Evening star., 1937-12-19

grasped the racial psychology or Gus
toms sufficiently to make them an
integral part of his novel, rather than
an overlay) The plot is unhackneyed.
Its complications are as new as
today's newspaper.
Given all that, and granting that
the man can write-really good Eng
liSh does shine out of its pages from
time to time-why does he blur
the whole with lot of cheap and
nasty clap-trap? Since Mr.. Wayne
has an innate grasp Of character,
plot and the mechanics Of novel
writing. since he has something to
say, why not say it in fine, straight
forward fashion, in manner that
will make of his book a part of litera-
ture as we'll as a possible best seller?
What is there to be ashamed of in
fine writing? But If fine writing has
slightly musty connotation, why not
just good writing, clean writing,
grammatical writing in dictionary
English? r. R. T.
AAAA1 NohS w I5ING INNun1koSS SOOS.
By John Held, jr. New York: The
Vanguard Press.
A FTER reading this attempt at
phantaSy, the reviewer came to
the conclusion that cartoonists ought
to stick to their drawing boards. Mr..
Held tries very hard to be amusing,
but his effort is not successful.
He tells the story of Jupe Flume
and his poodle, Pancho, who fed from
New York to the Elysian Fields in
order that Jupe might not have to
work for living or be embarrassed
by the attentions of a certain bur-
lesque queen. In the Elysian Fields
they lived very merrily, surrounded
by a great variety of congenial souls,
many of whom were animals, for Jupe
could talk to animals in their own
language. Eventually things come
around so that they 60 back to the
CITY, and that is all there is to it. MIR.
Held's humor is obvious, old and
sometimes vulgar. His book must
needs 60 down among somewhat pre-
tentious efforts. 1t is too bad, but
there Is nothing else to say about it.
DE L'ESPRIT. BY Pauline de Brodes.
New York: oxford University
Press.
nE L'ESPR1T," book of con-
versational French by Pauline
de Brodes. is refreshing and un-
usual volume in the oxford Library
Of French Texts, unde: the general
editorship Of Prof. H. Darlington Lam
caster Of the Johns Hopkins Uni
versity. This informal new text COM
bines entertainment with instruction
in most attractive manner. Miss
de Brodes has here presented French
as it is spoken today, having worked
for several years to include phrases
and idioms most necessary to know
by those learning to speak the Ian
guage.
There is such lack of conversation
books going beyond the simple phrases
of what to say at the restaurant, at
the post office, on the train, that
"De pEsprit" is real contribution
in the field Of language study and a
boon to professors and students alike.
The book Is now being used in COL
leges in this country and abroad IN
English-speaking countries where
French is taught. It is used as a
basis Of course in French CONVEX
sation and supplies welcome diversion
in courses where material for class
discussion or for memorization is de-
sired.
In the preface the author states:
"The purpose of this book is to offer
conversational French in . simple,
entertaining way to high school and
college students and to, the French
reading public outside of schools.
Another aim is to acquaint Americans
with French wit, both In its meaning
of humor and in its deeper sense of
wisdom. The selections are short in
order that they may be easily MEM
ori1ed. Given only = short selection
in each lesson, the student learns
to memorize without dificulty. As
he develops his ability he can at
tempt the longer selections In the
second part. The appendix contains