Evening star., 1938-02-20
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

curious arbitrariness as regards
William Faulkner There are
Il those readers who say that
they like his short stories, but find
his novels very hard going: and then
there is that other school which says
that he is the novelist of novelists
in America, but that he only writes
his short stories to sell to magazines
For some reason few people seem able
to think of him without thus mentally
dividing his work. To the reviewer
1t would seem that he has worked
with equal competence Tin both fields
and given in each some performances
OF great goodness and no less obvious
badness. The reviewer is aware, none
theless, that that is not the way most
people Judge him.
His present volume, however, seems
destined to please both schools of
readers, for it can be called a collec-
tion of short stories or a novel with
equal correctness. It is divided into
seven chapters and each chapter is
a complete story in itself. The same
characters, however. are used through
out the book and the action is steady
from one story to the next.
They are those tales of the Sartoris
tribe, many of which have already
been published in magazines, which
trace the fortunes of a Mississippi
plantation family through the Civil
War and into the Reconstruction
period. They are told through the
experience of young Bayard, the son
OF the family. Bayard is no more
than IA when Vicksburg falls and the
Yankee soldiers pour into the State,
raiding and burning. Consequently
the bloody and dramatic events of the
stories are told as If seen by the eyes
of child. manner of writing of
which Mr.. Faulkner seems fond, since
he frequently makes use of it. They
include-those events-the secret mass
departure from the plantations of the
Negroes, who have come to believe
that the Yankee soldiers are going
to lead them to Jordan; the burning
OF the plantation home. the pursuit
OF carpet-baggers and the desperate
Vaccinations resorted to by the Con-
federate women that they and their
families might not starve. The mood
of the book can be known from the
title-"The Unvanquished." Mr.. Faulk-
ner, who has sometimes written of his
State in terms of the least prepos-
sessing human types TO be found
within it, writes here of heroic be-
havior and heroic men and women,
and does it appropriately, starkly and
with surprising directness.
The reviewer likes best the chap
ters three and four, in which the
grim action is high-lighted with humor.
These stories tell how Bayard's grand
mother followed the retiring Northern
Army and made the commanding
officer return to her her mules and
the trunk of silver which the soldiers
had stolen, and of what fantastic use
she later made of the written order
for the restitution. They are richly
funny tales, marked with a kind of
humor which would have pleased the
literary creator of the crafty Odysseus.
The collection has the sturdy, Witty
quality which is Mr.. Faulkner's most
familiar characteristic. 1t seems safe
to recommend it both to readers who
like his novels and those who declare
preference for his shorter tales.
DRY GU1LLoT1NE. BY Rene BELIZE
mott. With an introduction by Will
liam La Varre. New York: e. P.
Dutton Co.
7 Asst week it was the reviewers duty
to write of book by Mr.. j. Ed
gar Hoover. whose profession it is to
bring criminals to justice. This week
she has the present book to describe
and 1t Is by criminal, being, too,
nothing more than the criminals state
ment of what befalls men after they
are duly imprisoned for their misdeeds.
1t is the work of Frenchman, who
escaped after IS years from the great
penal colony of French Guiana. There
Is, OF course. no possible basis OF COM
parison between Americas crime-de-
tecting agencies and the French sys-
tenn OF prison administration. None
theless, there is something startling
about reading the two books in close
sequence. The one states the psychol-
ogy of the guardian of the law; the
other states that of the laWbreaker,
Taking the two together, the sharp
effect of the contrast is inescapable.
Rene Belbenoit would seem to have
been q congenital criminal. He was
the son of an honest father and was
urged by that parent to educate him
self for some profession. At the age
of IS, however. he was so ensmoured
OF the idea OF easy money that he
became a thief. He saved himself
from arrest after his first crime by en-
listing IN the army. Though under age,
he managed to get himself accepted
and served through the. World War.
Immediately on rehabilitation. how
ever, he started again to steal; this
time he emptied the til Of his employ
er's business because, as he says in
genuously, it contained more than he
could save in many weeks OF hard
work. He used this money to buy
smart clothes and impress sweet-
heart.
After the money was gone he sought
employment again and found q place
rs valet in the home of a wealthy
family. Here, he admits, he was well
treated and well paid. However, he
considered the work which he had to
do 'menial" He saw his mistress
pearls and purse lying unguarded on
her table one day and decided, by vir-
tue Of the sight, to improve his status
In the world.
50 he took the necklace and money
and left for Paris, sending his sweet
heart word to meet him. His luck
had turned, however, and he was ar
rested. Tried and found guilty. he
was sentenced to eight years hard
labor in the penal colony.
All this preliminary history is told
By William La Varre in his tntrQduc-
eion and Mr.. La Varre, who plainly has
great sympathy for Belbenoit, has
done his best to make the case pa