Evening star., 1950-12-10

III .#*$$:##a I - "a
to have come out of England. c. P. Shows
Time Of Hope" undoubtedly was the best.
1t is a sturdy story, in the tradition of
Hardy and Bennett-a segment of life
carved with beauty and understanding. It
is the penetrating record of a worthy man
obsessed with an unworthy woman, at the
usual cost.
Other English novels we'll worth reading
are TOO Little Love-" by Robert Henri
ques and The Prodigal Heart" by Susan
ErtZ. Mr. Carys The Horses Mouth
is particularly rewarding for those
who are perceptive to this writer's peculiar
sort of farcical humor. Then there was
THE Diplomat" by the Australian novelist,
James Aldrdge, which caused consider
able stir
In The Wall" John Hersey explored one
of the great tragedies of the war. the
gradual Wiping out of the Warsaw ghetto.
Using the device of a fctional diary, sup
posedly uncovered in the ruins he recon-
Structed the life of the area when the Nazi
came in and during the long period they
We're slowly exterminating the people. De-
spite its SLOW drawn-out development the
story is powerful; it stirs horror and anger
which linger in the memory.
The other war book of the year which
deserves to be remembered a long time is
Hanama Tasaki's Long the Imperial Way"
1t is Japanese "All Quiet on the Western
Front" This novel gave us for the first
time an authentic picture of the Japanese
private soldier in the days before the Rising
Sun was driven out of the Eastern sky. It
spares nothing; it describes how all in
dividuality was squeezed out of the con-
script under brutal discipline.
The Year Brought Sharp
Decrease in War Books
In this fifth year since the war was sup
posed to have closed. there was a sharp
decrease in war books. While the bloody
little war in Korea may have stimulated
interest in the subject, publishers felt that
readers were tired of it. at least for the
time being. Of the other war books which
did appear, the best probably was Louis
FalSteinS Face of Hero" the first COM
plete story of a bombing crew Brave
Company" by Guthrie Wilson, a New
Zealand school teacher, has it's partisans
Historical novels. at least the better ones,
have been moving away from the old for
mulas in the direction of credible and ar
tistic portrayals. In this field there were
some distinctive novels Probably the most
effective were Robert Penn Warren's
World Enough and Time" Harvey Fer
gusson's Grant of Kingdom" and Evelyn
Waugh's Helena"
Mr.. Warren wrote SenSitively and with
great understanding of the period the story
of young blade of the 1820s in Kentucky
and his trial for murder. The novel has
been criticized for its f1amboyant char
actors and melodramatic plot If these
were incredible, SO was the actual murder
case on which the book was based for Mr..
Warren merely changed around the names
and some of the circumstances He did a
beautiful job of writing
In Grant of Kingdom" Harvey Fer
guSson told of tract in the Southwest
which originally was bestowed by the King
of Spain and of those who lived on it from
the era of the mountain men 100 years ago.
1t is an authentic American story, with
memorable characters and an appealing
touch. Mr.. Ferguson has written frequent
ly of the Southwest ever since he brought
out The Blood of the Conquerors," one of
the best novels of the 20S
Horse Opera Gives Way
To More Realistic Westerns
The trend toward realistic stories of the
West, in place of horse opera-an area of
the American literary scene almost unex-
plored until recent years-diminished
After all, not every year can yield books
like A. B. Guthries THE Way West"
which deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for
1949, and Walter Van Tilburg Clark's