Evening star., 1936-09-19
REE NEW NOVELS STRIKE HIGH LEVEL OF SKILL
DIFFER WIDELY IN SUBJECT
"Bote Ashkenaz Somewhere the Sea- and "Three Bags
Full" Fall Short of Genius, but Achieve Sincerity and Merit
Attention-Other Recent Books Reviewed.

and highly International as to the
manner in which the great health
! foundations work.
NOW THAT APRILs HERE. AND
OTHER STORIES. BY Morley CAL
laghan. New York: Random
House.
MR.. MORLEY CALLAoHAN may
possibly merit the designation
which has sometimes been laid on him
Of being q dealer In tricks, but whether
ne does or no, it must be admitted that
he performs tricks Of distinction. He
is a very adroit writer and he knows
prose. In the present bankrupt con-
dition of the short story, his work
ought not to be underrated. 1t Is not
as if We could produce half q dozen
others and say, "These write better"
The present collection of IS stories
is much of level, that level being one
of delicate treatment Of almost imper-
| ceptible situations. In almost all the
tales 1t is the desires of the human
heart which Is the subject, rather
than the men and women who have
those desires. For Mr.. Callaghan has
curious faculty for dissecting that
organ and laying 1t bare in all It's
wishfulness, without giving any par
ticular identity to its possessors. This
faculty imparts classic impersonality
to his work, which its excellent formal
ity bears out. At the same time there
is indisputably colorlessness about it,
which derives from the same source.
In this latter respect Mr.. Callaghan
falls short Of Somerset Vaughan,
whose work his most nearly resembled.
Vaughan is rich In color, even while
using the same precision Of form and
somewhat the same subtlety Of mott
vation.
Taken story by story, the work In
the present volume must be conceded
to represent high mark in the pres
ent ranks of short story publication.
1t makes the heavy pretentiousness
and momentously presented triteneSS
of our esteemed fictioneers look like
the Grand Rapids concept Of the
woodworking art in the presence Of
Chippendale It is delicate, well-bal-
anced and quiet. And sometimes 1t is
profound. II this be trick, then it is
one worth studying. One commends
1t to those contemporary artists Of the
story form who are playing marbles
down at the corner while waiting for
| the 1887 O'Brien accolade. 1t might
give them some literary work to do.
THE ENCHANTED VOYAGE. By
Robert Nathan. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc.
TO SAY that Robert Nathan is an
author whose work, no matter
how light, must be received with joy,
is only to state literary truism. For
Robert Nathan Is a genius. That in
definable quality which distinguishes
perfect from good, that ability to
create life rather than to write ac-
curately about it-that is his. There
Is only one possible complaint to bring
against him. He writes too little.
His present book is small one. In
| a period in which novels grow longer
and longer, until reviewer begins
desperately to judge them by their ef-
| facacy as doorstops, The Enchanted
Voyage" adds up to just 1877 pages,
and it has large type and wide mar
/ gins, too. But they are Robert
Nathan in good form-if not in the
very best of his form, still himself.
He tells us here a fanciful little
piece about a Bronx carpenter who
| built boat in his backyard, in order
that he might dream that he was a
! sailor. 1t was not much of boat,
but it was a fine vehicle for dreams.
Then, in series of quietly humor-
Gus events, the boat actually gets
launched" and the little carpenters
adventures begin in earnest, surpass-
ing in their strangeness even the
things of which he has dreamed. 1t
Is unnecessary to go beyond this point
in revelation. The book is done with
Nathan's familiar wisdom and gentle
ness. His old readers will want it.
WHITEOAK HARVEST. BY Mazo
De La Roche. Boston: Little,
| Brown g. Co.
IN AWE before the popularity Of the
Whiteoak series of novels, mere
reviewer hesitates to say anything
even slightly detrimental about SO
splendidly successful an institution In
the world of letters. Yet, having hes
| itated, the present writer will commit
herself to the proposition that the
present Whiteoak opus is o tour. de
force and a strictly average piece Of
romantic cheese Miss De La Roche
has evidently come to the point with
her famous family where she feels the
same passion for its members as SEN
timental .spinsters do for babies. She
gurgles over them. The reviewer does
not like gurgling.
WHAT PLANE IS THAT? BY C. A.
Weymouth, jr., with foreword
by Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
TN THESE days, when the alert
grammar school pupil can look up
at an airplane flying at the medium
altitudes-up to. say $500 feet-and
| tell you not only what it is, who built
it, and perhaps even the. make Of
engine, seating capacity and wing
section, it behooves the well-posted
adult to at least know the difference
between scheduled airliner and an
Army pursuit airplane If he hopes to
maintain any reputation for intelli-
gence when in juvenile society.
The Weymouth book is for the adult
who doesn't want to be compelled TO-
light q cigarette in vain attempt to
be nonchalant when q youngster asks,
What plane Is that?" and points
maliciously at new Navy Grumman
single-seater fighter. It's no use try
ing to pass it of lightly by saying,
"Oh, these new ones are so much
alike, it's hard to telI.' They can
be told apart very readily and Wey-
mouth shows you how it Is done.
The book is q collection OF accurate
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