Evening star., 1938-10-16

Hogben. Knopf
SAILOR ON HORSEBACK. Stone. |
Houghton, Mifflin.
THE FIFTH COLUMN AND THE
FIRST FORTY-NINE STORIES
BY Ernest Hemingway. New York
Charles Scribners Sons.
"The Fifth Column" is Mr.. Heming.
ways first full-length play. 1t deal.
with the war in Spain. The rest o.
the present volume is given over tt
Mr.. HemingWay's short stories, being
the publisher informs us, the complete
collection to date. All but four O.
these stories have previously appeared
in print.
AS far as the play goes, it does not
seem to the reviewer to merit much
acclaim. 1t is not particularly good
reading, certainly, though how it woulo
respond to stage production is anothe,
matter. There is little action in it; it.
characters are branded from the be-
ginning as good" and bad" accord.
ing to whether they belong to the
Loyal or the Fascist faction, and none
Of them have any qualities which take
hold on a readers ina agination. The
theme is supposed to be tragic, but the
tragedy is theoretical; the actual
scenes are spotted throughout with
comedy which depends for its effect
either on bad English or broad refer
ences to country matters. One feels
somehow that Mr.. Hemingway has
been shooting at What Price Glory?'
But he misses his mark; his play does
not have the drive of that old success
Its personal drama is weak and we are
asked to substitute for that quality a
concern over the fortunes of the
Spanish war. The exercise may be q
gratifying one to Loyalist sympathiZ-
ers, but it does not make this play a
good one, regrettable as that fact
may be-
The story is that of Philip Rawlings
and how he gave, as it were, his all tc
the Loyalist cause. Philip is an in
telligence of1cer masQuerading as a
journalist. He is a great big splendid
golden-hearted fellow. with just the
sufficiently rough exterior to make us
sure that his golden heart is l8 carat
and not a low admiXture. He is very,
very tired of war, he meets lady cor
respondent whom he would like to
marry and who would like to marry
him (for Philip is man whom women
gladly die for) but he does not marry
her. He leaves her and goes on with
his work in the war. although he is
by now, as said very. very tired OF
war. But he does not waver Not
Philip.
We see Philip shooting and killing
Fascists and setting the scene for some
third-degreeing of prisoners and doing
other disagreeable things which, here
tofore, reader might suppose. were
done only by Fascists. But Philip ex-
plains his bloody labors by saying
that Fascists must be killed and tor
tured in order that, in the future. no
body is ever killed again, or tortured
1t sounds fine, if you do not happen to
be on the side opposed to Philip. Tc
the reviewer. it would sound just the
same way If Philip were of the Fascist
faction; killing, she is inclined to think
is killing, and torture remains torture
no matter what enlightened system OF
politics indorses it. But Philip has
the higher vision and he sees these
things differently So does Mr.. Hem
ingway. apparently,
The play, in short, is tract. II
stretches ordinary credibility too far
Philip is not recognizable as hui
man being, and, as for his lady cor
respondent, she is still farther beyond
belief She is elaborately demonstrate
ed to be an idiot, and for most OF the
play she simply provides the comic
relief. Then, suddenly, We are asked
to view her broken heart as some
thing tragic. The strain is too great
One simply cannot comply.
Mr.. Hemingway's talent, Of course
lies in description and in recounting
rapid brief action. He does both
these kinds of writing extremely we'll
He has unquestionable genius in re-
cording sights and sensations, and he
can report a passage Of physical ac-
ton so that his words carry a reader
along irresistibly. The dramatic form,
however, has no place for either
method. 1t depends on ability to con-
struct a story and ability to build
living characters Mr. Hemingway
therefore is at his worst as dramatist,
For he shows little ability in story
telling beyond short episodes, and
his characters are too simple, too
fiat, to remain interesting over q long
actionless period. They only repeat
themselves, and what they say is COM
pletely predictable.
AS for the 40 stories, they are OF
such varying goodness as makes q
review Of them impossible. The re-
viewer has never been able to read
the famous "The Shows Of Kiliman-
jaro' without going to sleep, and Big
Two Hearted. River" affects her even
more gloomily. These are consid.
cred Is Mr.. Hemingways best, how.
ever, as she understands it. Con.
sequently she is aware of her temer.
ity when she offers that In Another
Country" and THE Old Man at the
Bridge" seem to her much better.
L1sTEN THE WIND. BY Ann.
Morrow Lindbergh. New York
Harcourt Brace & Co.
This is the story of the crossing
of the Atlantic Ocean from Africa te
South America which the Lindbergh',
made in 1888. 1t tells chiefly of Mrs
Lindbergh's emotions as she and hel
famous husband waited for wine
that would lift them oil the harbol
at Bathurst on the African coast
Twice they attempted to take of
only to find that with so small Z
breeze their heavily loaded seaplan<
would not rise. They lightened thei
load, but then even such breeze n
there was died away. They waitee
another day and at last got OF. From
thar, An NEv~ Iipdhnr~h uyrifAc ~ ha,