Evening star., 1938-05-22
Bv Mary.Carfer Roberts.

Benet. New York: Washburn Ives
Inc.
7DHIS is a series of short. charm
ingly written sketches relating
to the romantic aspects Of the
L city of Paris Mr.. lie Gallienne
Is, of course, poet, and somewhat
old fashioned one. 1t might be thought,
therefore. that. in writing OF such
green pastures. he would show signs OF
having cropped loco weed. OF him,
William Rose Benet says in his intro
duction, Richard lie Gallienne belongs
to a romantic phase of our youth
He was spontaneous singer OF the Joy
of being young, and in his age he has
preserved something of the fresh en-
thusiasm originally his" These words
pretty accurately convey the quality OF
the present book. 1t is romantic IN
mood. but without any cloying taste; it
is fresh and eager, without the least
trace of affectation. Its author writes
of his love-the city-and manages to
convey to his readers that his passion
Is delightful. unflagging and genuine.
The youthful man of letters who
eXpatiates over the charm of the
French capital is, unhappily, too ia
rliliar to us all. He has, indeed, be-
come a sort of joke, and. in his de-
scent into comic disrepute, he has to
considerable degree carried down
Paris time -honored traditions OF ro-
nance and picturesqueness. Thanks
to him, these traditions have become
cliches to most of us: We think OF
Paris as series of literary conventions,
none of which-be it the Vie de
Boheme or the F. Scott Fitzgerald
have validity Mr.. lie Gallienne is
innocently free of these points of view.
however; to read his books is to con-
clude that he has not even heard OF
them He thinks of Paris as wonder
full and beautiful history-haunted
town. Its terrors. tragedies, romances,
victories and defeats are as bright in
his mind as if he were first learning
of them. and quite unspoiled for him
by all the flood of words which has
gushed over them The result is that.
though Richard lie Gallienne is now
in his old age. he gives here a better
presentation of the spirit of the young
man in Paris than most of the youths
have been able to do themselves.
He writes of historic places, of
beautiful places, of Partisan types,
and of the citv's changes through the
ages. He locates for us the exact spot
where Jeanne dare fell wounded in
the thigh. he corrects for us Dumas
history of the Chevalier de Maison
Rouge. he relates the grim story OF
the madhouse which became refuge
for men and women threatened by the
guillotlne during the Terror. he re-
wives the memory of the "flacre' and
the Seine River boats. he accom-
plishes the almost impossible in writ
ing of La Fayette without sentiment
tality, he visits the haunts of Aaron
Burr in that unsuccessful plotter's
days of Paris exile. And does thou
sand things more. The sketches are
short, few being more than three
pages. But each one is perfect
polished. balanced and most decep-
tive in seeming to be simple and art
less.
This is a kind of writing which
really is produced only by long ex-
perience. There is something Addi-
sonian about its clarity, its preci-
sion, its freshness and economy.
With a shade too much emphasis one
way it would be pedantic and de-
liberately instructive; pushed too far
in the opposite direction it would be
bubbling and whimsical typical
rambling essay, most banal of all
forms. The safe mean is ex-
tremely hard to hit-the mean ex-
pressing genuine enthusiasm and
genuine knowledge, but expressing
them with urbanity. Mr.. LIE Gallienne
has hit it here. His book is decidedly
worth having.
THE PIONEERING THORN. BY Mar
gerry Sharp. New York: G. P.
Putman'S Sons
THIS is a mildly satirical little novel
by the author of the recently best
selling The Nutmeg Tree" 1t tells
Of a modern young EnglishWoman who
grows tired of being smart in London
and decides to be natural. if somewhat
ioWdy, in the country. In pursuit Of
his aim she adopts a little boy and
lakes one of those cottages with which
the England of the novels is so gen.
erously furnished. Result: She per-
ceives that London life is an empty
sham, and that true happiness is to
be found back in the haunts of nature,
In the company Of children and simple
folk
While this is no miracle of profun-
dity, it escapes being downright banal
through the authors use of gentle
obvious satire, to be
sure. and sometimes, in its aforesaid
gentleness. almost imperceptible. but
still capable Of imparting certain
where saccharinity might
well be expected. Miss Sharp seems to
the reviewer badly overrated so far. Her
work has that gushing quality Of
niceness which appeals to middle-class
readers. and so, of course. she is pop
ular. But from her popularity it does
not follow. as some critics have pro-
claimed. that she is coming genius.
Instead, it would seem to this critic
that she Is just another lady novelist,
a cut better than Kathleen Norris, but
q lady novelist still. an Ann Bridge,
q Josephine Lawrence, a Margaret
Culkin Banning, none of whom, GER
tainly. can be said to possess genius,
although all of them indubitably write
nice books. Well, Miss Sharp also
writes nice books. The reviewer trusts
that the inference is clear.
MASTER KUNG. BY Carl Crow. New
York: Harper & Bros.
MOST people know the hero Of this
~ book as Confucius Carl Crow
prefers, however, to call him by the
words which, he says. approximate a
translation Of the Masters Chinese
name-Kung Fu-tze, Master Kung-