Evening star., 1934-01-28
WORK OF ART. By Sinclair Lewis Garden
City: Doubleday, Doran q Co.

WORK OF ART. By Sinclair Lewis. Garden
City: Doubleday, Doran q Co.
- NCLAIR LEWIS sometimes stands by
his heroes. His sympathy for them Is
to be instantly and continuously felt.
That was the case with ArrowSmith.
At other times he seems to stand aloof
and critical Then his satire becomes
more lusty and savage. That the case
with Elmer Gantry. Never has his SYM
pathy with character been, apparently, more
complete than it Is with Myron Weagle in
"Work Of Art"
Myron has an ideal, as cherished by him Is
any poets or musicians longing to produce q
masterpiece He determines from boyhood to
be hotel man, not Of the ramshackle, loaf
ing type represented by his father but the
creator and manager of the Perfect Inn. With
some OF his best characterization and most
varied and clever satire, Mr. Lewis follows
Myrons slow and steady rise from his position
as boy-of-all-work at the American House In
Black Thread Center, Conn, where Mr.. and
Mrs. Tom Weagle are proprietors through al
possible jobs in the hotel business, in many
towns and cities. until he exults in the OPEN
ing night Of the Black Thread Inn, his Works,
bound in gray and shingle" Then catastrophe,
and the realization that 1T was Just at the
beginning Of this period Of prose that he had
brought forth his epic" But Myron has in
him all the good hereditary stun from his
0oIAleI, plus the UOuGn nper created by con-
sc1entlous hard work, and he does not stay
down; he starts over again, far down the lad
der up which he has climbed. When We leave
him, regretfully he has bought and remod-
eled to his own ideal the Commercial Hotel
OF Lemuel, Kans., has been asked to run for
alderman. and the men about town are saying:
BEST thing ever happened to this burg was
when Weagle came here and put Ill pep into
It," Best Of all he has found in his young
son a companion who understands and is keen
about his ideals, and together they plan
ming perfect tourist camp, where people shall
be tempted to remain several days. located on
the one high spot ON the prairie not far from
Iemuel.
Great effectiveness is secured by MI. Lewis
In his development Of the character Of Myron
by the contrast between the two brothers,
Myron and Ora Weagle. In the opening pages
one might think that Ora was to be chief
prOtagonist. He is introduced dancing on the
hat roof Of the American House and chanting
q refrain from the poem he has written the
night before, in imitation of his favorite SWIM
burne: Proud, am proud am-Potent and
terrible,-Potent and terrible" Ora without
either literary gifts or ethical scruples, IS q
parsonage worthy Of Mr. Lewis most ruthless
satire. He attempts poetry, fiction, essays,
biography (of the ghost variety, guide books,
advertising literature, all without arousing
either the critics to praise or readers to con-
enterprise IS the crcularizng, according to q
calculated system, of groups of successful
authors, with pathetic condolences about his i'll
wife and hungry children cora Iever marries),
ending with solicitation for $500. A sur
prisingly large amount Of money comes in
from these circular letters and any discour-
teous replies received from authors, after q
third and insulting letter from him, are sold by
him as Original and unpublished manuscripts"
When he is in need of money he is frequent
visitor at Myron's home; one of Myrons COM
pensations in his misfortunes is the non appear
ance of Ora for a long period. Myron and
Ora give to their friends "curiously similar
opinions about the effect Of childhood environ
ment upon their characters" but with exactly
opposite. conclusions. Both easily refer to the
lazneSs and boozng Of their father, the drudg-
ing life of their mother (Ora contemptuously
Myron pityingly), and the filth they learned
from ''the hoboes up near the water tank"
Ora concludes that his careless upbringing has
had lone swell result" that it has made him
an Anti-Puritan; Myron concludes: Just by
way of contrast, it made me a good, sound,
od-fashioned New England Puritan"
The secondary characters of Work of Art"
well support the stars. Old Tom Weagle and
his wife Edna, perfectly adapted to the life of
their small-town hotel, react as any one less
blinded by affection and kindness than
Myron would have guessed when he removes
them to a cozy bungalow, where they may enjoy
a leisurely old age, with income supplied by
their son. Tom promptly devotes himself en-
tirely to drink, and Edna, after she has tried
reading and tried church work." slumps
into melancholy discomfort and has to be re-
stored to the American House. Herbert Lamb
kim Myrons brother in law, superintendent of
schools of Black Thread Center, pretentionsly
q Yale man and patronizing toward Myron,
thinks he should be supplied with lucrative
hotel sinecure, but Myron consistently dodges.
Efie May, shallow and pleasure loving wife of
Myron, has yet her good points, and Myron
reflects during his troubles: IF ever he had
fancied her provincial and inelastic and q
little stupid, he forgot it all in clinging to
her kindness" From every point Of view, IN