Evening star., 1930-11-30

Mr.. Paul constructs a novel straight from the
soil itself. He writes in the spirit Of those
Western novelists who are booked to produce,
ultimately, the genuine brand of native fiction,
those who are already in fair way of secur-
ing that end. finely robust story, absorbing
from its first word to the last one. Its truest
value, however, lies in its breakaway from
models no longer efiicacious in the portrayal of
American life, no longer deeply useful to
American fiction in its genuine purpose and
design. Vigorous and lusty in its current
seizure of government by the people"
ANDREE: The Record of Tragic Adventure
By George Palmer Putnam New York:
Brewer g. Warren, Inc.
THIS is the story of that tragic balloon
sailing toward the North Pole by Salomon
August Andree and his two companions in
1897. From then until this year nothing was
known Of the fate of these men, whose bodies
were found not many months ago and with
them fragments Of record, the sole source Of
information concerning the experiences of the
three. 1t is by way of these bits of authentic
report and by scrupulous assemblage of every
collateral fact bearing upon this fatal explo-
ration that Mr.. Putnam has based the story
which stands, in effect, as public tribute to the
courage Of these Swedish adventures in the
field of enlarged geographic knowledge. 1t is
simple story. It had to be. necessity which
has, without doubt, contributed to its effect Of
poignant interest and sympathy
1T was in 1897" MIR. Putnam talking ",The
Klondike rush was in full swing Queen Vic
toria was celebrating her diamond pubilee. The
Channel was unswum, the Boer and Spanish
American Wars unfought, the World War un-
thinkable. Automobiles were an experiment
radio undreamed of. No heavier than air ma
chine had left the ground. Women did not
vote or smoke. William Mckinley was in the
White House" Thus, in dramatic parade does
cat
Andree and his companions in trusting to a
balloon for Polar flight. One reads breathIess-
~ with the outcome never far away One can
not Iail to call the experiment one of sheer
IooIhard1neSs-yet 1t could not have seemed
this to these men who so recklessly dared them
serves ~agamst monStrouS and uncomfortable
forces. Today it would have been-but this
was not today More than 30 years ago instead.
DEATH VALLEY: The Facts. BY W. A. Chal-
fant, author cf Outpost of Civilization"
etc. Illustrated California: Stanford mi
versity Press
MATURE in some of its moods and PERFORM
ances definitely-deIiberately it appears
suoserVes the ancient art of Ananias himself
Niagara. the Grand Canyon, the ice fields. the
deserts, the jungies within our own hemi-
sphere. seem made for verbal exaggerat;ons for
aoJectlVal extravaganza. Death Valley has al
ready, more than once, proved itself to be a
rank perverter of truth foe to moderate
consideration
Here, however, is writer who takes upon
himself the burden Of giving facts, facts only
on the subject Of Death Valley which has
heretofore been mainly the mythic the apoc-
ryphal theme Of flamboyant colorists of ro-
mantle scene painters Like the plain scientist
delving for bare truth, and that alone Mr.
Chalfant plods over Death Valley, digging for
Its rock foundations, for its chemical combi-
nations OF soil and metal for the climate work.
ing IN age-old conjunction with these basic
elements. The human contribution to the
valley, Spaniard and Indian, grows clear with
the trail Of the gold hunters crowding the
Pacific Coast in 49. Plant life and animal
come in for description along with the story of
the water supply Of the region. The perils
OF the desert draw this writer somewhat near
to the earlier painters Of the region-realists