Evening star., 1937-03-06

spicuous than his achievement. He
has done q book in the impression
istic" manner Of which Huxley has
been the most finished master; ne mas
used with competence the formal ana
exterior qualities Of that manner. But
he does not have those qualities OF
mind with which his model lifted I'M
pressionistic writing to the level OF
lasting literary art; he does not nave
Huxley,s fantastic hun1or nor the tre-
mendous erudition which ne poured
into that humor, nor does Mr.. Calder
Marshall possess the quality OF angry
pity which informed even the most
savage of Huxley's works. giving their
savagery its apology. Consequently,
Pie in the Sky" although competent,
lacks life. 1t is all carefully planned
body. and. without spirit. carefully
planned body is apt to look remark
ably like one that is merely ready
made.
This is too bad, for Pie in the Sky
has not been written, one suspects,
with pot boiler intent, but seriously.
Yet that very seriousness makes men
ton of its shortooming imperative.
It is q story of modern England.
with characters selected from various
levels of the population, but all alike
in that they are affected by economic
conditions 1t lacks connected plot,
and the reader feels that the author
is describing his own purpose Wnen
he puts into the mouth of one of his
characters the following description
of what a novel should be: 80 a
wire cable is made of lot of strands OF
wire twisted together. The novelist
like Dickens picks out one strand
and says, Here's this mans life What
I want to do Is to cut the cable and
shew all the strands interrelated."
So his story is concerned with a
considerable number of groups and
individuals whose interrelation is ar
bitrary and imposed on them from
the outside These groups and indi-
yiduals take in wealthy factory
owner and his sons. a Communist
leader and his satellites, school
teacher, q mill hand turned tramp
and various other London types. They
are all concerned with a search for
happiness" or, as the author interPrets
that time honored, ink spattered
quest. pie in the sky
The feeble and frightened ones
turn to communism, and the book
leaves the more naive of them finding
comfort in the love of their girl COM
rades and interminable discussions OF
Marx, while those q shade more un-
scrupulous plan to operate a Com
munist newsstand-based on the profit
motive. The school teacher takes up
the Communist principle OF free love
and loses her job. The harder souls
solve their problems-or try to-in-
dividually, without reference to "sys-
TENS" These are the two poles OF soci-
ety, in Mr.. Calder-MarShalis de-
signing. One is the factory owner. an
old pirate of dubious morals, whether
considered publicly or privately, but
man of ready sentimentality and gen.
erous with his plunder. The other is
the mill hand who has worked for
him for years, only to lose his job at
last. After thinking it over some
months, the ihillhand quietly decides
to kill his former boss. The plan fails.
however, and thanks to the boss
slightly senile sentimentality the
workman is given job. A happy end
ing, in other words, although dutifully
Knocked by this determinedly Hux-
leian author
The book has all the elements,
somehow, but 1t lacks virtuosity in
handling. That Is all that one can
say of it.
THE VIRGIN AND THE SWINE. BY
Evangeline Walton. Willett, Clark
& Co., Chicago and New York,
publishers.
ONE of the ancient folk tales Of
" Wales, with its setting in the
druidic, magic days Of early Britain.
when various Anglo-Saxon tribes still
fought for domination. Is the founda-
ton for this fascinating work Of
Evangeline Walton.
To history and folk lore Of those
days, the author adds her own color
and a fill-in of plot here and there
to complete the story Of Math, son OF
Mathonwy, aged, ancient bearded King
and High God Of Gwynedd. who had