Evening star., 1935-02-10
In the World of Books
BY SARAH BOWERMAN

had thought a being Of perfect wis
dom and self-control was really
violent brute. The facade Of civiliza-
ton was shattered by the World War.
After these two shocks Ivor Trent
had become a self-imprisoned man,
a man supremely lonely yet eager
to prove to himself that he had power.
After the writing Of his first novel
he was an outward success. though
he recognized himself as an inward
failure.
On a certain night when he Is leav-
ing his luxurious apartment on Cork
street to 60 into retirement in a
secret apartment in rooming house
on Potiphar street, Chelsea, where he
always writes his novels. he has a
sudden illness and, as he wanders
in the fog along the Chelsea Embank-
ment, he sees q figure and q face
emerge from the fog and Trent knew
that q man from the Future con-
fronted him." When the illness of
the famous novelist is announced in
the newspapers, and his whereabouts
at No. n Potiphar street, Rendell
comes to inquire for him and ends
by taking a vacant room in the house.
which becomes the rendezvous for
the seven other people who have
known him, are curious about him
and have their worries in connection
with him. Through a series of meet
ings In Rendell's room and number
Of events, we learn what Trent's re-
lations have been with Capt. and Mrs.
Frazer, owners Of the house; Marsden,
Wrayburn, Elsa, the model; Rosalie
Vivian, and Vera Thornton. Through
their interest in Ivor Trent all these
people are brought into relation with
each other, not altogether for their
happiness. Claude Houghton has been
called by Hugh Walpole one Of the
most important novelists now writing
in England. Certainly he is one of
the most original in his blending OF
realism and transcendental problems.
as demonstrated in this and in his
two previous novels, II am Jonathan
Scrivener" and Julian Grant Loses
His Way"
SHABBY TIGER. BY Howard Spring.
New York: Covici-Friede
Mr.. SPRINGS Nick Faunt. the
AA shabby tiger" vagabonding
about Manchester, makes w. j.
Locke's Beloved Vagabond." vaga-
bonding in France, seem almost con-
ventional Though thoroughly of the
twentieth century, Shabby Tiger"
has its literary ancestors in Sterne's
Sentimental Journey" and Rabelais
"Gargantua." Nick Faunt, painter
convinced of his own genius, with his
scrawny figure and face like half
starved hawk" is, however, as far as
appearance goes. far from the rubi-
cund. overstuffed Gargantua. There
are only one or two respectable"
persons in this story Of vagabondia-
Sir George Faunt. disowned father
of Nick, who haunts the Midland
Hotel with rowing eye for attractive
women, and Anton Bruno. with his
corn-silk beard. who thinks he is an
artist, but isn't, and always just es-
capes being involved in the disgrace
full eScapades Of his vagabond friends
Those who cannot re amused by
what they do not approve and who
cannot tolerate extreme freedom of
behavior and verbal expression are
warned away from Shabby Tiger"
They will miss something, however.
in not knowing the surly. art-centered
Nick; the pagan, uninhibited Anna,
who is the chief figure of the story;
the gross Piggy White. who is not
altogether devoid of fine feeling, which
finds an outlet when he abandons his
profession of bookmaker and buys a
pub of his own. covered with roses
and called the True Lovers Knot;
his assistant, the soft-hearted Jewish
youth, Holy Moses, otherwise Jacob
Rosing, and the handsome, svelte
Rachael Rosing who fools every one.
but on the supreme occasion in her
| life is herself fooled The English
critics of Shabby Tiger" have DIFF
fered widely in their opinions about
the picture Mr.. Spring has drawn of
Manchester. Some say it is startlingly
faithful. others that 1t Is almost
slanderous. Mr.. Spring himself says
in a predatory note: There is no
such city as Manchester" Mr.. Spring,
now literary editor of the London
Evening Standard, was formerly on
| the Manchester Guardian.
| + 4 4 \
I MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. BY
William Bennett Munro. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
pRESENT-d methods and prob
lens Of city administration in the
United States are here reviewed by
the professor of history and govern
ment al the California Institute OF
Technology, with suggestions for pos
sibilities of improvement The discus
sion is general rather than detailed.
but includes all important branches of
municipal activity. as taxation, budget
making, law departments, the ham
ding of crime. traffic regulation, hous-
ing, hospitals. public Libraries and
(not of use to District of Columbia