Evening star., 1937-01-16
Bv Marv Carter Roberts.

"HIS novel is the international
prize winner in the recently
conducted Affiliations Prize
Il Novel Competition. That COM
petition was based on the plan that
a publisher in each of the competing
countries would nominate board of
Judges to select from manuscripts SUD-
mitted in that country best novel,
after which the various bests thus
selected would be submitted to an
International board for q final single
selection. England, France, Canada,
Germany, Holland. Hungary, Den
mark, Sweden, the United States,
Spain, Norway and Czechoslovakia
were in when the contest closed. THE
Street of the Fishing Cat" the Hun
garian entry, is the novel that lasted
to the finish.
1t is a light, readable book, given
over to examining the fate of modern
exiles. Its scene is set in Paris, where
a Hungarian laborer's family becomes
the center of a group OF assorted re1u-
gees-Russian aristocrats fed from
the revolution, Poles of political
complexion unpleasing to their COM
patriots, Greeks uprooted by Turks.
Lithuanian socialists who have 1ouno
socialism unpleasing to the rest OF
their countrymen. Such as these
make up the first group.
Later come Russian Communists
who find that their comrades can be
as difficult as the Gar, Spaniards who
are non grata to the dictatorship
Italians in the same position and
finally Germans escaping from Hitler.
THE book covers the period between
1920 and 1884, and runs fairly
through the count of European polti-
cal upheaVals which, in the time, rem
dered various groups of citizens un-
welcome in their native lands. These
citizens assemble in Paris and talk
things over.
Through and against their endless
talk is the story Of the daughter OF
the Hungarian (who alone came for
economic rather than for political rea-
sons) and the narrative Of her effort
to make a life for herself, surrounded
-by the uneasy ex-patriots. She serves
to give the work continuity, and IS
identified with the background of exile
by the device with which the author
finally disposeS of her.
That device is that the restless, I'M
certain flow of the life of those who
surround her incapacitates her Tor
normal, settled existence. This point
is made when she is offered marriage
bv a German exile, man OF lntellec-
tual attainments, who has secured
post in America as a university pro-
fessor. He wishes her to come with
him to the comfortable life which ne
expects TO realize in the new land,
but. with emotions deadened and in
tellectual perceptions proportlonately
ouickened by her lifelong association
with the homeless, she decides that
she cannot adjust herself to the pace
Of ordinary living. She refuses the
professor, and continues liaison with
a Russian refugee, a former noble
man. supporting himself by working
as a mechanic when necessary ana
drinking the rest Of the time.
THE announcement is not quite so
impressive as it might be II the
author had not made it clear that
no question of love was involved In
the professors offer of marriage. we
are given to understand that Annas
refusal Of that offer indicates her
characterization for normal living. Yet
no motive for accepting it Is brougnt
forward except the one that the mar
riaae would have provided her with
security. To the reader, 1t Is apt to
seem that the young woman's refusal
is in itself highly normal. To enter
into a loveless marriage simply Tor
economic reasons may be wise. Dut
surely it is not the rule OF normal
behavior in the young
In this respect the book falls 10
carry conviction. And. as this seems
to be its essential point, it cannot be
passed without criticism. For tne
rest, the book is admirably done. 1t
seems TO the reviewer somewhat less
than might be expected from so mo-
mentous a contest as that IN Wnlcn
it is winner, but such as 1t is, 1t Is
competent. The problems Of the exiles,
their development from hope to resig-
nation, their desperate efforts to keep
alive, the resentment felt against them
es foreigners by the French, all these
points are well treated. Yet one feels
Inevitably that the pertinence Of the
subject has Influenced the judges. to
some degree at least. To award prize
on subject matter Is, Of course, per-
missible, but permiSsibly also, when
the novel is one of international move
ment, we might look to find the sub
iect matter treated with more relation
ship to the generality of human prob
lens than is the case in The Street
of the Fishing Cat"
DOLITICAL exles, after all, are a
very limited and very special
group. Their tragic problems are q
saddening spectacle, but one to which
the very great majority of us can
bring only an intellectual interest.
The reviewer considers the winner
of the American prize in the all ma
6OnS DcllCi UOOh tlldN
the present one. That was John T.
McIntyre's "Steps Going Down." q
genuine picturesque set in this modern
day. a book dealing with seamy and
sordid lives, but casting an illumina-
ton of timeless appreciation over
them, The winner Of the international
prize, it may be mentioned as point
OF interest, received an award Of
$4,000. Mr.. Mcmtyre's prize was
something less than fourth of this,
he drew $4,000. Both are good books,
notwithstanding. The Street of the
Fishing Cat" is very easily readable.
BENEDICTION. BY Claude Silve.
With foreword by Edith Wharton.
Translated from the French by
Robert Norton. New York: D.
Appleton Century.
THIS novel, the winner of the French