Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-06-08
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

CARTER BROOKE JONES.
This novel seems to evoke the
sustained mood of long twilight
falling over some scene of extraordi-
nary beauty. It is haunted with all
the moods that memory and hope
can shape at such time in such
. place.
And, despite the familiarity OF
the continuance on which the slen-
der story is hung, Mister st. John
Is decidedly original in its ap-
preach, It's development and its
denouement. 1t is written with an
artistry that would make almost
any narrative memorable, though
this Is beneath it's symbolisms, an
absorbing account of a mans sum-
ming up of his own life.
In form, Mr.. Faure's story is still
another variation on the Faust
theme. The legend appealed to
writer's long before Goethe wrote
his great drama; in fact, two CEN
turtles earlier Christopher Marlowe
dealt with the fable Probably, like
many another folktale deeply rooted
in human nature, it will continue to
inspire writer's. And why not?
A Strange Visitor.
Mr.. st. John is character who,
late one evening, calls on Dr. Elan,
the famous chief surgeon o. a hos
pital "at the bottom of g spent val
lev" with mountains in the distance
The doctor, despite his success, never
has been happy, never since that
day in his youth, in cabin on a
lake at the foot of sky-reaching
peak, he wrote a letter and so put
love out of his life. His later mar
riage was failure, He has stayed in
the spent valley 30 years, grown old
there, when he might have ventured
everywhere in pursuit of career and
adventure.
Just call him Mr.. ST. John, which
is the name of the hospital, says the
strange visitor, who slipped into the
surgeons sanctum unseen by nurse
or orderly. Actually, Mr.. st. John
comes to confide, he is the Devil, and
a much maligned creature. who only
wants people to get the most out OF
life. OF course, DR.. Elan at hrst
thinks the man is mad, and then,
because of the visitors amazing per-
ception and logic, decides he is only
irving a hoax. But later, at mo-
ment of crisis in a patient, Mr.. st.
John proves his supernatural powers,
Elan must believe. The doctor has
q heart condition, and when the
mysterious caller tells Elan this is
the night he Is to die, the doctor is
not surprised and not dismayed.
Like Mephistopheies.
But meanwhile, DR.. Elan falls
into a deep sleep. And when he
awakes, ne is young again, and back
at the mountain cabin OF fatetul
decision, remembering nothing OF
the years at the hospital. There's
Arene, the same girl he loved, and
he has another chance to decide
whether. after a disillusioning dis
covery, he'll leave her, as he did
long ago, or stay with her, as she
ardently wishes. He writes the let
ter telling her good-by, but then
Mr.. st. John. who has turned up
as a fellow vacationer calling him
self Faustus St. John, talks him
into doing the opposite thing. The
letter is torn up.
What comes of all this, and
whether Mr.. st. John, like Mephlsto-
pheles, exacts his price for restoring
youth, are developments you'll want
to find out for yourself.
Although there's SO much Of poetic
fantasy in this novel, Mr.. Faure
manages to infuse details with a
sharp sense of reality. There is,
in the later pages, a superb descrip-
ton of the climbing of a great
mountain. The earliest part of DR.
Elian's second try at youth seems
overburdened with detail. too slow
moving, particularly the account of
the mountain resort dance, But
that's the only valid criticism I can
think of. The closing portion Of the
book is lovely indeed.
Last year Mr.. Faure's first novel
THE Spear in the Sand brought
wide critical approval. In his Sec
ond novel, he has not let his ad-