Evening star., 1944-01-16

Books

Books
By Mary.C Carfer Roberts,
Persons and PIofes
By George SantGyand. (Scrtb-
nerS.)
In this volume George Santa
yana gives US, as he calls it, the
background" Of his life. He has
written in descriptive manner Of
the people from whom he derives
and among whom he has lived and
OF the scenes in which he has spent
the great part Of his years. II one
has already great interest In Prof.
Santayana one will undoubtedly md
the book important; 1t is the emf
nent scholars estimate Of the In
fiuences which have made him what
he is. Without that interest, how
ever. with only the book as . book
to deal with, one Is likely to arrive
at the conclusion that the matter
told Is somewhat monotonous. Prof.
Santayar1a treats himself much as
he treated his hero in his novel,
THE Last Puritan"-he explains
but does not vivify. A little vivify-
Ing, the reviewer submits, does not
really hurt any long work OF ex-
PLANTATION.
To make the matter even more
dif1cult, Prof. Santayanas back
ground is already pretty well known.
Hardly any reader who has heard of
him at all is ignorant of the fact
that he comes Of Spanish stock and
that his upbringing exposed him to
the violently contrasting cultures of
Catholic Spain and Puritan New
England. That he has spent many
years at Harvard Is also no secret.
The matter Of his book, then, be-
comes a series Of descriptions Of
individuals and places out of his
past, bodied forth with q grace
which strikes one as being some
what weary. The weariness Is likely
to communicate itself to the reader.
With some embarrassment, more
over, the reviewer has to remark
that she found Prof. Santayana at
times using rather curious syn
tax. On page 7, for example, occurs
the following sentence: without
being robust. her health was per-
feet, her needlework exquisite, her
temper calm and equable -"
Lacking the textual evidence, the
reviewer would hardly have thought
it possible. But there it is, mean
ing whatever 1t may, and he who
runs may read it.
Work and Play
By Jules ROMANS. Translated
from the French BY Gerard
Hopkins. (KnoptJ
This is the latest volume of Jules
Romans interminable Men of
Good viii Series" of novels, the
two books which it contains being
by actual count the 21st and 22d.
Mr.. Romans has now gotten the
world up to the mid-twenties, after
having begun with pre-World War
days. He carries on about as be-
fore, which is to say that he writes,
in alternate bursts, fiction and
essays, with no perceptible neces-
sary connection between the two
Recognizing apparently that in a
novel a reader expects some novel;
like material, he sets down from
time to time episodes of really lively
narrative quality. But holding
grimly also to his determination to
write a history of the ideas which
have occupied men in the period,
he halts these fictional manifesto
tions whenever he elects and pours
out page after page of social and
political theorizing. Either type OF
material Is good, but, as the reviewer
said, there is no artistic conviction
in the manner in which Mr.. Ro-
mains slaps them into proximity in
these books. Either would be a lot
better for the elimination of the
other-that is what 1t gets down to
The first book of the pair in
cluded in the new volume is called
Mountain Days" and deals with
the campaign of the character Jer-
phanion for election to the Chambe,
OF Deputies. He goes on q speech
making tour into the mountains and
there comes on traces of q double
murder which. though it has nc
bearing on his political business
interests him considerably. The
crime story, though it is unfinished
is absorbing. The second book
Work and Play" has scarcely any
continuity at all. 1t consists of as
sorted conversations between differ
ent groups of characters between
whom there is only a slight con-
nection. 1t is very dull. When one
has gone through it, however, one
can have the satisfaction of know
ing that one has another lap of
Men of Good Will" behind one
A writer so enduring deserves read
ers OF the same granite capacity.
Avalanche
By Kay Boyle. (Simon &
Schuster.)
In her usual vein Of frigid and
refined agony, Kay Boyle writes here
little novel about Na1 wickedness
and young love. Her characters will
be familiar to all readers of her past
work-a young American or part
American, girl with her affections
rooted in France and a handsome