Evening star., 1938-02-20

New Tales Meet Desires of Admirers Selected
Worthy of Atenhon-Bok FromO
Vewpoin-MageIan Figure

will be virtually sharing the lonely
commanders pangs
Magellan, Of course, did not live to
bring his voyage to completion, but was
killed in mipor and unnecessary A..
fray with natives on the Island Of
Mactan. OF his companions 200
lost their lives and only one of
the original tive ships came back to
the home port. But those who returned
were able to say that they had done
what no man had done before. They
had circumnavigated the globe.
The book pays great tribute to
Magellan for his honorable treatment
Of the native peoples whom he visited.
Almost alone among the European ex-
plorers, he used truth and justice in
dealing with the aborigines and, un-
like so many Of his compatriots, left
no trail Of suffering and crime be-
hind him.
The book contains, too, an account
Of the costs Of Magellan's feet and q
list OF the stores with which 1t left
port for its voyage Of unknown length
and destination. As has been said,
there are considerable periods in the
hero's career when nothing is known
Of his activities and so the real story
Of his life comes down to being a
story Of his voyage. But Is that not
story enough? There are not many
to compare to 1t.
HEARKEN UNTO THE VOICE. BY
Franz Werfel. Translated from the
German by Moray Firth. New
York: The Viking Press.
THIS, the first novel by Franz Wer-
fel since THE Forty Days Of
Musa Dagh," is the story of the
prophet jeremiah. 1t begins with the
time. IN Jeremiah's youth. when he
first heard the command to prophesy,
and ends with the destruction Of Je-
rusalem by the army of the Babylo-
MAN king, Nebuchadnezzar.
1t is an immensely clrcumstantial
thing and immensely detailed. At times
1t Is finely dramatic. At other times,
IN spite Of a stately movement, 1t is
tedious. The author has committed
the artistic error of admiring his hero
to the point of personal reverence and
has therefore written Of him without
shadow of irony or humor. Unhap-
PLY. no book can be utterly devoid of
these two great ingredients and not
suffer from the lack.
The story. as Herr Werfel tells it, Is
nf npA urnao cino iro nln ~ ~ d.
innate and constant association be-
tween jeremiah and his God, a bond
set up by God in order that He might
have a voice on earth by which to
speak to His chosen people. In order
to enter into the book at all it is
necessary for the reader to accept
this premise and to accept it with
primitive literalness. There are pas
sages in the work, for example, where
jeremiah argues with God and
changes the divine plan by his rep
resentations.
In spite Of the novels lofty style,
therefore, and Of the great historical
knowledge poured into 1t. its psychol-
ogy Is somewhat like that of THE
Green Pastures" But The Green
Pastures" was endowed with the ap-
propriate charm of artlessness; this
does not apply to "Hearken Unto the
Voice" The latter work is serious with
an unrelieved intensity which plainly
grows out OF its authors own emo
tion. It Is truism of course to say
that the pure work of art does not
allow for intrusion Of any personal
bias or feeling of its authors, but like
many truisns, that one is the truth
'Hearken Unto the Voice" suffers
from neglect Of it.
For Herr Werfel obviously Is an
emotional nationalist. He plainly be-
lieves that his race is indeed the
Lords chosen people, that all its his
tory has been divinely planned since
the beginning of the world and thai
the history of the other races OF the
world has been arranged in order to
allow the Jews to realize their des-
tiny. The viewpoint would seem to
be that of \ theologian or a poll
tician rather than of an artist. It is
a bit simple for the latter.
Notwithstanding, "Hearken Unto
the Voice" is an impressive work,
stately and marked with certain
beauty. It Is the reviewers opinion
that, among works on the prophets,