Evening star., 1934-10-28

highly finished study OF family LIE
Raymond Pasquier has given hostages
to fortune in the shape Of . wife and
four children, before he has finished
his education. He is only . couple OF
generations removed from the spade
and the plow," but is convinced Of the
necessity Of o university background
for future success. So the family Is
compressed into two rooms in Paris
and lives chiefly on thin soup and len
ills, while Papa Raymond completes
his studies. Then o stroke Of good, OF
i'll. luck breaks the monotony Of Their
sordid lives. An aunt Of Nine. Pas
quier dies and leaves her O supposed
fortune, conditioned on the establish
ment Of the deaths Of two sisters In
Peru who have not been heard of for
years. Without waiting for certainties
the Pasquiers plunge into an orgy Of
spending, followed by debts, bounding
creditors and the removal Of newly &C.
quired possessions from their house
They 60 through all the stages of per.
sonal imitation and collapse. When the
fortune ct last comes into their hands
there proves to be very little Of 1t. II
Is q homespun tragedy, told with
minute and realistic detail.
SALVATION. BY sholem Asch. Trans.
lated by Villa and Edwin Muir
New York: @. p. Putnam's Sons
IN THREE CITIES" sholem Asct
spread out panorama of the high
lights, half tones and deep shadows
Of three great European centers OF
human life. In Salvation" he con.
centrates his art on the life Of one
man, q kind of Messiah in q small
Polish town about O century ago
Jechiel is the son Of Boruch- -Moysche
student Of Jewish law and the Scrip
lures but not good proyider," and
his wife Rifke, who knows that 1t is
her duty to bring as many souls as
she could from heaven to earth, u
though she must feed all her children
from what she can sell at her little
market-place stall. Jechiel Is brought
up according to the strictest Jewish
ritual but fails to become the student
his father desires. Instead he be-
comes q radical, q lover OF his fellow
men, especially the poorest Of them
Devoting his life to their service, he
gains the reputation of a miracle man
and his followers grow in numbers
and are turned from the letter Of the
law to the true spirit Of God as 1t may
be made evident In daily life. At his
death he has become to the plain
people Of the town almost q saint
The story is simple in outline but
works into its structure many types
Of the ghetto community and their
customs, superstitions and strivings
toward enlightenment and salvation
Sholem Aschs style. rich and full OF
figures, has an epic quality suggestive
Of the Old Testament chronicles.
THE SAFE BRIDGE. BY Frances
Parkinson Keyes. New York
Julian Messner.
TN 1773 a Glasgow cotton manufac-
turer, Archibald Burr, sent numer.
Gus skilled artisans to settle and
promote the industry in the township
Of Ryegate, VT, recently purchased
by the Scotch American Co. The little
township failed to develop, sank into
oblivion instead. But early in the
nineteenth century Elizabeth Burr
daughter of Archibald Burr, came
from Scotland and rode into Ryegate
Her coming was mysterious, her So
journ even more so. She married
James Anderson because she needed
safe bridge" to carry her over q
dark river. Mrs. Keyes treats these
materials with her usual deftness and
facility in the writing Of romance.
WHEN THE LOOMS ARE SILENT
BY Maxence van der Meersch
Translated from the French by
Frederick A. Blossom. New York:
William Morrow & Co.
A STORY of violent strike in the
manufacturing town of Rubaix
the birthplace of the author The
older workers, accustomed to meager
comfort, do not want it; the younge,
workers are indignant over the new
law requiring the payment Of five
per cent of their wages for insurance
and are demanding a wage increase
to meet it, The strike fails when
the union treasury in empty. With
Zolaesque realism the author presents
many different types Of workers. anc
employers against the gloomy back
ground of the strike-DenoOts, the
kindly employer; Laforge, sweatshol
operator; Demasure, the scavenging
strike agitator, old Fidele and Elise
who want only each other and tran
quill poverty; the lovers, Jacques ano
Laure, and many others.
FONTAMARA. BY Ignazio Silone
Translated by Michael Wharf
New York: Harrison Smith &
Robert Haas.
EONTAMARA, the village in the
L Southern Apprentices, which fought
against Fascist Rome for a brief mo-
ment, is the hero Of this tale by the
former editor of an Italian labor
newspaper, who spent his early life
at Fontamara. The story IA not mere
propaganda. It is full Of al people
and of the atmosphere Of the arid
Italian hills, much the same whether
dictator or constitutional monarch
rules at Rome.
X y
WITH NAKED FOOT. BY Emily
Hahn. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
IN CONGO SOLO" Emily Hahn
= told of her daring independent
adventures IN the blackest parts Of
dark Africa. Here she uses the Kongo
jungle as the setting for story Of
q barbaric, tattooed beauty, Mawa,
who was a trouble-maker but had her
conventional virtues, chief Of which
was her devotion to her little yellow
son, Joachim, whom she carefully
nourished on bananas and elephant
gristle. There is abundant coloratura
effect in this tale Of Mawa and, we
take it for granted, considerable
realism.