Evening star., 1949-08-14

When ExiIes
Go Utopion
THE OASIS
BY Mary Mccarthy. Random
House; ST.
Those theological orphans of the
world storm. the Communists
turned out into the cold when
Hitler and Stain signed their nom
aggression pact. are brilliantly i'm
paled in this brief and brainy
novel by Mary Mccarthy, girl
with an x-ray eye and style. that
brings Henry James to mind.
A highly cerebral satire of a
group of contemporary malcon-
tents who establish a Utopian COM
munity, THE Oasis" is less novel
than a series of microscopic slides
which catch the gropers in typical
soul-searching attitudes, with Miss
Mccarthy standing by, pointer in
hand and tongue in cheek. The
most interesting of her species is
the radical who was betrayed by
history in 1889 and has since strug-
|gled with the thankless task of
awakening the left to the dam
gers of Red totalitarianiSm.' b
Spiteful and fretful. they have, in
her words, "institutionalized their
|frailties" and in joining the other
colonists they have sincere and
even righteous desire" to see the
experiment fail.
Abandoned Hotel. -
Opposing them in the abandoned
summer hotel at the top of an
unnamed New England mountain
are the purists. an equally tense
group who hope to manufacture
and export morality for the rest
of an unlistening world. The clash
of these two factions amid scenes
of bucolic peace which amaze the
most cynical of the pilgrims. is re-
counted in Miss McCarthy's ele-
CANT prose, which is laden with
illusions, barbed with epigramS,
and bedizened with wit. Her pc
riods. long as any Of Mr.. James
do not have his boxes within
boxes" construction, but unwind
with a certain sinuous grace,
rather in the manner of a very
tall person arising from very
low couch. Sometimes, it is true,
their eyes hurrying ahead for the
end of the sentence. readers may
feel as though they are watching
with some concern for the re-em-
ergence of an Under water SWIM
mer. Miss Mccarthy. it must be
said, always comes up. breathing
evenly. 1t is a technique we'll
suited to her layer after layer"
examination of human motives.
Miss Mccarthy escheWs the
usual comedy sources of such a
tale. wherein fine minds are con-
founded by gross trifies. Instead,
the Utopians flourish materially.
but they have become such pro-
fessionA fish out of water that
they suspect their good fortune
and hasten to cloak every slight
est occurrence with the garments
of ethical and theological signifi-
canoe. Thus when a Grass capi-
talist, uneasily admitted, slaps a
hin-skinned radical on the back,
they furry into political intrigue;
they practically break up when
churlish outsiders invade their
berry patch. s,.
THE Oasis" although the
author is an American, comes to
us from England. where it was
first published in the magazine
Horizon. It is accompanied by
a loud fanfare of British critical
acclaim, but to this reader 1t
seemed more like notes for a novel
than a novel. Within its limited
sphere, it Is impeccable. but the
atmosphere. while heady. is thin.
M. Meg.
A SEA CHANGE
BY Nigel Dennis. (Houghton,
Mif7in Co.; $780,
Mr.. Dennis is also bent on Civ
ing the liberals a ride. He takes
them for an awfully bumpy one
in this satire, which occasionally
boils over into boudoir farce. His
narrative, unlike Miss Mccarthy s.
moves at a tremendous clip, up
roarious and subtle by turns. as
he follows two men in fight from
pair of dominating women who
strike out for Poland on the eve
OF war. One is an epileptic adde's
cent, Jimmy Morgan, escaping his
mother; the other. leftist writer
named Max Diver. who works
for Jimmy's mother, avoiding a
shrewish wife.
Jimmy has a mind like his
changing voice. It ranges from
childish squeaks to mature basso,
and the author is gentle with him.
But for Max Diver Mr.. Dennis
has no sympathy at all. He flays
alive this amoebic radical, who
is so thoroughly indoctrinated in
the idiom of his time that he knew
that it was honest to rape an old
woman but perverse to help her
over a stile." Having analyzed his
first marriage out of existence.
Max took as his second wife a
scientific scold who made him long
for Europe. Mr.. Dennis alternate
sympathy and venom for his two
main characters give the novel a
slightly uneven tone. And some
of Jimmy's observations are a lit
tie advanced even for a lad who
has broken from the maternal
reins, thrown his medicine away.
tasted the pleasures Of sex and
escaped the invading Nazis.
Comic Opera Setting.