Evening star., 1937-04-10

n iNIS ltCOlll-
[ J nsa mending n. book such as thi;
one. 1t is a monumental
work, but, provided that its
resar has flexible mind and schol-
arly taste, it should be wholly enter
tainhg, even fascinating. Notwith-
staining, the reviewer doubts that
"On Mighty Torrent" will have a
verylarge public. The qualities which
recommend it to the few seem likely
also 10 bar it from the liking of the
man.!
1t purports to be history of 1.-The
drama of biography" 1t is, in fact,
an examination of history from the
Middle Ages to the present in terms
OF human lives, as those lives have
been recorded by biographers. In
these recordings, as Mr.. johnson sees
1t, TIE essence of history is to be
found In his own words, History
is important only because it happens
TO human beings; Genghis Kahn of
the gDundhogs would move us hardly
at all or Rhodes among the rhodo-
dendpns."
To show the movement of history,
Shen, through the medium of the
wr1tta lives of individuals is the pur-
pose d this work For that end the
autho has divided history according
10 the status of the biographical art,
beginning with the lives of the saints
and martyrs, as written by the me-
dievalmonkS and proceeding step by
step 3 the present. Foxes Book of
MartyS," CavendiShs life of Cardinal
WolSs, Sir Thomas More's life as
written by his son-in-law, William
Roper Izaak Walton's Lives" Roger
NortfS, the autobiography of Lord
Herbet of Cherbury, Colley Cibbers
"Apolsy," Gibbons Autobiography"
'Menpirs of the Life of Col. Hutch
inSon,' the 'DiatieS" of Pepys. the
letters of Nine de Sevigne and Lady
Mary Wortley Montague, of Steele,
Pope. Lord Chesterfield, Walpole, Gray
and 0Wper, the Lives of the Poets"
and loSWell's Life of Johnson" the
letter! of Byron, Shelley and Keats,
IocklRrt'S Life of Scott" and Mrs.
Gaskdls of Charlotte Bronte, Forster's
life OF Dickens and Trevelyans life of
Macallay-by such torches as these
Johnon lights the course of history
throuh the centuries.
Coming near the present, he deals
with George Moore, Henry James,
Henr Adams, Frank Harris and Ed
munc GosSe. And in the Here and
Now chapter he takes up Andre
Maupis, Van Wyck Brooks, Philip
Guedlla, Lytten Strachey, H. G..
Wells D. H. Lawrence and Lincoln
SteffGS.
Hismethod in treating these various
work is not always clear Sometimes
he couples himself with a purely
litersy analysis of the life in question.
Somelmes his concern is to show the
relaton of the particular life to the
main stream of biography writing.
In eneral, however, he is pre-
occuled with his effort to show
how the writing of the histories of
1ndlNualS-by themselves as we'll as
by oherS-haS interpreted all history.
Th scholarship of the work, as has
beensaid. is impressive and there are
Turmoil thought sufficiently ingenious
TO eLertaIn a curious reader. In the
mair however, it would seem that the
Volule is compilation of much evil
denc to prove something that is only
paru true and not particularly i'm
portat. And while the evidence it
Self c ipfpraSfinC tho Pla VII
Mr.. Johnson makes from it cannot
alWas be supported. 1t is unlikely,
for Nample, that in years to come
Lincln Steffens will stand as pre-
eminnt interpreter of our own times.
Tht biography throws light n
histcy is something which no one
will ioubt. But that it, even as the
writig of history itself, is subject to
persaal biases should hardly be ig-
nore4 Truth, in all probability, has
neve been written about anything.
The summing up of all the recorded
evidace-of every nature-gives at
bestR relative indication of drift, no
NOR. In this summing up, biography
has It's place, by no means unimpor-
tant But the present work reflects,
one feels, an enthusiasm for the sub
jectFhiCh makes that place somewhat
diSpDportionate. Withal, "One Mighty
Torpnt' is q curiously absorbing
wOri
TOGETHER AND APART BY Mar
.aret Kennedy. New York: Ran
som House.
MRGARET KENNEDY is best
known to American readers by
her novel The Constant Nymph."
It vas one of the best sellers of the
tWeTieS, and in that vanished day
it sthered not only the plaudits of
the public but the almost fearful
enthusiasm of the critics as well. 1t
was a good book. Although it was
lighI and unpretentious, it made an
impression on the reviewers mind
whih is still perfectly clear after all
the time that has passed. Its obvious
met lay in a combination of good
stor with delicately precise character
izatbn Its somewhat more subtle
gOolneSS had It's source IN Miss Ken
nedS ability to spread over her
chaacterS, in their most ordinary
acthns, a sense of fate, ironical but
at he same time f1ttingly delicate, as
suitd the delicacy of the story.
Ir her present book, Together and
Apat," she does much the same sort
of ting, but with the unhappy differ
ence that her characters themselves
are lot interesting people. This, how
ever is because of no failure on her
part One feels that she has meant
to slow a passage in the lives of men
and women who are what most of us
are+that is, puzzled and ordinary.
Sheds successful in the effort; there
is iIdeed competence in every line
that she writes which cannot but
aroBe admiration. But her story as
q wiole Is like something that happen
ed b neighbors about whom one has