religiously.
You may not know what the books are
about after you have read the reviews,
or whether you will like them yourself
or not, but you win get something or
other about them.
2. Never admit to not having read .
book-any book, old, new or yet I'M
published. In the latter event, it is best
to avoid plain lying, but to indicate, in
a yelled way, that one has had access
to the manuscript before publication.
3. Immediately and enthusiastically
declare "Oh, yes, I have read 1t: isn't
it wonderful" Never fail to add the
second phrase, as it rounds out the
first and stops all secondary assaults.
4. If questioned about the wonderful
work, look very wise, If ignorant, and
smile delightedly. Thus If reference is
made to the three pigs" and there
are no pigs, either one, two, three or
four, you will not commit yourself.
s. AS swiftly as possible turn the
conversation away from the unread
book by asking quickly, Have you
read -" This Is always q good
counter attack.
6. If the other shows the slightest
hesitation, seize the opportunity to
elevate your eyebrows (the new die
tionary ads explain that this Is how
we get our word "supercilious'O and
say: What, you haven't read It'll You
should read 1t, by all means"