Evening star., 1938-02-27
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

A. Knopf
"HIS is the third novel in Thomas
Mana's great cycle of Joseph
1t deals with that part Of
Il the story which lies between
the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites
by his brothers and his denunciation
by Potiphar's wife. 1t is continuance
of DR.. Mann's familiar method of deal
ing with the Biblical tale, that method
being by his own description, dis
cussion of the how" rather than a
plain transmission of the what" 1t
is step-by-step examination and
analysis of the motives which drove
the characters through the stark naive
movements of the old story, and, as
such, it is tender and pitying in spirit
and grave and delicate in statement.
The story begins with the premise
that Joseph, taken from the we'll
wherein his brothers had cast him
while they debated what course they
should use In disposing of him, re-
garded himself as born anew and
looked upon his time in the we'll as
a time of actual death. 1t was his
conviction that he had earned death
at the hands of his brothers by his
sin of confidence, the sin of requir-
ing of men what they neither will
hear nor can" Risen from this death
of his youthful dreams, he turns to-
ward his new existence the eyes of
worldly wisdom but also Of pure
hearted detachment.
The land of Egypt DR.. Mann visu-
alizes as the land of death, the land in
which death is deified and where the
dead are worshipped. Thither Joseph
is taken and there, surrounded by a
popular spirit which sees security"
and permanence only in death, he be-
gins his life as new creature, an in
dividual alone and full of incommu-
nicable thoughts, free in his slavery
because the vivid life which now grows
in him is providentially forced to be
self-contained. That is the sum of
Joseph's spiritual development as it is
outlined in the present book.
The rest of the work is given over
to the building up Of the life of the
world of the times. 1t is immensely
circumstantial, immensely detailed
and profoundly scholarly. The cities,
the temples, the households, caravans,
ships and markets of the story's back
ground are created in the books pages
with a majestic propriety. In this
particular the novel has lofty great
ness which is strongly remindful Of
F1aubert. The ancient world is re-
created here for us-but it remains
ancient. There is no attempt to in
terpret it in the terms of our own day.
1t is set before us as something
strange, stage in human development
We cannot enter any more than we
could adjust our modern ears to the
music of the ancient instruments or
our modern souls to ancient faiths
The picture is awe-inspiring and truly
a vast accomplishment.
Within these enormous scenes, how
ever, human beings live, and so We
come in the novel from the great
drama of the races history to the
small personal drama of Potiphar's
wife and her passion for the young
Joseph. This DR.. Mann interprets in
more honorable terms than common
legend has given to it. Potiphar, he
tells us, was wise and tolerant man,
but emasculate. Eni. his wife, was
high-born lady, whose life was divided
between the performance of exacting
social duties and the observance of
religious rites. The household was
close to the throne and both husband
and wife lived in brilliant light of
greatness Eni had known nothing of
love until, to her horror, she found
herself consumed with passion for the
slave Joseph. The steps by which this
passion worked to her degeneracy are
drawn with elaborate care, as is. too
from being private sorrow of her
own, to be the common property of
eossips and chatterers This passage is
an ironical study in the nature of vul-
garization.
The punishment visited upon Joseph
by Potiphar is likewise interpreted diff
ferently here from the manner in
which the legend explains it. DR. Mann
makes the husband aware of the situ-
alton before the denunciation. In his
tolerance. Potiphar blames neither Eni
nor Joseph Ennis assertion that Joseph
has attacked her he discounts as the
outcome of her emotion; that Joseph
is necessarily defenseless before his
mistress word he justly observes. The
book ends with the passage of his
sentence upon the slave-that instead
of receiving the torture and death
which the law provided Joseph shall
be cast into the Kings prison 1t is a
compromise, one understands, in which
Potiphar upholds his wife's honor. and.
at the same time visits the lightest DOS
sible penalty on the innocent one
whom she has accused.
The method of writing is, as has
been said, the one of close ANALYSIS.
and the consequence of this is that the
story is halted, step-by-step, some
times worldly word, to allow the
author, speaking in the first person.
to discuss the motives of the charac-
ters and his own reasons for attribut-
ing such motives to them. This makes
the book actually sort of setting forth
OF the Old Testament story with COP
ious auctorial notes.
1t is noble piece of writing to be
set among the great novels of the age
and to receive, in years to come, the
respect, If not the love, of generations
of readers.
THE HOUSE THAT HITLER BUILT.
BY Stephen H. Roberts. New York
Harper g. Bros.
THIS is a book to be read with pro-
found wonder The word amaze
ment" does not express the emotion
which the work will arouse; amaze
ment is too active. Mr.. Roberts ac-
count of the Nazi state and society
stuns rather than startles, it para
1vzes anv mental activity whatsoever