Evening star., 1938-08-28

MAURlCE
Author OF &c
greatest authority But naturally they
have learned little Of us. and it is in
that ignorance that their own trouble
has lain
Mr.. Hindus sets his story down
largely in terms of contrast, the con-
trast between the Russian village of
his childhood and the American viii
laee Of his young manhood. He de-
scribes the sordidness of the Russian
life, the primitive level of existence,
the brutal treatment of animals, the
superstitions and SO on. His own
family had not been impoverished;
instead, they had been at one time
the most prosperous people of the
community But the life they knew
compared i'll in comfort and decency
with the life Of the New York farmer,
who frankly thought of himself as a
poor man. Revisiting his old village
after the revolution, Mr. Hindus found
the balance Of well-being still on the
American side, but, in his estimation,
the encroachment of the machine
upon the American farm is now carry
ing the threat of destruction to the
good life which he once knew there
That is about all there is to the
book. 1t is we'll worth reading. pleas
antly written and a great relief from
the bitter resentment of the usual
immigrant life history.
THE LIBERALS BY John Hyde Pres
ton. New York: The John Day
Co.
THIS would seem to be a novel writ
ten about equally to catch the
market and to hold the entire stock
of a young mans ideas The result,
naturally, is exhausting and absolute
ly practicable.
Mr.. Preston. In q statement which
he obligingly allows his publisher to
print on the back flap Of the book S
jacket, says of himself: II am
passionately interested in world af-
fairs. believe in government by the
people. abominate fascism. and am
convinced that only socialist econo-
my can pull the world out of its pres
ent mess believe in the necessity of
peoples organization for the protection
OF democratic rights in the struggle
against Fascism, internal and exter-
nal, and am now executive chairman
Of the Norwalk branch OF the Amer
ican League for Peace and Democra- :
cy." A young mans gentle confess
sion. Well, albeit resignedly, three
rousing cheers.
For the unabashed glibness of this
declaration does deserve some admira-
ton. How we'll Mr.. Preston has learned
his lesson! He and all the other writ
ing boys in whom facility rather no.
ticeable outruns the intellect. He
believes that people should struggle
against Fascism. and so. If there is
no Fascism handy, he will find some: ::
he will find it lying around some
where. He is going to have the peo-
pie struggling against it or he will
burst. What life a reviewer leads,
to be sure!
The action of this novel Is so alb
solutely made to order that the re-
viewer can hardly bring herself to
put 1t down. she fears that her read
ers will think she is spoofing them,
But she is not. This is what MIR. Pres
ton has written.
A young man (another author
playwright comes to stay with some
friends In one OF those New England
industrial communities. ct might
have been the hare-cropping South, of
course) The young man falls in love
with the daughter OF the house, takes
her to be his mistress, and helps in
the strike when the factory hands 70
out against their boss-who is also
the young mans very Kindly host.
All the workers are upright, kindly,
generous and brilliantly intellectual.
All the owning class are drunken, cor
rupt or foolish. The young man is in
some doubt, when he arrives, as to
what stand he shall take in the
class struggle (really), but, after a
while he throws his liberalism" away
(for Mr.. Prestons idea of liberalism
is a state Of indecision) and plunges
in to see the workers get their rights.
Out Of that, he feels, he will write q
truly great play. Well, anyway, he
did not go betting of to Spain.
As said, the book is facilely writ
ten. 1t has a nice smoothness of style,
and q good mechanical structure. But
it lacks any life of its own. The char
acters are designed to embody what
young Mr.. Preston evidently believes
to be prevailing types in the class
struggle, and the dear old struggle
itself is here just as II 1t had popped
from q page Of the New Republic.
Well, this is class novel number 4,578.
It can take its place.
THE HOUSE of GU1sE. By Henry
Dwight sedgwick. Indianapolis: !:
Bobbs- Merrill.
Mr.. SEDGW1CK has done q beau-
A tiful piece of work in THE House
Of Guise."
This story of three generations Of
the Guise family has for background
one Of the most romantic and dramatic
periods of French history and the
author has neglected none Of the pos
sibilities. The picture is painted in
an exceptionally choice language. The
events are stirringly described.