Evening star., 1949-04-17

And Diego, we are told. ther
into yet other irrational countries.
such as Melphe and Rorn and
Ecben. all of which the present
age has forgotten so completely
that in the maps of no atlas are
these countries accorded their un-
moral latitudes and benign color
ing"
More's the pity. Time was
when Poictesme was to Cabell
readers at least as vivid as New
Jersey or Kansas. And no one
dreamed of looking at Ecben in
the practical way Diego saw it.
For Diego-whose full name was
two-thirds romantic; Diego de
Amedondo Dodd: Afterward, in
discussing with the businessmen
of st. Augustine, Fla. his journey
into Lands Beyond Common
Sense, could only estimate the
value of the timber and describe
business conditions. And this in
lands where no one used to go
but troubadours. knights, fine
ladies and stout serfs.
The whole bizarre experience
overlook Diego when. returning to
st. Augustine from his adventur-
Gus years and settling into
middle-aged respectability, he
learned that his father, owner OF
the Bide a While Tourist Home.
was not actually his father.
Diego's real father, it seemed, was
Red Samael the Seducer. prince
of hell. And so Diego must pay
his filial respects. This involved
a visit to He'll, but first trip to
the Lands Beyond Common Sense.
Incompatible Cabell.
THE Devils Own Dear Son"
is the last of trilogy more Oh
less about Florida, more or less
about Heaven and hell and many
other things. 1t does, not matter
whether you've read the other two
novels in the trilogy; this book
will be none the less delightful, or
should be. Only. if this is your
first experience in Cabelliana. you
may be tempted to go back to the
days of glory in Poictesme and
read Beyond Life" and "Jurgen"
and perhaps other early Cabell
books incompatible in their genre.
I cannot see that Mr.. CabelPs
powers have failed with the years.
He realizes that this book, some
what appallingly." is his 50th. He
quotes the fiend Asmodeus as say
ing that the silver stallion, which
usel to ramp in Poictesme." is
"now an infirm and discredited
animal" and those veterinarians
whose opinions as to esthetic mat
ters are just at present viewed
seriously. tell me that he is ILL
constructed and weakened. in
addition to having been over
ridden" Well, that can be
doubted.
1t is not straining literary
metaphor to call Mr.. .Cabell the
American Anatole' France. Who
of our writer's so nearly ap-
proaches the French master in
philosophical irony? Indeed, the
time may come when it. will be
said that Anatole France is the
French Cabell. Who can say?
k* Il
WITHOUT MAGNOLIAS
BY Bucklin Moon. doubleday;
49,
Mr.: Moon has managed to do
what has seemed virtually impos-
sible, to write without melodrama
or indignation a realistic story OF |
the Negroes position in the South.
The story is not less warm and
moving for having been written
without the exaggeration OF cpl
sode and bitterness of expression
that have marked other such
novels. Most of them drag in at
least one lynching. The only act
of violence in Without Magno-
las" is when Negro soldier in
a taproom is beaten up by a
policeman. And this is only a
passing vignette. The worst that |
happens-physically-to de- |
veloped character in the story is
the time a colored college pro-
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