The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-12
"No More Trumpets," Book
of Short Stories, Reveals
Authors Trend Toward Left

kept looking at life with ever clearer
eyes, Although his editors tried to
steer him into channels of their
choosing, he mastered his craft and
hewed path of his own. His direc-
ton is now definitely leftWard.
Milburn has passed through three
phases all of which are represented
in this collection Of eighteen stories
written between 1880 and 1888. He
was humorous entertainer first,
writing amusing Celebrations Of
smoking car anecdotes for Vanity
Fair" Gike THE Drummer's Shoes"
in this volu1ne) But he wasn't con-
tent whit his surface work and as
he probed for depth he came under
the satiric influence of Mencken, Sim
clair Lewis and Ring Lardner. The
latter might have written Inquire
Within" conventional tricky story
fused with bitter impatience at the
stupidities of human beings. 1.-THE
Fight at Hendryx's" is one of the
rowdy, Paul Bunyanesque tales en-
couraged by Mencken. "A Pretty Cute
Little Stunt" and 1.-THE Apostle" both
reprinted in O'Brien collections. are
ultra -obvious satires on Rotarians,
which might have been written by
any of a half dozen of Mencken's
disciples.
Milburn's Sinclair Lewis period"
however, proved valuable for COM
plotting his education in short story
craftsmanship. Like his one-time
master, he has developed a keen ear
for the myraid idioms of American
speech, camera eye for the little
touches that make people human, an
ability to etch unforgettable charac-
terS in few def strikes and a grim
humor as native as the square dance
in Grange Hall. He is a careful
workman. Original SMILES and meta
phors freshen his prose as the cider
jug aids a ploughman.
In his third and latest phase Mil
burn presents raw, bleeding chunks
of American life, tragedies of frus-
trated individuals and underdogs
crippled by the brutalities inherent
in capitalism. These stories burn with
a white-hot hatred of our present
system. They start quietly. In THE
Visit to Uncle Jake's," a tale of a
mans lifelong desire to learn how
his lost brother had gotten on in the
world, Milburn has a Mark Twain
twinkle in his eyes but rings che last
drop of life7frustration out of his
tragic theme.
In Sugar Be Sweetl' and Love
Song" he exhibits a profound pity
for unfortunateS in callous surround
ingS that Lardner never achieved. He
has far broader knowledge of life
and wider range of theme than
Erskine Caldwell. And in "a Position
on the Staff" Heel. Toe and A /,
2, 3, A." and "a Student in Eco
nomics," he has created three full
bodied masterpieces. The first is the
greatest newspaper story ever written
the aftermath of rape SCOOP"
recounting what capitalist Journalism
does to the souls of men. The second
is mind-Searing tale of wild boy
OF the road and the third, merciless
indictment of American colleges hos
tility to poor youths striving for edu-
cation-a bitter mockery of the eco
nomics taught in goose step univer-
sites.
AS yet, Milburn has not dealt with
class conscious workers, our strike
leaders and revolutionists. His best
stories belong to the literature of ex-
poSure, establishment and defeat.
But "a Student in Economies" and
"a Position on the Staff" prove that
he realizes the system, not individ-
uals, is to blame for life's tragedies
and he himself now asserts that his
recent stories are "obllque attacks on
capitalism" Recently he has become
greatly interested in Soviet literary
criticism, as exemplified in "Interna-
tional Literature" and we can expect
that his future work will mirror such
influences.