Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-14
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
!. C.. M.


New York: The Century Co.
Few, nowadays. read Fenimore Cooper.
Why? / wonder. For competent critics
maintain that the high, narrative gift
of this novelist stands up beside the
best today. His way. OF telling the
story, his knack Of spinning . lusty
yarn, has not anywhere, yet, met sue
cessful challenge.
Even high professionals Of the mod
ern critical cult, dedicated to support
of the novel as pure art-form-
like painting, sculpture, architecture
wherein life, that wild ass of the desert,
Is made to step out In an ordered Sc.
uuence, In O balanced proportion OF
movement In q rounded unity of effects
even these concede to Kenmore Coop
err q good and durable gift Of telling the
story.
What can the trouble be that read
ers pass this man by to accept In aroor
q lesser talent for their entertainment?
To be sure, fashions In books change
no less than in bonnets. in literature as
we'll as in lingerie. Following this ca
PRECIOUS Dame Vogue, the public mas
veered away from many OF the writers
OF an earlier day. Away from Haw-
thorne even to certain extent, away
from Irving and Poe, from the later
HowellS and Twain and from innumer-
able other writer's, lighter in the body
Of their work than are these hignn8nts
of American literature.
Is 1t not likely, in the case OF Cooper,
that his themes have run away into
remote and practically inaccessible past?
Yet, not far, enough away to remove
them completely into the glamorous
domain OF myth and legend? The In.
dian and the clipper ship. These were
al nh
right artifcer wrought. In his work.
ing day, more than . hundred years
ago, both were of an appreciate prox-
unity, Of an alluring and picturesque
nearness. The noble red man, en-
bodied largely in the Five Nations OF
interior New York and roundabout; was
then nearby in legend as we'll as In
dimming reality. The clipper ship was
then the marvel Of the seas, the sole
agent Of high emprise. Steam ana
giant liners have ousted the sailing
ships. The Indian. confined to pre-:
scribed quarters. is that anomalous
thing, ward Of the Nation" Both are
dead The age that produced them Is
Today is a day Of miracle. More
marvels come to light in every "a hours
than could be turned into story and
entertainment in as many years. Here
is q present completely engrossed In
itself. And no wonder. No wonder
that even a near past gets scant re-
spouse from the current day. AS well
ask q reader to 60 back into Greece or
Rome or Egypt for passing hour with
great writer's as to offer Fenimore
Cooper's outmoded "Deerslayer" or
Misunderstanding Tales or The Pilot"
or any other of the 80 novels, or there
about, produced by this American writer
Of century ago.
And yet, up around Cooperstown on
Otsego Lake, where the family estate
was created and cherished, there are
stu emanations and subtle outcomings
toward one from this man. Especially
If his own roots are in the Empire
State. Then, the present dins, a lit
tie. Fleeing visions come Of that day
made so real, so vivid, so adventurous
by one who. no master Of literary art.
maybe, nevertheless re Greats old
scenes in a vitality that obtrudes the
forests, the native red man in his own
ways of life. and sets these in haZy
now quartered in that locality and
throughout this whole country.
Listen to Herman Melville: "A MEM
DRY 80 very dear not only to Ameri-
can literature. but to the American Ma
ton. His works are among the
very first I remember. as in my boy
hood producing a vivid and awakening
power upon my mind He was .
great. robust-souled man, all whose
But q grateful poSterity will take the
best care of Fenimore Cooper"
~ ~
Henry Walcott Boynton contributes
richly to the fulhllment of Melville's
forecast OF q new day for this romancer
OF pioneer sea adventure. Others are
turning this way also. But for a COM
plete survey that escapes an effect Of
overweight, that diScrininates 30 know
ingly between essentials of personality
and a world Of relatively unimportant
details, this book. it seems to me, is of
the very spirit Of the man with whom
it has so deep and understanding q
concern.
Henry Walcott Boynton here con-
tributes richly to the fulnllment of Mel
ville's forecast Of q new day for this
romancer of pioneer and sea adventure
Others are turning this way also. But
here is, first, a complete survey of
Fenimore Cooper in new accounting
Of the influences, material and spiritual.
that went into the making of the man
and the writer. This biographer has
had the advantage of material not ac-
cessible until now for any rounded
study of the subject. And that fact
has given opportunity for the larger
outlook. the truer discrimination, the
better understanding that reduces hith-
erto puzzling contradictions OF .charac-
ter and action to believable and ac-
ceptable behaviors Of human nature
under the varied stresses of life and
temperament.
Following the regulation time Sc
quence of biography, Mr.. Boynton, by
a highly competent system Of pressure
and release, as circumstance and per-
sonality dictate, turns out In the end
Of his work a man, rather than the
story of a man. Quite impartial in his
literary appraisal, the writer estimates
Cooper, primarily as man OF action
rather than as one OF the meditatiVe
habit necessary, or so 1t Is assumed,
for the genius OF any creative ART. a
thrifty man who became the gentle
man owner Of a huge estate. A trav-
eler who became diplomat and, finally,
an expatriate for . time, out OF sorts
with q home democracy that failed,
not only in its basic principles, but
in its political expedients. A tenn.
pestuous man of arrogant speech ana
high-handed ways. A family man who
loved his wife and children, never get
ting over this domestic virtue. A
writer. in part. through the determined
influence Of his wife, but. nevertheless,
writer who, under eclipse for q
period, is likely to come out into the
light Of q wider acceptance by the
vigorous adventure that he offers TO
many who are dazed by the amazing
sleight-o -hand of these dervish days
Of spinning round and round.
very full and finished study. Be
sides, and rather more to the reading
point, a most entertaining re-crea-
ton that, page by page, demonstrates
the body and soul OF an active ano
powerful man doing his unique sno
characteristic part in a stable world OF
hundred years ago and more.
Mr.. Boynton's Cooper" so full and
informed, so sound Of Interpretation. so
sincere Of intent. Is designed pri-