Evening star., 1949-05-01

PHILOSOPHERS and an effort TO mt
The First World War was TO
writing. painting and musical con
but some of 1t sticking to inf1uer
war and the chaos of Europe are
bringing q new artistic modernism
Perhaps it is o natural searching
for something to replace ideas
riddled with disillusion. Much OF
1t appears bizarre and obscure
But SO does everything to which
eyes and ears are unaccustomed.
Ramon Sender, the Spanish
modernist, who at present is teach
ing Spanish literature at the Uni
versity of New Mexico. reveals tr
his new novel not SO much novelty
in expression as in thought. Hit
parallels are less sordid and more
fanciful than those Of Jean-Paul
Sartre. The Frenchman's melo-
dramas are closer to earth, but
his ideas are more elusive anc
lack the occasional flashing in.
sights of the Spaniard's.
"The Sphere" is a highly SYM
bolic novel-the strange story OF
ship which might be called destiny
on a voyage like life. The chief
character, Saila, who fought in the
Spanish civil war tMr. Sender
fought against Franco) is on his
way to America. He has deter
mined, in a depth of Illustration
and futility, to destroy himself
explaining: Suicide is a crime OF
passion, committed through unre-
Quilted love for oneself" But fate
has other plans.
1t would be impossible to de-
scribe "The Sphere" If there were
space. 1t has to be read, and not
too rapidly, and even then 1t may
leave you puzzled not little. But
its curious narrative is told largely
through dialogue interspersed with
pungent aphorisms, which now
and then sum up brilliantly ar
era that often seems without rud-
der or compass, lost and drifting
Saila, whose philosophy leans
toward the negative, muses.: NO
body is wholly alive. nobody
wholly dead. Nobody is COM
pletely asleep, and nobody is en-
tirely awake. Nobody is crimi-
nal and nobody ceases to be one. u
And when all aboard ship sur
render to a dictator who emerges
from the stokehold, Saila COM
ments: People never submit on
reasonable grounds-but only to
some madman or other"
The translation by F. Giovanelli
Is excellent.
THE WELL OF THE PAST
BY Charles Norman. DOUBLE
day; $2.75J
Mr.. Norman, favorably known
as a poet and biographer. offers
as his first novel a sensitive and
lyrical study of a confused, self
centered, self satisfied young poet.
David Gerald, who lives in
the pretentious Bohemianism Of
Greenwich Village in the '20s,
would inspire more sympathy in
his search for truth and beauty
If he were less arrogant. more
willing to listen and learn. He
lives on the largess of a wealthy
professor (rich through inheri-
tance, it is hardly necessary to
add with the aplomb of a me-
dieval artist accepting the pa
tronage of a nobleman. David
doesn't write much poetry, but he
loves to spend hours polishing a
single line. To leave his muse
long enough to hold down a mum
dane job is unthinkable. He Is
enthralled by every pretty girl he
encounters, and most of them for
some reason find him equally fas-
cinating. Perhaps they've never
met any one quite like him. TIC
prove his Byronian virility. he gets
into a good many fights. which he
usually wins. Toward the last OF
the narrative he goes to Paris
having touched the professor