Evening star., 1935-05-26

| tne CnardcterlZatlonS OF dluerenL
Negroes-braZen Crissy. weeping
Froggy Lesesne, the Gadf1y, the sea
island girl laSses, the swashbuckling
lover Tater, Daydey and Bobo-or
the intimate descriptions Of parts Of
Charleston. Mr.. Coleman, born in
| Washington, has lived in Charleston
for some years and for a time did
journalistic work and made observa-
tions of the life of the city for his
novel. His opening description of
the Hugare mansion, which "stares
coldly through the maze of semi
! tropical growth which fills its front
garden and through the grilled iron
gate at Tradd street" is one OF his
best.
CALL ME ISHMAEL. BY Lloyd Col
Inns. New York: Dodd, Mead &
Co.
HAGAR and her son Ishmael were
cast out from the tents of
Abraham TO appeaSe the jealousy of
Sarah. The seaman on a tramp
steamer often feels himself an out
cast from the life of the other workers
Of the world He is at sea for long
periods, leading a restricted and
specialized life, then on land for brief
periods. with no time for adaptation.
This is the story of such a seaman,
told by himself, and the setting is
chiefly the sea. Burke has been fired
from his office job for advocating
some pay for flremen beyond their
three meals and an ocean breeze"
He becomes seaman and the friend
OF Karil, who frequently changes his
name, has a wonderful girl" in Ho-
boken and is usually in need of q
loan. Objectively, Call Me Ishmael"
is a sea story full of action-rum-
running, salvaging derelict, dangers
on the water and adventures in port:
subjectively, it is the unsolved and
unsolvable problem of the seamen,
who can find no stability and often
do not want it, whose joys and sor-
rows are alike evanescent. whose
lives are over before they understand
what it is all about. Mr.. Collins tells
his story with strong and blunt
realism.
UNDER THE LINDEN TREE. An
1nterlude. BY Thames Williamson
New York: Doubleday, Doran g.
Co.
with her cat, dog and canary,
wall and never went out any more,
though the pleasant, white-headed
doctor told her it would be better for
her if she would. 1t was all because
20 years before her lover had gone to
America and had not found her suffi-
ciently magnetic to draw him back
Her story as it is told, from the
Spring morning when she went out
into her garden and saw the doctor
in the lane beyond her wicket gate,
is a strange fantasy not to be taken
merely at its surface value. The
canary few off into the forest; Frau
lein Emma found Liesl in the thickest.
loneliest part of the wood, when she
went to look for the canary; the cat
died; Karl applied for work but turned
out to be a venomous rascal and
stabbed the faithful dog; and old
Wolfgang became the protector of
Liesl. With all these happenings
coming so fast. Fraulein Emma had
no time for her complexes and had
almost recovered from them when late
happiness came to her. The symbol
ism of the tale is not as obscure or
subtle as that of The Bridge of San
Luis Rey," for example. and is ex-
pressed in the quotation from La Fon-
taine after the title page: Gods
works are good canont doubt it.
And that Is all know about it." As
gift for a sick friend. for a friend
going on journey, or for ones self
in a tired hour, no more charming
book could be found.
THE BARBARIANs. BY Virginia
Faulkner. New York: Simon g.
Schuster.
IF POSSIBLE, THE Barbarians'
goes even beyond the authors earlier
novel, Friends and Romans" in
extravaganza, impossibilities and hi
larity. The "barbarians" are a crew
of artists, rather mad Bohemians,
with their own individual standards,
If they can be called standards, of
manners and morals. Some of the
same eccentric and amusing egotists
appear who furnished the whirling
plot of the earlier novel, among them
Marie Manfred. who was its heroine
The scene changes as swiftly as the
motives of the artists, from Mont
parnasse to the Blue Coast. to French |
Tunisia. No one need hope to find
any serious purpose in Miss Faulkner's
extravaganza: no one will wish for it,
Her purpose Is to amuse and she
accomplishes it with the utmost wit
and cleverness. But don't read it If
you believe In the censorship of
humor.
BLIND MEN CROSSING A BRIDGE.
BY Susan Miles. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Co.
TUMULTUOUS and enigmatic, this
novel of Susan Miles requires the |
concentration one accords to George
Meredith, and the reward, if not equal
to that which Meredith gives, is at
least the satisfaction of following a
poetic will-o'-the-wisp. The meaning
of the title is for any one to guess. The |
theme is the span of human life;
youth becoming mature. then old. with
ircomprehensible swiftness; old age
turning to youth for cheer and COM
pensation for vanished vigor and in
terest. OF course the story is tragic.
but 1t is told with almost uncanny
understanding of humanity, old and
young, and with sympathy for all the
men and women and children, of all
types and classes, who are blind men
crossing bridge" which Is life. The
chief personages of the story are
George and Betty, the archdeacon's |
children, Meg Quainton, Keren, and |
Mazod. Georges daughter, and her
son, but we feel, as we do about some |
of Maeterlinck's shadowy characters,
that their names do not matter, for |
they are symbols, not people. De-
finiteness is not to be found in |
Blind Men Crossing a Bridge" but |
thoro De - "a