Evening star., 1948-09-12

needs no straining after phrase or
climax.
! The title story, THE Old Beauty"
longer than the others, describes the
last faded phase of woman who
once was, as the saying went in a
f1amboyant Victorian era, the toast
! of London and Paris. The contrast
between her youthful glory and her
final days is all the more effective
because it is more psychological
than external. Her life is not flick
ering out in poverty. She has the
means to stay at the best hotel In
IAix-les- -Bains. The point is that
she is old, her friends are gone, she
has few resources, and she does
not know what to do with herself.
1t is the tragedy of the withered
rose, the cloyed melody, the end of
all ephemeral things. Here Miss
Gather has made the most of under
statement and suggestion. The story
may remind you here and there Of
"a Lost Lady"
Before Breakfast" more of a
sketch, depicts a highly successful
business man whose wife and sons
look down on him for his lack of
education and culture. Once in
while he escapes for a vacation alone
on an island, where he can be him.
self and forget the patronizing smile
with which his wife regards his pref
erence for John McCormack's bal
laos to the symphonies of Brahms
Miss Gather was a novelist who
could always turn expreSsively to
the short story. Who can forget the
stories in Youth and the Bright
Medusa"?
NORTHERN LIGHTS
BY Roger Vercel. Random
House; S2.75J
In these days OF existentialism
and of experimental writing of
various decadent cults, it is refresh
ing to find France producing
novel old fashioned enough to have
a dramatic story to tell about human
beings net too strange to under
stand.
Not that M. Vercel is any back
number. He is one OF Frances most
able contemporary novelists, winner
of the Prix Goucourt for an earlier
novel, "Tides of Mont St.-Michel." I"
His writing is crisp and swift, his
characters memorable.
He is concerned in his new novel
with youth whose late father was
a great Arctic explorer. There had
been no sympathy between father
and son, and Jacques had grown ZIP
caring nothing for the fame Philippe
4 Fertray had won as discoverer of
new archipelago. The father was
five years dead and Jacques was 20
when Phiiippe's old engineer and
second in command, Brohal, began
to outfit a new expedition. Brohal
and Jacques mother, who was
fanatically devoted to her husbands
memory. tried to persuade the boy
to go along. His name would mean
a lot. Jacques was adamant; he
had no taste for the Arctic, no in
terest in exploration. He hated
Brohal
But when jacques saw that his
mother WAS so cbsessed with the
idea that his refusal probably would
xii. her, he agreed-reluctantly and
ungraciously. Then. going from
their home in Breton to Paris to
get ready. he met Brohal's much
younger wife and was fascinated.
When he learned that Suzanne and
Brohal were married only in name
and she despirel him and was drawn
to TIE youth, Jacques was ready to
renoun"e the expedition. But after
that came discovery that threw
doubt on the whole basis of his
fathers fame. The boys sense of
honor was stirred, and he determined
to r'c2" up the mystery at any cost
What happened then brings the
story teEsely to climax. It Is
more than an absorbing story. Two
characters are not merely described,
but Geveloped-those of jacques and
Brohal-and that is the traditional
function Of novel,
Last year Vercels "Madmans
Memory" won critical acclaim in
this country. Northern Lights"
should add to his stature as a sig
nificant novelist.