Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-01-31

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namely, for the purely natural
istic type of novel that has no
significance whatever. save
that it betrays the fact that
our best American novelists
refuse to grow up. to mature.
g.. This type Of book has
dominated the fiction award:
In 1851, From Here to Eter-
nifty got the accolade. in 1949
the winner was The Man
With the Golden Arm.
Reviewers Disagreed
THE Adventures of Augie
March" has been called the
years most inflammable novel.
It's publication was ushered in
with 21-gun salvos from the
heavy artillery Of promotion,
and its reviews ranged from
the wildly ecstatic to the bru-
tally critical. Even those who
liked 1t best conceded it's lack
of discipline.
Mr.. Below, a slight. dark
young man who now teaches
English at Bard College, in
directly replied to this criticism
at a press conference when he
said he felt the so-called
"well-made" novel was not
suited to the presentation of
a broad picture of American
life.
Tolent or Performance?
One judge. defending his
choice to an irate out-of town
critic. pointed to the leanness
of fiction in the past year. He
privately admitted that he did
not think "Augie" presented
either broad picture Of
American life or a represent
tative American character.
He fastened to say. however,
that he and the other men,
berS of the fiction jury
thought Mr.. Below a writer
of enormous talent. The I'M
reconstructed minority went
away grumbling that the prize
should be given for perform
ance and not mere talent.
They recalled, too, an old
grievance. Last years fiction
award went to Ralph Ellison's
THE Invisible Man." another
long. untidy chronicle. which
dealt with social injustice. It's
victory over Hemingway's most
artistic and affirmative work.
The Old Man and the Sea-"
caused some observers to ques-
ton whether the judges were
judging literary merit, or the
justice of the minority cause
presented by Mr.. Ellison.
Cotton Is Solid Choice
About the choice of the nom
fiction winner. Bruce Cations
"A Stiffness at AppomatoX."
there was no suspicion Of dis
approval.
The Stars book critic, Car
ter Brooke Jones, said. when
the book appeared, he had
never read better account of
hte Wilderness. and his YER
dict was unanimously seconded
all over the country. The
judges praised Mr.. Cation, an
ex-newspaperman who lives in
Bethesda. for combining his
torical accuracy with poetic
insight"
The poetry award was also
serenely received. Mr.. Conrad
Aiken. the honored bard. could
not be present to receive his
gold medal, since he is in
Europe. Theatrical Producer
Cheryl Crawford stood in for
him and also read his
remarks. He said there
was no lack of poets. or
of young and fine poets. either.
but rather a lack of that sus-
tanning and affectionately di-
receive guidance which only a
rich and deeply grounded crit
icism can provide. and. which,
as yet. for the most part we do
not have"
Judge Box on Censorship
The oratorical star Of the
occasion was Judge Curtis Box,
who gave the 500 critics and
publishers a witty and closely
reasoned talk on the subject of
"procedure-not only due proc
ess of law. but also the proper
relation between ends and
means, and the orderly ar
rangement of the customs and
habits of a people"
His remarks will doubtless
find their way into legal jour-
nails. The passage which most
concerned his audience dealt
with censorship.
He said: "A few years ago
I protected nine unpleasant
books against the charge of
obScenity. I do not remember
putting in a more lugubrious
six weeks than while reading
them. Holding my nose with
one hand, I upheld with the
other the right of free speech
they represented. For this I
got a certain amount of ac-
claim. Twenty years ago Judge
Woolsey got more acclaim for
clearing Ulysses This only
means that Ulysses was even
naughtier than the books I
cleared. The more extreme the
book the greater the acclaim,
apparently, and this should
make one vince a little unless
the whole issue be evaded by
defending the stenographic
approach to reporting life.
Maybe the stenographer's
notebook generates an awful
power of it's own by showing