Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-04
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BOokloUer

4
Italian. Spanish, with a few Czechs and
Hungarians, are included In the volume
Living Authors" by the obviously
pseudonymic author, billy Tante. There
Is an unconventional biography of each
| author, with anecdotes and the details
that every one likes to know, such as
the names Of their children, where they
60 on vacations, how they look, how
they behave, and how they first came
to write. The correct pronunciation
OF dihcult names is given and repro
auctions OF photographs or drawings
help to give some idea of the PERSONAL
tiles. In explaining the book, the author
says: acknowledgment is gratefully
made to the 400 authors, particularly
those consulted personally, who put
tnelr lives. cas- 1t were, in our hands;
10 the publicity representatives of some
80 publishers, who patiently gave Of
their time and invaluable data, and to
the members of the American library
profession, who practically demanded
the publication of this work To f1ll in
the gaps, both considered and mad
vertent, of the present volume, another
volume OF at least equal size would
be required and may be forthcoming,
should the occasion arise. A continu-
GUS series of such volumes might con-
stitute valuably intimate record Of
the contemporary literary scene for the
beneht of neglectful posterity. An
! other generation will have its own 'liv-
Ing authors Much that is recorded
will scatter irretrievably to the winds;
the original photographs will have
cracked and faded. Here, then, are our
400 men and women"
X *
Each Of the "4OO' in Living Authors"
becomes alive for us when we read the
personal bits Of information about him
or her. They are no longer merely
the authors of certain books, listed
perhaps in Who's Who in America"
Sherwood Anderson when manager of a
paint factory in Elyria, Ohio. one day
stopped debating in the middle of a
letter, said to his stenographer, II am
walking in the bed of river" put on
his hat. and left never to return. Sim
clair Lewis was for time janitor at
Halicon Hall. N. j., the Utopian colony
OF Upton Sinclair Theodore Dresser
was once the cautious and conserva-
tive editor of the Butterick publica-
tons, including the "Delineator" Lord
Dunsany is 6 feet inches tall Andre
Glide wears skull cap, to cover his
bald head, and a shawl. in the NAL
larme fashion. Aldous Huxley planned
TO be doctor. but was prevented by
temporary blindness and is grateful for
the prevention. William McFee was
born at sea. Maeterlinck thinks most
Americans are hypocrites. He admits
that his career is over and says he
expects to spend his remaining time
in eating, sleeping. drinking and enjoy
ing life. John Cowper Powys. Llewelyn
Powys, T. F. Powys and A. r. Powys are
all brothers, of the IL children of a
Derbyshire clergyman. Llewelyn Powys
has been fighting tuberculosis most of
his life and has told something of his
struggle in Skin for Skin" Edwin Ar
lington Robinson once said: II don't
know whether am great poet or not
Time alone can tell about that. But I
do know that have never consciously
injured any one. And that at least is
something" Frank Swinnerton lives in
sixteenth century stone cottage in
Surrey. with studio house in the gar
den, where he does his writing. When
ever he finishes a book he eats hot
plum pudding. even in very warm
weather. j. B. Priestlev is "a pudgy
slow-spoken. matter-of-fact individual
of medium stature. whose constant COM
panion is a briar pipe. His accent
betrays his Yorkshire origin. = . There
are five little Priestleys-au girls
- &&
The bits of information in Living
Authors" about woman writer's are not
less interesting than those about the
men. Storm Jameson. in private life
Mrs. Guy Chapman, lives at Whitby
on the east coast of England. and in
her home are many models and pic
lures of ships, some of them owned by
her family in the days when Whitby
was a mart for 'frigate-built ships that
traded to India and China" One of
her chief recreations is reading about
ships and shipbuilding From this
interest in ships came her trilogy. THE
Lovely Ship" The Voyage Home" and
"A Richer Dust Sigrid Undset lives
at Lillehammer. Norway, in a house
eating back to 1000, restored and fur
nished with genuine old Morse pieces
The only modern things in it are
piano and the plumbing. She wears
the national costume Of the Viking
matron of the Middle Ages. and puts
on modern clothes only for trips to the
city" villa Gather, when in France,
was so homesick for the prairies Of our
Middle West that she haunted the
wheat fields and cried silently when
she watched the harvesting" E. M.
Delafield lives in Devon and is a justice
of the peace in her county: She is
especially interested in criminology.
Kyoto. Japan, January 8. 1881, wrote
stories of the Orient under the name
L. Adams Beck and highly colored his
torical romances under the name Of E.
Darlington. Mazo de la Roche, Cana
dian, says she cannot abide telephones,
department stores. lifts, comic supple
ments. noisy patriotism. speeches lee
lures. helpful information Of any kind
v. Sackville-West is Victoria Mary
Sackville- West. daughter of the third
Baron Sackville of Knole Park and
wife of Harold Nicolson, diplomat and
author of biographies. Knole Castle,
where she was born, is the setting for
her novel THE Edwardians." Virginia
Woolf is not, as has sometimes been
asserted. the granddaughter of Thack-
cray. She is the daughter Of Sir Leslie
Stephen and his second wife. His first
wife was Thackeray's daughter
~
AS the author of the most distin-
guished contribution to children's lit
erature during the past year. Elizabeth
Coatsworth received the Newbery Medal
award for her book. THE Cat Who
Went to Heaven. given by the section
for library work with children of the
recent National Library Convention at
New Haven. The medal, awarded an
nually, was established in 1922 by Fred
eric G. Melcher of New York in honor
of John Newbery. one of the first pub
fishers to recognize the importance of
books for children. The author of this
years Newbery winner has written sew
eral other books for children. as well
as three volumes Of adult poetry. She
was born in Buffalo. graduated from
Vassar and two years ago married
Henry Boston, the naturalist and writer.
Since then she has divided her time
between her studio in bingham. Mass,
and the moors and beaches of the outer
cape. Known as an indefatigable trav-
eler, Miss Coatsworth has been a leis-
urely visitor to England, France, Spain,
ItaIV CrroaCA