Evening star., 1937-05-01

HELEN ASHTON,
Author OF "People in Cages"
(MdcmiUan.J
be sure, the author has made conscien-
tiouS endeavors to reach the public
taste by including in his narrative
the stories of the great vindications
of the wireless, notably certain spec
tacular rescues of ships in distress
on the high seas. But, in the main, it
is a scientific record. 1t seems des-
tined, therefore, to appeal chiefly to
that large body of the public which
has an amateur interest in radio; 1t
is not sufficiently profound to be of
value to the professional man. 1t
gathers between one set of covers a
vast amount Of general information
as to how our present favorite diver
sion came into being, as to who con-
tributed what and as to the undis-
puted leadership of Marconi among
even his illustrious contemporaries. 1t
can be recommended as substantial
book. The author is the radio editor
of the New York Times.
NEW WINE AT COCK-CROW. BY
G. U. Ellis. New York: William
Morrow & Co.
THIS novel, which has already ap-
peared on best-seller lists, is by
that G. U. Ellis who, last year, wrote
There Goes the Queen" Now, There
Goes the Queen" was a stout and
intrepid venture in the way of novel;
writing. 1t was Of such quality in
deed, that it caused the reviewer to
ask If we were on the verge of return
of the "old three decker novel," so
long relegated to the top shelves of
home libraries. 1t was of that school,
unmistakably, in which authors used
to write using undisguised sentiment
and only intermittent realism, in which
they frequently came out into their
own pages and instructed the reader
as to what were the proper feelings for
receiving their situations, and in
which one found good little homilies
and sweeping powerful" passages in
terspersed with the plotting, marrying,
dying and Misunderstanding which
went on to so chapters. Charles Dick
ems was an exponent of this kind OF
fiction, and he had quite a number
of contemporaries. The books were
not found to be wholly bad.
Mr. G. U. Ellis seems to hark back
to that kind of concept Of what a
novel ought to be- His There Goes
the Queen" was rambling, long, ro-
mantle and inconclusive. 1t was not
as readable as the works of his Illus
trious predecessors, because it was not
as thorough-going in its kind. There
were some hints of modernity in it
and lamentable denaturing touch
of Galsworthy, which tended to f1atten
the full-bodied sentimentality. But at
least it was a break from poor imi-
tations OF D. H. Lawrence and Aldous
Huxley.
The present work is very much the
same sort of thing. 1t has the same
promise of growing to three-decker
proportions, and then it dwindles off
to modern spareness. 1t makes one
think of a Reubens model on a re-
ducing diet.
1t is story of English small town
life and how young artist was per-
secuted by his provincial townsmen
until he fled to France-not, however,
in the 1920 manner of fleeing to find
his soul, but, instead, because, provi-
dentially, he was able to get a job
across the Channel. The French use
him handsomely. They are sympa-
thetic; they understand him. But,
like another hero, he remains an Eng
lshman. He cannot get over, a
heimWeh for Albion, and he comes
back at the last, and the villagers
turn up their noses once again. But
this time, as he has become sue
cessful artist and has found a wife,
he does not mind.
1t is sloW-going without being dull,
it is heavy without being ponderous.
One could wish that Mr.. Ellis would
make a clean break and plunge into
the genuine three opus, since
he has such gifts for it. After ALL
the fashion is growing. What, you
are asked, is Miss Mitchell's Gone
With the Wind" but that very thing?
THE SCANDALS OF CLOCHE-
MERLE. BY Gabriel Chevallier.
Translated from the French by
Jocelyn Godefroi. New York: ST.
mon & Schuster.
THIS is a novel which revives the
meaning of the word comedy"
which for long has been all too indis-
criminately applied to every kind of
fiction which did not end in suicide
and triple murder It is the story of q
small, but lively French village in the
Wine-growing district, and of how the
mayor of that town precipitated an
crisis by his unique de-
cision as to what his fellow citizens
needed most in the way of q public
They already had war
memorial and they had an excellent
These possibilities were
therefore ruled out when M. Piechut
what he should leave as
material reminder of his enlightened
administration. The schoolmaster sug-
gested library, but M. Piechut vetoed
that because he knew that his towns
men would not want to read a lot Of
books. He then presented his own
idea. The results were f.c-reaching
and unrelievedly lively.
The book is, in sum, q gay satire
on institutions and fallibilities. Cloche-
merle, the village. is the world, but
happily the novelist sticks to his last
and, writing novel, does not attempt
to do something else. He remains in
and he is closely, init
mately aware of its gossip, its person.
alities, its secrets and its scandals. He
assumes no robe Of larger prophecy,
but, by the gaiety, the wickedness and
the intensity of his presentation Of his
little town, he accomplishes what a