The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-12
Mr.. Spearman's
Literary
Lantern
BY WALTER

would be no jest to say that Eu-
gene V. Debs' ''severest critic"
was indeed his wife; and that
is the theme of Irving Stones
able and readable Debs blot
raphy, which he calls "adver-
and Co., Inc, New York. 1872 PIP.
sary in the House" Doubleday
his "novelized biographies" of
S3). Fresh from the success of
Vincent Van Gogh ("Lust for
Life"), Jack London ("Sailor on
Horseback') and Jessie Benton
Fremont C"Immortal Wife'O.
Mr.. Stone now turns to a highly
controversial figure in the de-
velopment of American labor.
Eugene Debs was a labor or
gamer, a socialist, a candidate
for the Presidency, an inmate of
the Federal Penitentiary in At
lanta for opposing World War
|. In some American eyes he
was a dangerous radical eager
to overthrow the government:
IN others he was a hero dedicat-
ed to the cause of human free
dom, human rights and human
happiness.
Mr.. Stones view of him is q
friendly n and he succeeds in
convincing his readers. The fl
nal picture of Eugene Debs
shows him standing before the
Lincoln Memorial in WASHINGTON
after his release from prison.
offering up to God the only
prayer he knew: "While there
is a lower class I am in it.
While there is a working class
L am of it."
In more recent years he has
worked on newspapers in New
York and Paris and written
numerous magazine articles and
short stories. "Cross on the
Moon was his first novel about
Georgia small town life.
The picture he draws of
Southern civilization is not al
ways palatable to Southern
readers, for he sees ignorance,
selfishness, intolerance, cruelty,
superstition and injustice and
he does not hesitate to call such
sins by name. His writing has
a realism that needles those
who feel that their South should
Just be let alone. Fortunately he
also has a lusty sense of humor
and a remarkable flair for fan
tasy that lift his novels out of
the ordinary run of realistic ex-
poses. When he is careful to
blend his fantasy with his real
ism the result is effective and
arresting. In wild Grape he
generously throws in everything
and as a result fails to
achieve any single effect. The
pages in which Uncle Gimme
pretneds to take little Deel on a
tour of the town and the pages
in which Uncle Gimme convers-
es with the stained-glass Christ
do not belong in the same book
with the Ku Klux attack on the
Negro bishop or Half-Gus Hob
sons lecherous chase after
Deel.
Mr.. Hewlett's inability-or e
fusal-to make his white char
acters anything more than cari-
atures also Weakens his novel
and irritates the readers who
elieve that he has something
worth saying and that he pos
sesses the means with which to
say it.
A Prize Novel
The $40, 900 prize novel con-
Quoted by Dodd, Mead and
Company was won this year by
Loula Grace Erdman, teacher
of creative writing at West Tex
as State college. TIL enoveI is
1.-The Years of the Lucust'' and
the scene is Miss Erdman's ma
tive Missouri New York. 1924
PIP. $2.75).
Using the device Of old Dade
Kenzie's death to bring together
the wandering members of the
Kenzie family, Miss Erdman
has written a warm, simple and
moving account of people who
seem real and of their problems
which seen genuine.
The greatest "adversary' E
gene Debs had to fight was not
his enemies but his wife, Kate
Metzel Debs, a stubborn, socl-
ety-loving woman from Terre
Haute, who could never under
stand why her husband should
espouse an unpopular cause or
remain Indifferent to money,
worldly success and personal
ambition. Author Stone is CON
WINGED that Debs' marriage was
his great misfortune.
The Southern Scene
To be reviewed next week:
"Cloud by DKAY" BY Mu
Farley Sheppard university oil
North Carolina Press and
Country Place. by Ann Petry