The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-08-26
KY Books
BY A. de T. cinsras


New York City, ais pages.)
The Republican National Com
mittee should give Miss Taylor
Caldwell an honorium for this nov
ell. She deserves it. Any reader
who would take the books con-
contents seriously could only vote
Republican, and then he would de-
velop a serious political neurosis
because so many of the policies
of his chosen party simulate those
of the Democrats.
The novel genre includes wide
variety of species and a lot of
mutations. Perhaps the least sue
cessful of the mutations is the poll
teal novel projected into tomorrow.
The soapbox propaganda shouts so
loud the elements which 60 to make
up an artistic piece Of fiction are
submerged in the noise. It Is hard
to judge such work purely as a
novel because it sounds like q
Fourth of July speech.
Sinclair Lewis tried one of these
in ''It Can't Happen Here" and
Taylor Caldwell in Devils Ad-
vocate."
The temptation on the part OF
the critic is to include comment
on the logic of the contents. The
method Of this type Is to take var
ious current ''isms" and govern
ment policies, and multiply and
exaggerate them until they reach
disastrous conclusions. The impor-
tant flaw in Miss Caldwell's reason
ing is that with a government of
States, and with the various lob
bies working to outlobby each
other, these disastrous conclusions
would have a hard time resolving
themselves.
The farmers, for example, have
grown fat in 1868 and the urban
are lean and in rage.
While current prices for meat are
preposterous In the city grocery
stores, already a lot of city folk
are getting themselves q spot Of
land to supplement their city dwell
ling, where they may cultivate
some chicken and pig meat as well
as vegetables, and maybe even a
cow. Fish and other meat substi-
tutes are also being extensively
used. And these are only beginning
measures. The farm vote is not the
only vote, and any candidate who
wants either a Federal or state
office today viii have to face the
potent wrath of the urban house.
holder at the polls. The only thing
which might confuse him is which
party will bring the meat prices
down. He is not awfully sure.
Not only do Miss Caldwell's con-
illusions fall down under close
scrutiny, but all of her characters
suffer in this propaganda tome.
They are mouthpieces only to laud
the highly questionable delights of
pre- Roosevelt days and to condemn
her imagined horrors Of 1868 when
the country has become a ruin.
Her descriptive passages too are
always written through a political
fog and most of the situations in
which the characters find them
selves seem obviously contrived
and never natural.
The book Is fascinating to read
purely because the reader wants
to know just how far the ruin is
going to penetrate before the con-
stitution takes over again.
DEATH IN THE FIFTH POSI-
TON by Edgar Box mystery
novel, published by E. p. Dutton
and Co., New York, New York
22l pages.)
This new mystery writer made
a sure-fire selection of ingredients
when he mixed up the brew for
this yarn. Backstage at the Metro
politan Opera house in New York
City is the setting, and the princi-
pal characters are the ballet dane.
ers themselves. Into these basic
materials he introduces generous
portions of murder and several
manifestations of sex.
And to be sure there Is no mono
tony In the scene, he takes the
reader on flying trips out into the
rooms where the dancers
live, into the steaming fog Of
Turkish bath, to party In Park
Avenue apartment, and to a dive
in Greenwich village.
The first murder occurs when a
cable is cut and Ella Sutton princi-
pal female dancer, falls In the
fifth ballet position on the center
Of the great stage. And immediate
ly, as the police bestir themselves
among the members Of the CON-
pany. Elias sultry past and her
relations with her co-dancers rises
like a thick fog to befuddle the
The usual red her
rings of this type Of story are flung
under the suspicious nose Of the
reader. Motives are distributed
wholesale, the murder weapon Is
placed IN somebody's wastepaper
basket. the Russian members Of
The company brood unnecessarily
in Swallowed corners behind the
props.
The objectivity and sexlessness