Evening star., 1933-10-22
10y SARAH @. .BOWERMAN
Ve,a Bjuttam,S Study Of the War Period and
Later-F0rd Madox Fmd,S Ne7Uct Book
and a T1lqgy by Sholam Asoh.

Tisdale Hobart. indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
BERNARD SHAW is quoted saying at a
- recent literary tea in London: East is East
and West is West is what say. What we
really mean is West is West and the East be-
longs to it" Yet the East is not non-resistant.
Mrs. Hobart, after living for l6 years in China
as the wife of an American business man, much
of the time in Manchuria and the Yangtse
Valley, realizes profoundly this will to domi-
nate and the corresponding will to withstand.
"The East hadn't wanted to change. The yell
low man would hate the white man and strike
out at him blindly" The China of business of
merchants both Chinese and foreign; of pioneer
industrial development, Of differing codes and
etiquette, of domination of a system on the
one hand and graft and squeeze" on the other,
is the China which Mrs. Hobart tendenciously
delineates through the disillusioning expert
ences of her chief character, Stephen Chase.
Stephens spirit of enterprise and loyalty is
not broken by China alone. The American
Oil Co., the huge corporation of which he is
the serf is even more the enemy of his per-
sonalty than isolation. among the Chinese for
so lorg time.
After his graduation from the College OF
Mines. Stephen had for two years. in the de-
preston of 1908, known the bitterness of
world which apparently had no place for him.
in its business classes and had sent him to
China He was lucky and knew it. The COM
pany had exacted a promise that he would
not marry for three years, so he left
Lucy behind, and when the time came for
him to send for her, she could not understand
or forgive lapse from his "Galahad' life,
which his belief in frankness between them
had made him confess. So he married Hester,
because he would not return to Manchuria and
his servant and business associates unmarried.
Thwarted love helped to stimulate his ambi-
tion to become more than mere cog in the
corporation machine. though his friend Jim
had warned him to leave China before he was
any older and had become thoroughly mecha-
nized. He had practical dream of little
lamp that would hold just cup of OIL lamp
a coolie could afford to buy, something like the
nightlamps our mothers put by our beds when
we were kids" perhaps with bowl of colored
glass. which would brighten the lives of the
Chinese peasants bring big profits to the COM
pany and insure his own personal fortunes
The company accepted the idea, gave him a
small increase in his pay-and that was all. If he
had succeeded in preventing the burning OF
oil tanks by mob he would perhaps have
received another small increase. at least
have been commended, but as ne failed, he
was blamed for rashly staying in danger and
denoted. Although now 40 and without any
connections at home, his pride would have made
loved devotedly and child coming. He stayed
and submitted. AS in "Pidgin Cargo within
the Walls of Nanking" and her other books,
Mrs Hobart has captured and revealed the
many meanings of China. She has also shown
the organized ruthleSSneSs of a great Amer1-
can corporation. Finally, she has written with
power and restrained feeling, very human
story.
THE DEATH OF WORLD. Vol. ~ of The
Soul Enchanted BY Roman ROLAND.
Translated from the French by Amalia de
Alberti. New York: Henry Holt Co.
IN the previous volumes of The Soul En-
! chanted" Roman ROLAND created the char
acter of Annette Riviere, brought her to ma
turity through suffering and struggle for her
independence of personality. and finally through
the collapse of her world in the World War.
In Annette and Sylvie' Annette opposed the
French principle of family solidarity and doni-
nation and went her own way. In Summer"
she defed the niddle-class moral code by bear
ing a son out of matrimony Marc, who became
thenceforward the center of her hopes and her
struggles. She could refuse to submit to social
traditions, but was conquered by the instinct
of motherhood. Does ROLAND, the philosopher,
intend to argue that even in sophisticated per-
sons instinct is stronger than reason or estab-
lished custom9 In Mother and Son" Annettes
absorption in the and molding of young
Marc was interrupted by the shock and up
heaval of war, and for four years reason was
dethroned and savage instincts ruled the world.
according to M. ROLAND, the denunciatory
prophet of modern France.
The present volume, 1.-THE Death o: World"
begins with the wild celebration of the armstice
in Paris The story of Annette and Marc is
often pushed aside for M. Rolands expressions
of despair over the postwar world. Marc SYM
bolizes the manhood which unfortunate
to have been young in this war period and
to have been left with deep soul scars. The
Russian girl Asia, of the nobility in exile, per-
haps symbolizes the resurrection of purified
world, through helpfulneSs, as she nurses Marc