Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-08-29

J. B. PRIESTLY,
Author of "They Walk in the
City" Harper G. Brothers.
lowed by Tiger Man." still on the
jungle theme. Now We have Mr..
Duguid's first novel and it Is not
surprising to find that it, too, has its
scene in the South American wilder
ness. There the resemblance to the
other two works ends, however. for
Cloak of Monkey Fur" is historical.
It deals with the conquest of South
America by the Spaniards and the
settlement Of Buenos Aires and
Ascuncion.
1t is written in the neo-Stevenson
manner and purports to be pure
adventure, against background OF
history. Its title comes from the
ambition of its heroine "a maid-ser-
vant) to own a cloak Of monkey fur
She is obsessed with this desire while
the other members of the expedition
talk only Of gold. In the end most
Of them have died or been killed by
the savages without so much as 4
glimpse of the precious metal, but
Maria (the seryant) succeeds in get
ting her cloak.
The cleanneks OF Duguid's style and
his sense Of light dramatic values make
the book better than average reading.
MIDNIGHT. BY Julian Green.
Translated into English by Vivian
Holland. New York: Harper g.
Bros
JULIAN GREEN, in this noyaL has
attempted to write q work of at
mosphere. a book in which the crea-
ton Of an atmosphere is in itself a
plot, doing away with any need for
motivations or situations of the con-
ventional sort, or for that matter,
even for characters.
Such works, of course. are a we'll
established form. In the House Of
Seven Gables" or in 1.-THE Fall of the
House of Usher" creation Of at
mosphere is the beginning and end of
the authors intentions. The action
which follows Is mere proving and
confirmation. In the case of Mid
night" Mr.. Green is successful in in
voking an atmosphere Of complete I'M
canniness early in his book. His &C
ton, however. lacks that harmonious
sequence which such works should
have. II does not seem to grow out
of its eerie surroundings naturally;
it seems, on the contrary, to have
been heavily and arbitrarily thought
up, in the hope that, because it is
without reason or relevance, it will
conform to the books already estab-
lished wierdness. To the reviewers
mind, each successive denoument is
disappointing. None of them bear
out the promise Of the earlier chap
tiers.
The book relates the story of Eliza
beth, left motherless at the age Of IL
and turned over to the persecution of
three fiendish aunts. She escapes
and comes at last to the home Of her
natural father, crumbling chateau
inhabited by q swarm Of elderly
maniacs of varying degrees Of aberra-
ton. 1t is the fashion Of these people
to turn day into night-that is, to
retire during the hours of sunlight
and come out only after nightfall.
The only young person there beside
Elizabeth is Serge, q peasant servant.
She attempts to flee with him, falls
and is killed.
The book is not intended to bear
any realistic Interpretation. It Is q
fantasy. pure and simple. Its readers
probably will not number above q
handful. However, even a fantasy
can have form, and harmony within
that form. Midnight" is good enough
in some passages for one to regret
its detection in these important re-
spects.
PEOPLE. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
Frederick A. Stokes Co.
THE aimiable Bob Davis gives here
the meat Of some 100000 miles
Of travel. travel which took him to
every part Of the world.
And when one says the meat" one
means that. In other words, Mr..
Davis did not try to write his own
Badeker, nor has he presented his
readers with his emotions on behold
ing this or that marvel which is be-
held by thousands Of professional be-
holders annually. He sat down to
pen his travel opus, and he simply
put into it the things which made
good stories. All hail!
His book Is o collection Of anecdotes,
obscure bits Of history. visnettes. good
material generally. It has no coz
tinuity, each anecdote being COM
plete In itself. Il Is marked by q
quality of mingled unbanity and
. quality which belongs to
an older school of humor than that
in fashion ct the moment. which
seems TO owe some derivation indeed
to q vanished artist named Mark
Twain. It is always a pleasure to
read such q book.
GOD IN A RoLI.s-RoYcE. BY John
Hoshor. New York: Hillman Curl,
Inc.
THE incredible career Of Harlem's
= Father Divine Is told here In what
veems to be . reliable manner. II 1t
really Is reliable, then the age Of won
iers Is still with US, even If miracles
have ceased. For the phenomena sur
the alleged God Almighty"
II Lenox avenue are assuredly "won-
ierful." And the career Of Father
Divine himself Is hardly less SO.
An ignorant and starving hedge
Upper, at one stage Of his existence,
his dark Messiah now carries regu.
arly q bankrou Of $500, and spends
j million and q half annually. In.
hsye failed to uncover any
In his accounts. The
{