Evening star., 1936-12-26
YEARS TORRENTS OF BOOKS
Writers Economics Politics and Sociology Succeed Furnish
ing Mental Food for Each Other-Many Biographies
and Some Admirable Novels.

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gle In terms Of geography. badly
hampered the reasoning behind the
struggle itself. For, whether Mr..
Santayana declared it or not, his hero
was not unique to New England. nor
was his theme local one. His young
man represented temperament to be
found everywhere, and his struggle
was universal one. It would have
been enough to have given him q
local background: to insist that that
background explained something that
Is to be found In avery land, slowed
up a book not notable for Its rapid
movement In the first place. But it
Is good novel, and so must be mem
toned.
A second book by one not on the
veteran list" although he has writ
ten two previous works, Is Caleb Cat
lum's AmericS' which Is so good that
1t defies description. 1t is an elegy
for the lost American spirit, done. as
any American elegy should be. in
terms Of size. In this case the size
Is devoted to such beautiful, tremen-
dous tall tales as could not have come
out of any other country. 1t is rowdy
and true and has some beautiful writ
ing in it. 1t closes with a passage OF
pure poetry which will make you weep
unless you are too stupid to have tears
for beauty. In that case, do not read
the book in the first place 1t will
probably shock you. The author is
Vincent McHugh. just turned 30.
Another good book by a writer Of
less than veteran standing Is Steps
Going Down." which won the ALMA
tons prize and was remarkable among
the prize winning books Of the year
for having some merit. 1t has, indeed,
q great deal of merit. It is an Ameri-
can picturesque. the story Of an at
tractive young scamp, born of the
slums and bred on opportunism. pick
ing a precarious way through the cogs
of a city machine. 1t deserves TO be
kept as a document on one stratum
of American life today. but this does
not mean that it is not a good story,
too. 1t Is.
Two more novels remain on the list,
both translations. But they are not
thus deferred because of low esteem
on the part Of the reviewer. Quite on
the contrary. The first Is "Salka VAL
ka," translation from the Danish.
Its author Is Halldor Laxness. The
story Is of sordid Icelandic fishing
village, and also that of the world.
The book has a true universally, and
is q fine, absorbing tale, too. II Is
grim, tender, humorous and beautiful.
1t did not appear on any best-seller
list, so far as the reviewer knows, nor
did 1t receive outstanding favorable
comment. except on this page. Well.
that is where this page was ahead of
the others. "Salka Valka" Ii fine
book.
The other translation is from the
German, The Door in the Grim
ming" by Paula Grogger. It is
folk story. dealing with q village in
Styria where medieval superstition
walks side by side with more modern
enlightenment 1t is done with pas
sionately tender understanding. and
has been described as "a great epic of
Austrian peasant life"
And this ends the list Of novels
which, for one reason or another, must
be put In the years front rank.
And now for q group Of pretty good
novels. Just for casual reading. Here
they are: Beauties and Furies," by
Christina Stead; Cloak of Monkey
Fur" by Julian Duguid; Arouse and
Beware" by MacKinlay Kantor;
Maker of Heavenly Trousers" by
Daniele Ware; "Impassioned Pyg-
miles," by Keith Winter; House In
Paris" by Elizabeth Bowen and-ob-
serve this-"Gone With the Wind"
by Margaret Mitchell.
And there you are. So much for
the novels.
Essays have been scarce, but these
are worth having: Agnes Repplier's
I'm Pursuit Of Laughter" e. NJ. For
ster's "Abinger Harvest" James
Branch Cabells Preface to the
Past" and q collection Of Hillaire Bel
loc's work. brought out for the first
time in America.
In poetry as In novels, q number
of veterans returned to the field this
year, and we have Robert Frost. Carl
Sandburg. Edgar Lee Masters, Glenn
ent Wood. John Masefield and Joseph
Auslander. bringing out volumes and
a posthumous collection of Housman.
They are all worth having.
There are also collections Of Witter
Bynner's work and T. S. Eliot's and
Ford MADDOX Ford's, an anthology Of
World Poetry. edited by Carl Van
Doren and new Oxford Book Of
Modern Verse.
In addition to these, you must get
Capt. Dudley Knox's History of the
United States Navy" and Van Wyck
Brooks "Flowering of New Eng
land"
And there you are. 1t leaves exactly
1858 books unaccounted for. And
the writing goes on and on. Solomon
was right. Or was 1t, maybe. Bar
nuyn9