Evening star., 1935-07-07
Bv Marv.Carfer Roberts.

4tS4CC' @'~"
Rinehart.
THIS work has been chosen by
the Book of the Month Club
for July. 1t is also its authors
L first published novel. The
combination of circumstances makes
for conspicuousness and, indeed,
deep Dark River" merits q respect
able degree of attention. It Is work
of quality and must commend itself
for a number of reasons.
The book is an original treatment
of a current literary subject-the
Negro. The reader will not need re-
minders of how popular novels about
the black race have been in recent
years. There has been a host of
such works. some of them running
to the best seller class. OF these
substantial number can trace their
success to their subject rather than
their individual merits.
Whether it be that we are subcon-
sciously f1attered by reading OF the
trials of a race so dominated by our
selves, or whether a general ignorance
of true conditions among Negro
groups has made it possible for ingen-
ious authors to lard their works with
irresistible appealing picturesqueness,
Is a possible speculation. Be it as 1t
NAV. the fact remains that Negro
life has been a highly saleable
formula for the novel in recent years.
A Young writer who is making bid
for a serious place in letters, as MI.
Rylee undoubtedly is, shows certain
hardihood in adopting this subject
But Deep Dark River" is not just
another Negro book. 1t has neither
the casual morality nor the graphically
described mob prosecutions which so
enliven the pages Of many works
about the black man. 1t is story
of injustice, to be sure. 1t Is that IN
even a technical sense. for 1t Is an
account of legal procedure. of the
railroading to the penitentiary tfor
life) of one Nose Southwick, whose
only offense was that he had refused
to allow a degenerate white man TO
beat him.
But it is told. in the main. with a
formidable dignity which. if it were
wholly sustained, could lift the book
above any genre and make of it not
lust the case of Southwick against the
state of Mississippi. nor that OF the
black race against the white, but the
c,1tcrv of all strength that Is defense
less against all weakness that is en-
trenched and unassallable. Un1ortu-
natelv. the characteristic restraint Is
mt ALWAYS present. To the book
6etrinent. the author sometimes al
lows sentiments Of outspoken bitter
ness to appear. These are not OF ire
ouent occurrence, but when they DO
come they mar the already sufficiently
plain indictment.
The book has a deep beauty. Its
quality is fateful. 1t might, indeed,
be taken as starting point for a
dissertation on pity, as that quality
makes its frequent appearance in our
current literature. For pity has be-
come almost fashionable; it is an
accepted literary convention and many
writer's, with a speaking acquaintance
with Dostoiviesky, have improved that
knowledge to turn out works that
claim much more in humanity than
their lust desserts. This Is lamentable.
PITY is not necessarily inherent in the
writer and that one who lacks IL
would do better to write callously, or
even brutally, if that is his honest
outlook. Robert Rylee, however, has
pity truly; he seems to have 1t al
most as his distinguishing marx.
There IL a deep. awful retchlns
quality about his book. To read 1t Is
to remember that for many years the
phrase has been "the bowels OF COM
passion'-not the brains. Yet this
effect is produced by rigid, almost
a bare, simplicity, a circumstance
which seems to augur well for Mr.
Rylee's future as an artist.
On the whole, Deep Dark River" is
a memorable book. If in its palntul-
ness it is not altogether easy to read,
it will be found to be even harder to
forget. And the process today Is all
too often the exact reverse.
GUEST BOOK: PORTRAITS IN
POETRY. BY Witter Bynner. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
THIS is a book of polished, agree
able satirical verse. 1t is called a
book of portraits; that Is to say, In
each verse the accomplished Mr.. Byn-
ner has set down Characterization
of some individual or type which has
passed beneath his genial obserVa-
ton. These estimates are penetrating
but usually amiable. The jacket
writer has informed us. apropos Of
the title. that the volume could have
been called, What Your Host Thinks
of You" This is we'll put. Mr.. Byn-
ner is not deceived, but he is always
courteous. A typical quotation may
give the volumes quality as we'll as
anything. The following verse is called
'Teacher" Surely every one has met
the individual described.
Teacher of boys-and yet afraid the
rule
OF lordliness In class should come
TO be habit and he play the fool,
He has a look which what 1t half
confides
It more conceals. He fiutters on the
verge
OF telling you, first with his eyes
and hands,
Then nearly with his tongue; and
yet the urge
Is less than something else which
countermands.
Therefore his conversation turns to
dream
And their Interpreting or to some
such case
OF Freudian theory. A flicker CLEANS
OF almost rabid fervor in his face
And in his voice there's an excited
Toward other peoples cases than
his own.
SENTENCED TO LIVE. By Mary
Agnes Hamilton. Boston: Houghton