Evening star., 1936-09-19
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

the YlddlSh by Maurice samuel.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
SOMEWHERE TO THE SEA. BY
Kenneth Reddin. Boston: Hough-
ton Miflin Co.
THREE BAGS FULL. BY Roger Bur-
lingame. New York: Harcourt
Brace & Co.
TINE first and third Of the novels
listed above are released to the
public this week. The second
u came out last month. The
three bear no resemblance to one
another in subject matter; ''The
Brothers Ashkenazi" is story of Po-
lish Jews in the city Of Lodz, Some
where to the Sea" is set in Dublin
and deals with the Sim Fein con-
spiracy of 1920 and Three Bags
Full" is a family novel Of New York
State. Yet there is likeness in the
FORKS in that all are sincere and
treditable, all deal with backgrounds
rather than with people and none Is
inspired or memorable as writing.
Since, obviously. every novel can
not be work of literature. one sup
poses one should give thanks for the
variety Of fiction which is not trash,
for the work which is done in good
taste and with care for truth and
form. Yet If one were to shed tears
for authors, one fears that they
would not be for the perpetrators of
the clap-trap which makes up the
ctr nf hll
precisely for the men and women
whose work is done in careful hon.
esty-without fire. How sorrowful in
deed must be the labors of the poor
scribe who lays words end to end up
to the length Of 500 pages only to
achieve decorum! Such writer's clear
ly know merit. 1t is impossible to
long and perfectly decorous novel has
not aimed in the beginning at some
thing better.
Such works are every reviewers
bane. What is there to say of them?
One cannot treat them lightly; good
taste and honesty should never be
Knocked. One cannot damn them
and one cannot improvidently draw
upon ones precious adjective reserve
either, for a work of genius may fall
from heaven the day afterward. The
good, decorous, honest book indeed
is as exasperating as the good, decor
GUS, honest person. One respects 1t,
one sympathizes with it, one would
like to make its way easier for it.
And at heart one feels it is more of
nuisance than any one thing has
right to be.
To this classification belong the
three books listed above. "The Broth
ers AshkenaA" has had advance pub
licity Of sort which made one look.
albeit cautiously, for possible work
OF genius. Mr.. Knopf, writing over
his own signature, lists it frankly
with 'Kristin Layransdatter" and
1.-THE Growth of the Soil" As Mr..
Knopf is not wholly without critical
discernment. one opened the covers of
'The Brothers Ashkenazi" with some
expectation.
1t may be, OF course, that the proc
ess Of translation Is to some degree
responsible for the curiously lifeless
quality of the characters of this work.
Translation should be taken into ac-
count certainly. But, on the other
hand, one recalls that 'Kristin Law
ransdatter" itself was q translation.
The difficulties are not insurmounta-
BILE. With all allowance made for them
in the case of 1.-The Brothers Ashken-
All" it would seem that the work is
more industrial and sociological his
tory Of a city that it is a human docu-
ment. 1t has movements rather than
characters And one holds to the
theory that novels are intended pri-
marily to be about men and women.
With the growth of mass" thinking,
Of course, the theory may become out
moded.. It may happen in years
ahead that the hero of a novel will
legitimately be John Proletariat Up
surge, the heroine Bettina Social Con-
science and the villain Count Alexis
I.aissez-Faire But for the present,
the backward mentality of the review
er clings to liking for human beings.
And it is the lack of human beings in
"The Brothers AshkenaZi" which is the
basis of her disappointment in the
work.
1t is the story of industrial change
In Polish cloth-weaving city, involv-
ing the displacement of hand workers
by machines, the use of immoral meth
ods Of competition among owners, the
oppression of the workers, and-of
course-the gradual emergence Of class
consciousness among them. The
writer unquestionably knows his back
ground. As history of industrial
growth his work is first-rate.
But as a novel? Well, take, for ex-
ample, the title and its relation to the
text. The brothers, who are the lead
ing characters, are simple lay figures.
Their only importance to the author
has plainly been the part which, as
types, they play in his industrial pic
ture-Meyer is the shrewd, unscrupu-
lous cold-hearted factory owner, and
his twin, Yakob, is the generous, pleas
ure-loving opportunist. Mr.. Singer
early in his work makes the gesture of
setting the two up in mutual oppose
ton; he fiirts for few chapters with
tre tlme-AOnOreQ Theme Oh prOCIleE-
against brother. But his interest is
not really in the brothers. It is in the
rise of the proletariat, and the problem
Of Jew against Christian, and will
workers of the two religions be able to
forget their ancient hatreds in order
to unite against the common foe, the
owner and capitalist?
So Yakob soon fades out Of the
story, and Meyer fills no more place in
It than is needed to supply boss Of
thoroughly contemplate qualities. In
other words, he becomes a dummy in
his creators hands. Even in the pass
ages which are devoted to his personal
existence and emotions, he never comes
to life. His contribution to the living
quality of the drama consequently Is
negligible. although he is the main
character.
AS for the proletariat side Of the class
struggle, it has hardly more human
rAoIitv It's leader Is Nissan who. in