Evening star., 1937-05-29
CRITICISM USED TO BE NEWS
Burton Rascoe Autobiography Covers the Golden Age of Book
Reviewing -OBriens "Best Short Stories of 1887"
Is Out-"Capt. Kidd" Goes to Press Again.

for years In private hands, but lately
| was sold to a private museum. Ac-
cordtng to the document, the island
will be somewhere in the North Pacific
beyond this Mr.. Wilkins refuses to
| locate IT., and in spot that has never
been associated with the Kidd treasure
in any past hunt. OF that treasure, the
records seem to indicate that no more
han 100000 has been found. The re-
mainder, by the same records, would
be between goo, 900 and 100000. Mr..
Wilkins hints that an expedition may
shortly set out to test the accuracy
Of the charts so long concealed. If
that Is so and II the hunters find their
quarry-why. this is one Of the most
sensational books in some years. II
not it is an intricate piece of research,
somewhat confusingly set down.
DEATH WITHOUT BATTLE. By
Ludwig Rem. New York: Dodd,
| Mead & Co.
THIS Is novel Of Hitlers Germany.
written by one who views the
Hitler regime with profound dislike.
1t is a record Of recent public events
held together by very slight plot
the rise OF Hitler to the chancellorship,
the horrors OF the labor and concen-
tration camps, the burning OF the
Reichstag Building, the sterilization
campaign and so on. The author gives
u.s. presumably for the sake Of argu-
nent. group Of honest men who have
enlisted in the Hitler party, and shows
us how their attempts to bring about
just measures animated by considera-
ton of public welfare are thwarted, In
his opinion, by clique-or gang
OF careerists of the most brutal and
degraded types. He also takes up the
Communist opposition to Fascism, and
the shocking means used to suppress
it. The book is negligible from the
standpoint Of literature, being sketchy
and explanatory in style and discon-
nected in development.
MRS. COPELAND's GUEST BOOK.
BY Frances S. Copeland. Philadel-
phia: David Mckay Co.
THIS is book Of hints on entertain
= ing, designed for the aid and COM
fort OF hostesses. It Is not book Of
etiquette, nor book of games, but a
brief compilation Of suggestions as to
how the work Of entertaining may be
lghtened. The author is the wife OF
Senator Copeland of New York, and
her many years of experience as a
hostess have been acquired largely in
Washington. She says, however, that
her book is for hostesses everywhere,
since entertaining everywhere is fun
damentally the same. The volume is
simply written and ought to be OF
value to women who have entertain
ing for constant occupation.
HART CRANE. BY Philip Horton
New York: w. w. Norton Co.
| THIS is the biography Of the poet,
Hart Crane, whose work provoked
disagreements among critics and
whose life, while he yet lived, was
something OF legend. The present
book Is about equally concerned with
life and work and is a critical biog-
raphy. 1t gathers together for the
| first time the facts about the poet and
presents them in simple form. They
seem to indicate an old proverb-that
no man Is strange If we truly know
him.
Crane in his life was man Of con-
| siderable eccentricity, and, as he
combined eccentricity with artistic
preoccupation, his deviauons from
| the ordinary were very predictably
exaggerated. He became, while he
| lived, q man who could hardly do
anything without calling down upon
| himself the verdict of strangeneSs
And, after he ceased to live, the fact
that he committed suicide and that,
in spectacular manner, perpetuated
the legend Of his personal popularity.
According to Mr.. Horton, he was
cept that he had highly sensitive
and complicated nervous perception.
His parents disagreed, secured di-
vorce, planned to remarry and then
broke of again in circumstances OF
great unpleasantness; he lived In an
| atmosphere OF domestic tension all
during his most sensitive years. To
this fact, and to his nervous sensi-
bility Mr.. Horton lays most Of his
subsequent eccentricity.
As to the critical part Of the biog-
raphy, the reviewer, with confessedly
no more than a slight acquaintance
with Cranes work, can only report
that the biographer considers his SUBJ
ject worthy a lasting place in Ameri-
can letters, although he admits that
time will have to make the ultimate
decision. The picture which he
paints Of the poet is Of lonely man
who was incapable of creating under
standing in his fellows, and this has
been the impression which the re-
viewer has gathered from such of his
poetry as she has read. It seems
poetry written for the writer and in
capable Of reaching readers except by
their deliberate intellectual effort.
There is a solidity in it and an exalta-
ton, but no warmth. The sad history
told here would seem to bear out this
impression. Whateve1 else is to be
concluded from 1t, it Is inescapable
that Crane was q sincere artist who
had tragic life.
JOHN TOM ALLIGATOR AND
OTHER STORIES. BY Robert E.
s. Chambers. New York: E. P.
Dutton.
THIS is a collection Of short stories,
exotic in setting and conven-
tional in plot. They range from tales
Of the Seminole Indians in the Flor
ida swamps to new adventures of
Francois Villon. They are quite read
able; for the most part they open
well, then they dwindle into the neat
ness OF the predictable. There seems
to be no reason why Mr.. Chambers.
the author, should not be highly sue
cessful as contributor to popular
magazines-on the basis Of this vol
ume at least.