Evening star., 1932-12-17
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.

Family History" by v. Sackville-
West, is perhaps not as broad or pro-
found a piece of work as the authors
previous novels, "The Edwardians" and
"All Passion Spent" but her style is SC
finished, her Characterization SO acute
and her gently satirical attitude toward
life so stimulating that any book by hel
is productive of esthetic pleasure. The
title seems commonplace and Is not al
all suggestive of the subject matter
The plot is the smallest part Of the in
terest; the character delineation Is
everything The character OF Evelyn
Jarrold, who has chosen to place her
self in an equivocal situation, is sharply
revealed in all its pitiable weakness
with its few shreds Of strength. A
beautiful woman, not at all Intellectual
subtle or resourceful, she has surprised
all the Jarrolds because, after the death
of her husband, Tommy Jarrold, in the
World War, she has never married
again. but has devoted herself to her
son. Dan, and to the clothing of her
lovely person with the most expensive
and best chosen creations Of Rivers and
Roberts. The Jarrolds all admire her
especially her father -in-law, old Will
liam Jarrold, who has risen to a peerage
from Golfers cottage because OF his
success in the coal industry. She loves
him, but secretly despises all the rest
of the wholly conventional Jarrolds
while at the same time she delights In
their admiration and f1attery. Her son
she fails to understand because he Is
not of the Jarrold pattern; he hates
hunting and shooting, loves painting
and poetry. questions all the Eton coce
and the Jarrold standards, and when
he is older will question the whole social
order. X x X
Evelyn Jarrolds character Is COM
pounded OF vanity, conventionality, lack
OF understanding for everything beyond
her restricted life, and deep, unsus-
pected possibilities of passion. In her
love she has two insuperable handicaps
the fact that she is Is years older than
the man she loves and the fact that
she in inwardly all Victorian in her
attitude toward life, and yet is violating
her whole set of social ideas in her
connection with Miles Vane-Merrick
Her l7-year-old son. who becomes an
ardent disciple of Vane-Merrick, is also
an embarrassment in the situation. We
know from the start that only tragedy
can result for Evelyn. Among the sec
ondary personages OF the story We are
pleased to meet again Viola and
Leonard Anquetil of THE EdwardianS, "
who are as strong as Evelyn Is weak
and are not torn by conflicts, because
they are independent in their thought
and actions.
Beneath the story of Family His
tory the underlying thought is the
same as that CT The Edwardians "a
changing England, in which the good
old English types are being exchanged
for standardized, conventionalized types
from which all feeling and all culture
are being eliminated. Are the younger
English men and women going to
be able to regenerate England
to restore it to its place? Old
William Jarrold, in a burst of in
dignation against his worthless sons
says: We've created lot of good for
nothingS who are damned careful OF
their manners and of their manners
only, because they know they're in a
false position. Give me a gentleman
give ME countryman, give me work.
Ingman, give me an honest-to- God
middle-class John Smith. but heaven
save me from these pretentious hum
bugs who imagine themselves the aris-
tocracy of the future. And let me tell
you you've got even your i-nita-
ton wrong. There was something to
be said for the 'Engltflrnan OF birth,
once. He looked after his lands
and he wasn't ashamed either of his
feelings or his brains. Today he's been
taught to represS his feelings until he
ceases to have any. and the same is
even truer OF his brains. He wasn't
ashamed of his culture, once. Today
he is. And he hasn't replaced it by
anything else. He keeps his superior
manner and his respect for good form,
but thatt'S all he has inherited from his
ancestors and that's all that you and
your like have initiated from him. He's
a fake himself. and you're doubly fake
What use are you in world which
wants living people and not waxworks
stuffed with straw" An idiosyncrasy
of spelling which Miss Sackville- West
MRS. Harold Nicolson) practices in this
book is the spelling of that" with two
It's" when it is used as a demonstrative
pronoun or adjective.
*x \
Mary Todd Lincoln. much discussed
from almost every point of view, was
perhaps unfortunate in being the wife
Of great man, the greatest Of his
time. AS herself she might have had
unlimited peculiarities without attract
ing much attention beyond the circle
of her next door neighbors and GER
Stainly without being made the subject
of chapters in important biographies
and histories. Probably her happiness,
if not her vanity, would have been
served if she had been the wife Of q
moderately prosperous but obscure
lawyer A recent book, Mrs. Abraham
Lincoln. A Study of her Personality
and Her Influence on Lincoln" by w
A. Evans. physician, treats her almost
as a case study. DR.. Evans was
formerly health commissioner Of Chi
cago and professor in the Illinois Med
ical School and Northwestern Uni
versity Medical School He asks scien-
tiflcally: What was Mrs. Lincoln's type
of mind? What were her personality
traits? How did she come by those
traits and how did she acquire her
mental qualities? How much of them
did she inherit? What experiences and
influences of her childhood contributed
to her personality? What in her make
up is explained by the experiences OF
her life as a girl in Kentucky, and as
a narriageable young woman In Spring
field society? What were the effects OF
her experiences as a married woman
and mother in Springfield? AS the
wife of a President? What influences
did health, religion, politics. financial
problems, society, have on her?"
X X \ 4
Lytton Strachey made Queen Eliz-
abeth a human woman instead of a
myth. We wish he had lived long
enough to write biography Of Cath
crime the Great of Russia. A less
gifted biographer has attempted hel
humanization, Francis Gribble in his
THE Comedy Of Catherine the Great.
He says that he has attempted to show
her as neither SO great nor so Hcentious
as she has been painted and as much
more womanly and charming. Per
haps he has succeeded. but he has not
been able to change the accepted pic
ture of her as a vain woman, who fell
under the influence of one favorite
after another, while, as the permanen,
power behind the throne, Potemkir
really ruled both her and the empire
In this biography one finds ones sell
becoming more interested in him anc