Evening star., 1938-02-13

EDITH EVER
Author of "Half Holt
and other delights far from the ken
Of the import from Iowa dated 1896.
r. r. T.
DEBUSsY-MAN AND ARTIST. BY
Oscar Thompson. New York:
Dodd Mead & Co.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY. he of the feline
gait and dreamy music. herein
receives tribute and creditable
amount Of investigation, but not 80
much Of the latter as to produce q
biography Of singular penetration.
Debussy being the creator Of an art
tres exceptional, ire curieux, tres soli-
taire." seems himself to give the book
its chief vitality. So the opus drops
into the category Of the so-called
stock"
1t appears that facts concerning
the life OF the hefty Frenchman just
haven't circulated from his time to
this with that definiteness and promis-
Guilty which usually follows the demise
of great artist. But where Mr..
Thompson's factual scarcity on the
composers habits leaves of, extensive
consideration of his music begins. The
opera "Pelleas and Melisande," for
example, is accorded a thorough going
over.
Though not as financially sunken
as Mozart, Debussy nevertheless could
not always face the landlord with a
triumphant expression. One thing
to his favor was that his parents ap-
parently smiled on his early musical
leanings so that he did not suffer
parental suffocation. and he used this
advantage to the good effect which
concert devotees now recognize as
opposed to the sneers Of the studied
intelligentsia Of his time Mr.. Thomp-
son gives an idea Of the struggles of
the radical composer at the Paris
Conservatory, Of the gradual process
OF developing his idiom, of his limited
travels; and also some measre ac-
counts Of the composers love-life.
worthwhile index Of Debussy,s
works. with substantial history and
description on each, supplements the
main content. This always makes a
nice biographical afterthought, espe-
cially for composers, whose fans are
forever In quest Of that clearer in
sight" is
NoBoDY'S IN TOWN. By Edna
Ferber. Garden City: Doubleday
Doran & Co.
A DOPTING the prevailing fashion
Of the novelette,. Miss Ferber gives
us here two such works One deals
with New York in summer, in those
heat-ridden months when, as the
saying goes, "Nobody's in town." and
has for its purpose to show that,
though the rich 60 away. a great
many interesting folk remain. The
other deals with the contrast between
the endurance and idealism Of the
covered wagon pioneers and the en-
durance and idealism Of the pioneers
descendants. Both are slick, mechan-
ical, competent and spurious Both,
In other words, are by Miss Edna
Ferber. She is, Of course, q highly
esteemed writer. If you are one Of
her public, you must, by all means,
get this.
RUSH TO THE SUN. BY William
Brown Meloney. New York: Far
rar & Rinehart, Inc
THE dark, brooding quality Of Eng
lish farm novels is found in this
novel Of rural upper New York State.
1t Is the story of ALI, man who
loved his farm in spite Of knowing he
would have been better of somewhere
else. Chris, the hired man, brought
tragedy to an already tense situation.
He betrayed Alf's niece and then mar
ried the girls mother to get her land.
When the girl attempted to kill her
self the truth came out. From this
point to its surprisingly happy ending,
Rush to the Sun" Is study Of vio-
lence, emotional and physical.
The book gets its title from the
words Of ALI: Were afraid of the
dark because it's kind Of death and
we're hungry for life. And We stand
1t as long as we can, and then the
whole world turns and rushes to the
sun. And every animal looks up, and
everything that grows bends toward
1t, because that's the stun that life is"
There is much of this earthly
philosophy and there is also much
strong, realistic narrative writing in
onls novel. e. r.
UTOPIA IN URUGUAY. BY s. q,
Hanson. New York: Oxford Uni
versity Press.
A QUARTER Of . century before the
New Deal was heard Of in the
United States. Uruguay was leading
the way toward socialisation in South
America under the Inspiration of one
OF the dominant characters in Latin
American history7Jose Battle Or
done1 Today Uruguay is in the front
rank OF Latin American nations with
one OF the most stable governments
south Of the Rio Grande.
Mr.. Hanson, former lecturer on
Latin America at American University,
has summarized Battles creed As fol-
lows: "Steadfast faith in the ballot
with q consequent solicitude for such
major voting elements as labor and
bureaucracy. Unrestrained national
ism-involving among other things
unconcealed antagonism to foreign
capital and willingness to aid domestic
enterprise except when its interests
connicted with that Of labor. Con-
fidence In the ability Of the state to
participate directly and successfully
In industry and trade. InflexiblA b.