Evening star., 1936-11-28
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

Gather. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
"HIS Is collection of essays, the
frst that Miss Gather has pub
lished. 1t is small volume and
u and small collection; there
are only six essays in it. They deal
with literary personalities whom Miss
Gather remembers and with certain
aspects of literature. She explains her
title by saying, in predatory note:
". -. The book will have little interest
for people under 40 years of age The
world broke in two in 1922 or there
abouts and the persons and prejudices
recalled in these sketches slid back
into yesterdays seven thousand years"
But that is not entirely true, al
though it is understandable that Miss
Gather should say it with a conviction
of its trueness. Her personalities may
be forgotten, or they may, because of
lack of opportunity. be unknown to
those Of us who have not completed
four decades, but her 'prejudices"
stand valid today, as always, for they
are not prejudices really, but reitera-
tions of basic critical truths. Miss
Gather is pardonably unjust. In the
great current welter Of meretricious
books, in the midst of almost daily |
heraldings Of new, fresh vital genius"
her assumption that her own mildly |
expressed opinions on writing are un-
shared is perfectly understandable |
But, though the world did break in |
two in 1922 and though literary criti-
eism has wandered after strange gods
indeed since that break, the principles !
Of the art have not changed and here |
and there are members of the deplored |
postwar generation who know them. |
Are such people really rarer today than !
they ever have been, one wonders? Or ,
Is it just that there are so many more !
books published?
Miss Gather, to be sure. is not very |
assertive in her prejudices" as she !
sets them down in this book. She !
writes of the ''overfurnished novel" in
0 vein of detached correction; thus she |
terms works OF fiction which pretend
to serve realism under the guise of
"catalogueing (of) a great number OF
material objects, in explaining me-
chanical processes, the methods of !
operating manufactures and trades,
and in minutely and unsparingly de-
scribing physical sensations" She !
finds such novels outside literature and
outside realism. too. She makes few |
similar observations in the course of
discussing remembered individuals, she |
writes eulogistic essay on the art of |
Thomas Mann, but in general she |
treats contemporary writing as a SELF |
evident phenomenon which must take
its own course. Yet it is in these
chance critical remarks that the re-
viewer found the greatest pleasure OF
this book. They are not original
how could they be?-but they cannot
be made too often.
The personalities of the volume are |
FIaubert's niece, Nine. Franklin
Grout; Mrs. James T. Fields, Sarah !
Orne Jewett and Katherine Mansfield. |
Around each figure Miss Gather has
evidently seen form a group OF asso-
eiations harmoniously related in at
mosphere. She sets these associations
down here. They make series OF
slight but admirable "reminiscences.
works, but the beauty of her reminis-
cent writing makes it, for itself, de-
sirable.
THE DIARY OF VASLAV NIJINSKY.
Edited by Romola Nijinsky. New
York: Simon g. Schuster.
THIS diary of the great dancer, writ
II ten after he became patient In
q sanitarium for the mentally Ill, IS
one of the most sorrowful books which
the reviewer has had to read In long |
time. 1t is, in fact, almost unbearable.
It Is Nijinsky's own effort to explain
not his failure" in life. but the phi
losophy which he achieved after his
meteoric and splendid career had COL
lapsed and he knew that he would
dance no more.
He reveals himself as man OF rare
simplicity, OF gentle impulses and ex-
treme sensitivity. This was his tera-
perament-as a man. 1t was seated
in a body-a human organism-which
was the rarely fine instrument OF an
art, for the dancer, in an intimate
sense not applicable to other artists,
Is his art as well as its creator.
The clashing demands made on him,
the desire of the simple, kindly man to
have the friendship of his fellows, his
sensitive reaction to the jealousy which
he inevitably aroused in them, the in
tensity required Of him for the prac-
tice of his art-these. constantly at
cross purposes, combined to place on
his fundamentally uncomplicated and
gentle mind greater strain than 1t
could bear. He seemed to come to the
point where he found it necessary to
separate himself, to become either all
dancer or all man. But that choice
was impossible Neither part of him
could be discarded He took refuge
In a living death. He is classified to-
day as a schizophrenic.
His progress to this dreadful end is
clearly evident in the diary now pub
lished, but, needless to say, he does
not tell 1t so directly. He questions
his heart and his fate, he blames him.
self for small faults, he Is tragically |
humble. His book Is terrible thing. |
Readers who remember him and who |
have wondered, in the course Of all |
that has been written. about the truth |
OF his tragedy should have his own
word with the rest. But they are ad-
Nsed that his word is grievous
document.
0WINNERTON, AN AUTOBIOGRA-
PLY. BY Frank Swinnerton. Gar
den City: Doubleday. Doran g. Co. |
FRANK swINNERTON was never q
great novelist. He merely be- |
longed to the successful literary group |
Of his time, as writers Of less than |
greatness belong to such groups in all |
times, men of genius being too rare to |
keep the presses working full shift. |
In this capacity he enjoyed certain
honors and distinctions; he formed |
A--f - Ill r.I