Evening star., 1951-10-14

AAN oAA "AiUC1oI oA1 1ilC1ls dlI
young or reasonably so-their
ages range from 27 to 39-have
turned out absorbing stories,
varied in theme and treatment,
proving collectively nothing in
particular except that there are
still situations and people to
write about, that not everything
seems to have been told. To
quote the soi-diSant require
ments of another discriminate
ing magazine. long dead and
forgotten. each of these authors
has something to say and says
1t well.
The most dramatic story is
George Moffett's "Life's Old
Sweet Dream" This is a swift
account of what happened
when an aging American of a
familiar type took his much
younger wife, to whom he had
been married for 20 years. on a
vagabond cruise in their own
small yacht, along with the
skipper, a sailor of professional
experience.
In North Africa.
The most original seems to me
1.-THE Falcons Nest" Tom BARS
fantasy of a middle-aged adven-
turer who decided to forget his
life up to this point and begin
again in the North African town
of Constantine. He married an
Italian girl and tried to settle
down, but there were the two
falcons he must see every day
as he passed a gorge on his way
to work-strange symbols of
death.
The most poetic is "Lilacs Out
of a Dead Land" by Domhnall
O'Conaill. a young Irish actor.
The story is mans recollection
Of his first love, for an older and
tragically fated girl.
Perhaps you could call Nadia
Devereux," which the author,
John Eichrodt, calls "A Study in
Form" the most unusual. Mr..
Eichrodt does not claim orig
inality for his theme. but says
it is an inverted variation on the
Don Juan myth and was sug-
gested by Thomas Mann's
Death in Venice" Mr.. Eich-
rodt has written a highly SYM
bolic story which indeed sug-
gests the famous Mann story in
substance. If not in form. He
has used a lesbian awakening in
a self-contained woman of great
scholarly attainments. Nadia,
who is in close contact with the
United Nations. appears to be a
symbol of both the strength and
the weakness of our civilization.
The fable is ably written, but in
its constant probing of the
woman's mind, it tends to be-
come tiresome.
Captured BY Indians
Gilbert Rees' The Rod Of
God" is a perceptive record of
an episode in history. the cap
ture of a woman by Indians.
The young author says he wrote
it because of its parallel with
the unleashed savagery of our
own day. a savagery unleased in
part by our own foolishnesS
and wickedness."
Charles Mohler tells in THE
Jesus Complex" OF an exper-
ience a Northern youth had at
a Southern university. There is
sound psychology in the con-
clusion that the man who tries
to help the underdog gets a
snarl and a bite for his pains,
while the victim wags his tail at
his oppressorS. 1t is to be doubt
ed, however, that the picture of
college students rounding up
Negroes and chasing them off
the streets is typical. The spirit
Of the Ku Klux Klan Is not
kept alive by students.
The novella should be as
valid a length in fiction as any
other. and yet the arbitrary
exactions of magazines and book
publishers have largely exclud-
ed it. Mr.. Burnett has been try
ing for years to encourage g
form in which such diverse writ
ers as Conrad. Kipling and
Mann excelled.