Evening star., 1932-10-02

head of a tiny province he contributes with
many another Of his kind to distinctly disn-
tegrating force against the integrity of the
country. 1t is Wang, the soldier who COM
mands attention here over the other two idler
and merchant In such emphasis at point
Mrs. Buck artist wise modfies the perspective
for focus and stress upon China's modern revo-
lutionary trend. And this drift toward up
heaval becomes general only with the next
generation when new Wang, son of the Tiger
grandson Of old Wang Lung, man OF the soil,
faces the new East and promises to carry on
Mrs. Bucks epic of China.
THE Good Earth" and Sons" have drawn
out abundant and sustained praise. Their pro-
longed popularity speaks for readers as well as
for the writer Novelist of surprising power
writer Of lyric beauty" genius" All deserved
no doubt Yet it seems to me that the genius
Of Pearl Buck lies, first in deep knowledge
Of her theme and in an equally deep feeling for
1t. China is her life land the place she knows
best one that holds and fascinateS her. And
that this power lies, next in her amazing
grasp OF the subject. orderly both by nature
and training, Mrs. Buck: sees China an or
ganized entity its vital parts and meanings
taking paramount place. drawing to them their
own sets of subordinate and illuminating fea-
lures. The admirable structure Of her novels
is but a pattern OF the comprehensive and or
dered thinking behind them. The Lyric beauty"
Of her style Is, it seems to me, but fine SIM
plcity Of fact and word fitted perfectly to-
gether. Picture scene rite ceremony. Gus
tom, action-whatever it may be, stark in it
self lovely in its austere oneness, and left that
way by words of equal sincerity An eminently
practical worker, it seems to me. selecting here
and there with care and foresight. fitting means
to ends with precision and competency. And
from these workmanly qualities true beauty
emerges and comes out to meet the reader
From this unpretentious way with things Pearl
Buck comes bringing gifts, the supreme gilt
Of transferring living facts to pages that are
themselves compact Of life itself.
BEYOND DESIRE BY Sherwood Anderson.
New York: Liveright, Inc
REVIEWED BY E. de S. MELCHER
GAYS H. L. Mencken about Sherwood Ander-
= son: The history of Sherwood Anderson is
the history Of cropping painfully for an
understanding Of his ideas They flash
before him out of the void, and he contemplates
them with sort Of wonder, seeking to pene
trate their significance. and sometimes not sue
ceeding"
It is this penetration into Significant" ideas
that makes Beyond Desire stimulating yet
confused sreading. The theme is as chaotic as
the substance Of the fast disappearing grand
old South" The author introduces series Of
mill girls. woman. Ethel whose history sweeps
The story away from its main channel (although
she has some influence on the "hero0 and
other realistic though irrelevant characters with
that virility Of pen for which she is noted. Still
there is much of ext-aneous material that
it is easy to remember Mr.. Menckens words
and sometimes not succeeding"
Mr. Anderson plunges his readers into al
legory about labor-Which in its final analysis
is confused preachment for the cause of
Communism. His hero, Red Oliver, a young
Southerner whose father marries far beneath
him Can act akin to crime in that part Of the
country Is as much at loose ends about condi-
tions, ideals, etc, as the author Young Oliver
in the final sequence is killed. This in labor
demonstration which he had happened upon by
chance. There was no reason for killing him
just there no particular reason why he
had become a Communist He was cropping for
something something that would help to i'm
prove situation which growing worse
namely the lack of work brought about by the
increasing efficiency Of the machine. He
dered, just as others have, what will happen to
labor. If there is no need for labor-if the ma
chine owned by the capitalist. by its un-
limited power sweeps away the chance Of
small but competent livelihood for the working
man.
Young Oliver, looking about and seeing the
wealth of undeveloped material at hand rebels
at the injustice of system which allows men
to starve while he is within stones throw of
1and-rich liberty. He rebels-without much
chance for him to express himself In the
searching for that expression he is eventually
killed
A theme rich with current and chaotic think
ing, full Of the meaningless meaning of this
present day life Mr.. Anderson has painted his
currently frustrated South well. He devotes.
however, much time and energy and space to
the strangely unpleasant characteristics Of some
Of his minor characters that you often wonder
just what he is about. In the final few pages
he has expressed himself up to the hilt But up
until then, although his pages are dimly remi-
niscent of Dark Laughter there is too much
squalid picturing of the undertow of life to
make the reader either quite comfortable or
quite happy.