The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-01-14
KY Books
by A. de t. Gingras

translated from the Japanese BY
TakaShi Kojima, Illustrations BY
M. Kuwata. six japanese short
stories, published by Liveright
Publishing Company. New York
City, 119 pages.)
Significant works OF literature
originating in the romance and
some of the slavic languages have
long been available in English
translation.
This is not so with the Eastern
languages. The literature of India,
Pakistan, Japan, China, and the
whole of the East is almost a COM
plete cultural blank to the English
reading public.
Even considering the inadequaey
of any attempt to put the tone
and Stylistic nuanceS of one Ian.
guage into another. a good Eng.
lish translation of an Eastern clas-
sic. is literary and cultural news
in this country.
These six short stories are by q
Japanese writer who committed
suicide Is years ago, at the age
of IS. Howard Hibbett is as the
introduction calls him a modern
intellectual, the double victim Of
an unsympathetic society and a
split culture.
To the English reader the stor.
les are strange and horrible, deli
cate and poetic, all at the same
time. He has the peculiar sensation
of watching murder enacted on
teacups and fans. Ghouls, thieves,
unchurchly love, rape and a life
long anticipation for yam Cruel are
dished up for the reader in a set
ting of bamboo blades and chrys.
anthemums.
For his setting, the author goes
back to old tales and legends Of
the remote Heian period or feudal
ages. He does this, according to
Hihbett, not only to maintain aes-
thefic distance and a cool classic
surface, but to enrich and extend
the implications of his themes.
The book is an exciting reading
Experience for any adult who does
not demand Ladies Home Journal
interpretations of life.
(HALF A DOLLAR is BETTER
THAN NONE by Nicholas DiMinno
humorous novel, illustrated by
Richard Taylor, published by Dou,
bleday and Co., New York City,
This book should be dedicated &c
all writers who have walked Man
hattan's cavernous streets looking
~. armed with a scrap
book or a couple of degrees.
,ale Begins eight months
after the 26 year old hero, Raw.
Inns, takes mental job in q New
York advertising agency in order
to learn the business from the
traditional desk-dusting up.
Before coming TO Manhattan he
had in his background Rhode Is.
land, the Army, Harvard. and q
California girl named Stella who
married another man. When he ar.
rived, a kindly old counselor at
the New York City guidance center
told him he could expect to shine
in such fields as human relations,
ballet criticism, and drainpipe re.
pair, but his best and most re.
muneratively promising bet was
| advertising.
| In the second chapter, when Raw
Inns Is almost in despair Of any
advancement beyond sweeping out
in the morning, he Is removed
from the 42nd 10 the 4ist floor.
| Here the copywriiers for Cfisps
cereal operate. The authors des-
Ecripiion Of the backgrounds Of the
staff is an ironical gem.
8. the copy staff dedicated 70
lcrisps included some Of the out
standing creative talents and
laFtisiic dispositions In advertising.
They had written poems. plays,
| novels. essays, and would have pre-
ferred TO continue writing them,
but bills. responsibilities, comforts
have Slapped their wills. So they
bought their muses. in chains 70
| the Pike Building In return for one
| or two hundred dollars . week.
and soon the muses. slipped their
bonds and sailed off. never % 70
turn. :"
| Besides sharpening pencils. Gil.
ing inkwelis. and getting coffee,
RawIins Is assigned to guiding jim
Gle contest winner. Laborer Joe
| Royino. and bis wife, into spending
. minimum Of the sponsors funds
| in their week 10 The royal suite Of
the Skyridge ToKeFs. And then the
complications begin. A couple Of
romantic red herTings ere thrown
across the readers path before TIE
/ real beroine emefEes. and the
situations are ofien hilarious.
/ A couple oE times toward end
lof the book, fae reader has the
feeling that Il il going 70 end Ia
/ 81 entirely differeni way than Il
does. This very definite impress.
Isioa leads The reviewer 70 suspect
TIE author wasn't apfaily sure
ssn he Eted bis book. Iust shat
his ccnrgasioa would ~. SgaFtina
Sesss Al 4 safsre ~ Anoex1ean Al.