Evening star., 1932-01-10
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the explication OF lfe but 1t proves to be keenly
interesting as well. The human Is, In the main,
q monotone, whose break now and then gives
relief
Well, to get back to Omar Khayyam and
Walt Whitman and Robert Burns, the three
poets whose independence and freedom whose
daring even, give the call Of kinship to this
modern nonconformist In many familiar field.
Now and then, when young Darrow is COM
muning with himself by way of old Omar and
the other two feels the literary tug of the
business upon his powers. Not often, but once
in while It is, however, In the essay, Real
ism in Literature and Art" that for fairly i'm
personal readers the writer is at his best. Here
is clear survey, from historical standpoint
of the gradual growth Of realism in art and
letters. This serves as groundwork for analysis
of the nature of such realism, for the logic Of
its development in modern writings as part of
modern life itself, portraying it. interpreting
it. in a measure influencing It, Here is ad-
mirable study of an important matter. One
that is made simply independently, knowingly,
quite in the general manner Of this man him.
self he goes on his questing way for the SUBJ
stantial values of life, for the productive and
useful values of life
PRECIOUS PORCELAIN By Neil Bell. New
York: G. P. Putnams Sons.
TO get this cryptic title out of the way, here
is Byron: THE precious porcelain of human
clay"
With such material almost anything may
happen 1t does. Not till well toward the end
of the matter, however does the reader fully
realize himself to be engaged in quite unusual
mystery tale One Of gruesome development
and tragic outcome.
For many pages and chapters the business
appears to deal with young English school,
master who, hating his profession, Is unfor-
tunately outspoken against the utilities Of
educating children. The loss OF. his job moves
him to field, the town of yelling, where
the story takes Its sinister cast of mystery
and death. But for long, the incidents are
very small townish indeed apparently getting
nowhere at all, save in the gathering Of gossip
and other dull things. Then, one night, some
unknown rufiian desecrated the cathedral with
CRIME and mud, with pictures torn and images
overthrown No stranger had been seen and,
for weeks, the people were in high excitement
Then gossip took a fresh turn. new young
man in town, nephew of the great recluse in
the big house on the hill, reused suspicion by
his gallantries among the ladies, the deans
wife, the sedate school mistress This new
turn gave way soon to curiously Irrelevant
episode concerning a pretty maid servant And
so it goes. the story becomes engrossed or so
it seems, in running of at one tangent or an
other, to the confusion of readers and to the
denial of anything like unity of plan in re-
counting the affairs of that English village At
the very last light grows through the late dis
closure that this is psychological study, or rec
ord, wherein multiple personality is given lati-
tudes wide to account for the mysteries
Of the time and place, even if these are not
wide enough to prove satisfying to the reader.
Yet it is clever turn at the last, one that
calls for certain amount of review reading
for some measure of consistency and PLAUSIBLE
ity in the use of the theory that supports the
bizarre business as whole Not bad. And
clearly of an originality to win and hold
interest