Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-07
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. GIN.

PASSAGES FROM ARABIA DEsERTA
BY Charles M. Doughty: Selected
| Horace Liveright.
A generation gone, and more since
Charles Montague Doughty left England
for Northern Arabia. Some linguistic
quest, 1t seems. set him on the trai
! over Europe into Syria and Palestine
and finally brought him to Arabia
where for two years, more or less, he
| lived among the Arabs. In such close
daily association there gradually Al
tered into his own eyes and heart and
mind a store of fact and impression
concerning these people-facts of his
to create a definite racial outlook, tc
settle habits into custom, custom into
character and temperament.
Coming out from an adventure OF
such novelty and excitement, packed
as well with so much of research and
fresh knowledge, this man of Cam
bridge and literary besides, had moth
ing left for himself to do save to write
book. In connection with this plan
the one for which, in fact, he had gone
a-roaming. His long contention at
home had been against the weakening
and softening of Chaucer's English, OF
| Sponsors, Of the best of Shakespeare
| So he went away to look into the ways
Of other countries, with their parts oil
speech, to find out how these had pre-
served the virgin chastity of their earli-
| est and best adventures with words
| Then he found Arabia and the north
| ern tribesmen. Partaking in SO much
Of gusto with the new people and tho
new ways, his own particular verba
| grief seemed to die out. Not so at all
Seated to tell his tale of Arabia De-
| Serta," he Swore-one takes it that he
swore-by all the gods of English, pure
and undefiled, that he would follow the
high priests of these; that he would not
desert old Chaucer, would not pass by
spenser, singing. in the ancient num-
| berS. Well, he did not and he did. But
that is unimportant right here. The
important point is that he told the
story OF his great adventure in a way
! of words that no Englishman of even
the latest generation can resist. Fine
! fresh, robust, thing -and- word as close
| knit as finger and palm or any other
inseparable union of parts: beautiful
and desirable for all readers.
But. like many another possessed OF
| ardors, Charles Doughty got started
and couldn't stop. No place to leave
off in this enrapturing review of a
| BIOl ddNcIltuIc III TIC even greater
adventure of resurrecting the below ed
old English. And so, very naturally, he
wrote book OF quite inordinate length
| Between the strange manner and the
| long. long story the critics were not
kind and the price Of the volume was
| equally forbidding. And SO the De
| serta" fell away. But in these later
years 1t has been brought out by some
benefactor of the reading tribe It has
been cut to stable measure; it has
been reduced to an acceptable price
And in consequence we-almost any of
uS-find ourselves approaching the open
door OF what English writerS~and critics
! call the greatest travel book ever writ
ten. Edward Garnet has done a mas
terly job. Selections from a larger
| work are hard to make and still re-
main characteristic and illuminating.
With thread, connecting line estab-
lished, Mr.. Garnett has strung upon
| this innumerable scenes, episodes, i'm
preSslons. reflections. concerning the
Arabs of North Arabia that provide a
! joy of information TO all readers who
are curious, deeply curious, about the
| other folkS-those on the other size OF
quite otherwise world than their own,
than our own. Listen Just a second to
Tomlinson, to the one and only H. NJ.
Iomllnson: Once l was lost every
nlgnL 1or months with Doughty in
Arabia Deserta.' He is a craggy author .
The usual facile stuff of current writ
ing sends one thoughtless and head
long among the bitter herbs and stark
boulders OF Doughty's burning and spa
| cious expanse, only to get bewildered
and the shins broken. and a great
fatigue at first in a strange land of
fierce sun, hunger. glittering spar,
ancient plutonic rock and very Acam
himself. But once you are acclimated
and know the language"-and so on in
TomlinSonian eloquence of appraisal
and appreciation.
This is but slim little book beside
the great Arabia Deserta." but, you
know, half loaf is indeed better than
no bread at all. Read it.
X x X
ALARMS AND EXCURSIONS IN
ARABIA. BY Bertram Thomas.
Preface nv Sir Arnold IUjleo,,