Evening star., 1937-11-20
GREAT MEN ARE REMEMBERED
Winston Churchill Writes Pleasantly of Famous Acquaintance in
Collection of Essays-Evelyn Scott Has Done Ac-
complished Work About Her Childhood.

Adii dtlNc. "olSc llldIi tlldb, tIleIt lS
apparently no room in the croWding of
his characters for any real delineation
Of individuals. He introduces his men
and women with such cliche labels as
"a power in Tammany," daughter
of the rich" fashionable psychia-
trist (and where, the reviewer asks,
are the questionable psychiatrists of
fctlonD, 'playboy," an "intellectual'
and so on. Trusting to the educa-
tlon afforded the public by Hollywood,
Mr.. Rice seems to feel that these
tattered tags will suffice to convey to
his readers any subtleties of character
lzatlon which he is too busy to eX-
plain. And when he does explain, he
Is even less inspired; he falls back
then on completes" economic pres
sures" and similar readymade devices.
The result is that his men and women
are perfectly fiat silhouettes and the
things which he makes them do per-
fectly predictable The only suspense
left in this grim array of case his
tories is, as said, the hope that eventu-
ally he may bind them together in
somerelated action. And this he never
does. His omission. however, is in
dlcate6 by his method: it would be
bad art for him finally to impose
drama on material which he has elect
ed to render completely undramatic.
There is something Dreiser-like in
the earnest, if sometimes psuedo-sci-
entlflc sordiness of this novel, there is
something distinctly Dreiser-like in the
aWtulness of Mr.. Rice's prose. Now
there once was an author-not Dresser
who tried to do for New York what
Mr.. Rice attempts here, and that au-
tnor Is known to the world by the name
OF .. Henry. He, too, wanted to show
forth the city which he loved, but he,
unlike Mr. Rice. loved with under
standing; he had no single inclination
to castlgate. He realized that a ring
! ing OF Manhattan's multitudinous
doorbells could not produce the COM
poSlte spirit OF the city; he blended his
knowledge of its inhabitants into
stores filled with that Spirit-New
York's peculiar kind of absurdty. Mr.
Rice forSWears any such manner Of
Interpretation. If he has ever seen
any humor IN his city. he does not
mention 1t. The Photographic realism
OF his method forblds impresslonism
He simply goes from cell to cell of
the monstruous honeycomb, reporting,
IN the language of the clinic. what he
finds. A human being is not inter-
eStlng to him, apparently. except in
terms OF disease. Truly he is a mod
ern novelist.
HIS pook is a vast canvas, painted
nadiy, but by man who had a real
purpose and vision. If such merits
are sufficient TO you, you should bv
all means read it.
BACKGROUND IN TENNESSEE Bv
Evelyn Scott. New York: Robert
NJ. Mcbride Il Co.
THIS accomplished and original work
Is this authors "reminiscences
ABOUT her Southern childhood Yet
! hardly "reminiscences" That word
mas been too constantly worked in this
year, When everyone and his wife has
written an autobiography. Miss SCOTS
work deserves another characterize
tlon. For 1t Is not thing to be Jumped
among the years mass of self-Written
lives, by any means. 1t is, as said.
original both in concept and content
IL Is. indeed, recreation of a child
hood background, with comprehend
ing attention given to the factors
that went into the making of that
background. 1t is less history of the
authors childhood than history of
the land where that childhood was
spent, and from which a child gathered
mucn OF her Individuality It is writ
ten with splendid literary quality
and vitality.
Miss SCOTS method is difficult of
description. 1t permits her to 90 from
revolutionary times to- the days of her
own youth and back again with the
utmost freedom, and without irrele-
vance. AS far as it may be put down
IL consists in tracing back to their
Origins the opinions legends and gen.
eraI mental inheritance which she
possessed as child. Only a fine art
ISL could make this passage back and
1ofth across the years without becom-
ing tlresome. She does it with IN.
anatlng freshness throughout her VOL
ure.
Inc reviewer would hardly COM
mend the work to the reader who
wants light entertainment. as tho SOW
ing so beautifully goes. But to lovers
OF good writing for its own sake she
unquall1edly offers Background in
tennessee" And this despite the fact
that, as a novelist, she rates Miss
scott as one of our very most laborious,
THE CROOKED CoRoNET. Bv
Michael Arlen. New York: Dou-
bleday Doran g. Co.
ONCE more Mr.. Arlen! And quite
as placidly amusing as ever too
Well, one thing can be said of him
"hen he is not writing for the masses
-WAen, that is, he is not in his
Green Hat" mood-he Is not verv Of
ten dull. His present collection of II
stories is, on the average, quite enter
tanning and, as is customary in Arlen's
volumes, at least one of the number
is excellent. This is Legend of the
Bearded Golfer
Inc others run from the merely
'Vapld to not too successful attemnts
AT the fantastic. When he is vapid
Mr.. Arlen runs great risk of being
mistaken for P. G. Wodehouse When
ne IS trying to be fantastic he writes
as II he were trying to be fantastic
ana that about describes it. However
the Virtuosity of the Bearded Golfer"
is worth a good deal of the rest, most
OF which is we'll above the ordinary
magazine level at that. Even so the
volume is not recommended. It is
much too uneven in quality to be Iikelv
to appeal in its entirety to anybodvs
taste.
THE LAST SPANISH WAR. Bv
Orestes Ferrara. Translated from
the Spanish by William E, Shea
~Nt YNt--