davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1961-12-10
THE LITERARY SCENE IN 1861
Last Year Brought q Few
Good Books-Just q Few

Was 1t a memorable year in
the world Of books? To a
reviewer, who admittedly
read only a fraction of the
more than 10000 books which
poured from the presses
possibly the wrong fraction
it did not seem to be so.
Many book-lovers may well
remember 1851 sadly, as the
year when two giants left the
literary scene, Hemingway
and Thurber. They had as
little in common as two men
could who practiced the same
craft; but they were alike in
that each had a message,
and each had a style.
1t was too soon for the good
effects Of the New Frontiers
cordiality to the printed
word to be felt. In the mean
time. this reviewer has to say
that many Of the unusually
large number Of volumes that
threatened to swamp the
trade, need not have been
written. There were some
good books, but fewer than
usual.
Evening star., 1961-12-10
President Is
Taken Apart
AMERICA: LISTEN. I

AMERICA: LISTEN. BY
Frank L. Kluckhohn.
Monarch; so cents.)
Mr.. Kluckhohn, a former
New York Times correspond
ent who worked in the State
Departments Office of Sc
curity and Consular Affairs
from 1855 until early 1861,
pictures President Kennedy
as a we'll intentioned but in
effective and bumbling young
man pushed into the Ma
tion's highest office by an
over-ambitiouS father.
The familiar charge that
the Kennedy administration
talks big and acts small is
eated expansively with
Mr.. Kluckhohn's version of
what has gone on in the
Laos, Cuba and Berlin crises
since last January.
EARL H. VOSS.
Evening star., 1961-12-10
CHRISTMAS FARE
For Animal
Lovers of
All Ages
BY LEE WALSH
star staff Writer

THE WORLD OF ANIMALS.
Compiled with commentary
by Joseph Wood Krutch.
(Simon a. Schuster; $l0D
Fascinating reading is this
compilation of animal stories
by great naturalists and writ
ers from the 5th century BC
to the present. 1t is a beauti-
fully illustrated volume, not
only for animal lovers but for
anyone who has so much as
owned a kitten or visited a
zoo.
That animals have fasci-
mated man since he began to
record his feelings is found in
a wide range of subject and
treatment from Pliny the Ed
er's delightful story Of the
dolphin's winning personality
to Mr.. Krutch's. own piece on
conservation.
Entries include. Colette's
amusing "Tomcat Past His
Prime; Theodore Roose-
velt's "Give a Cat a Bad
Name: w. H. Hudson's
Far Away and Long Ago"
and John James Audubon's
And Then There Were
None" OF course. there are
pieces by Darwin, Thoreau,
John Burroughs and Jean
Henri Fabre-all writers one
would expect to find in such
a book. but would you expect
to find John Steinbeck, Clar-
ence Day and Lafcadio Hearn
in a book about animals?
That's what makes this book
so interesting-while the sub
ject matter is ever-intrigu-
ing, the writer's chosen for
this volume are as equally
varied as their subjects.
It's illustrations are lavish,
with everything from Egyp-
tian drawings to early Amer
lean primitives.
Evening star., 1961-12-10

than actuality. AS in a
stereoptician. you are aware
of dimensions that in reality
you experience without SEN
sation. She is a Stylist of
extraordinary clarity and
precision everything she
sees is impaled on the pre-
cisely proper word. and every
emotion or thought or feel
ing is materialized on the
page.
In Break Of Day" ola
Naissance du JourD. the
latest volume of the slowly
growing complete edition in
English, Sido is again an
important character. al
though always off-stage
heard Of only through her
letters. The story is of a
woman In her fifties. calm
of mind after the spent pas
sions Of two marriages, who
takes a young lover in her
summer home on the Cote
d'Azur. You only die from
the first man." her mother
has told her. and Colette
knows that this twilight af-
fair will be happiness for
both herself and the boy.
She gives him up, neverthe-
less. to a girl Of his own age.
The book Is filled with
men and women who actual
ly existed - Colette herself
appears under her own name.
and CARGO, a novelist, Segon-
zac, a painter. and others.
But the story is autobiogra-
phical only in its back
ground; at 50, the real Co.
lette married a young man,
her third husband. The
match was a happy one to
the day Of her death at 81.
Glenway Wescott supplies
a perceptive introduction.
and the translation Is good.
Several translators have di-
vided work on the dozen
books Of Colette that have
so far appeared; unfortun-
ately not all are as capable
as Enid Mcleod.
Evening star., 1961-12-10
CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOK
Mans Family rec
Down to the Roots
FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
fred A. Knopf; $685.

FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO BY Geoffrey Bibby CAL
fred A. Knopf $685.
Children today bear the names of their fathers rather
than their mothers learn write by the alphabet their
to deity in the rather than lower them
the earth and headsones placed the graves the
dead all OF these customs back events in Europe
ing the thousand year period from 1000 &C. 1000 c.
The events of that millennium. worldwide basis
been arranged and ternked in of IA gen.
eraons each Of 10 by Geoffrey Bbby in this
book.
Mr.. Bibby British-born Director of the Prehistoric
Evening star., 1961-12-10
Wild Country
SLEEP IN THE WOODS. Bv

SLEEP IN THE WOODS, Bv
Dorothy Eden. Coward
Mccain; $3.95O
This novel about a new
frontier must appeal to any
reader with British allegiance
since it concerns life in the
Crown Colony of New Zea-
land The Maori tribesmen
are resisting the settlers.
Life in Wellington is pictur-
eSquely described. Briar, a
serving girl alone in the
world, winds up the wife of a
blueblood. And stratagem Is
to pass off a photo of an un-
known couple as her parents
Although the story is more
than a clash OF cultures. IL
has its counterparts in the
American dream.
III A. LYON.
Evening star., 1961-12-10

70-year generations; this is
a useful device for organiza-
ton purposes and for chap
ter divisions. 1t is the mil
lennium itself, 2000-1000 BIC,
which lacks historical unity.
The essential theme of the
book is the process by which
the Indo- European peoples
poured out of the Pontic
steppes and the Semitic peo-
Piles pushed out of Arabia to
conquer and even destroy the
city civilizations (Mesopo-
tamia, Egypt. the Indus VAL
ley, the Hittite. and the Gre
tam and to almost complete
ly obliterate the ancient
Highland Zone peoples
oSumerians. Elamites, Hur-
rianS, etc., whose sole lin
guistic survivors today are
the Basques and some small
Caucasic groups. These great
movements of warlike, pas
toral grassland peoples were
caused by the sudden onset
of a drier climate known to
prehistorians as the Sub
Boreal." This drier climate,
falling in the period $500
1000, is the real chronological
division which dominated the
events of Mr.. Bibby's book.
BY failing 10 mention it and
by taking as his unit the
historically meaningless pc
riod 2000-1000 BIC, Mr.. Bib
by.has missed the underlying
cause and unifying element
in the many concrete epi-
sodes he so vividly describes.
-Four Thousand Years
Ago" is a beautifully made
book embellished with 80
plates, six maps and As line
drawings.
CARROLL QUIGLEY.
Mr.. Quigley. professor OF
ancient history in the George
toDn Foreign Seruice School,
is the author of the recently
published "The Evolution OF
Civilization"
Evening star., 1961-12-10
The Saga of OIin Johnston
An American Success Story

posed to, his record on labor,
agriculture. social security,
taxation and general welfare
legislation is generally in O.
cord with the rest of the
liberal Northern Democrats.
Poor in Youth
This is not too surprising
in view of Senator Johnston's
starting in a textile mill at the
age Of II and working there
a number of years. He even-
tually worked his way through
college. He had a particular
talent for politics and by the
age of 81 was elected to the
first of his two terms as
Governor of South Carolina.
His election to the Senate
followed.
Washingtonians will be
particularly interested in the
books account of Senator
Johnston's role as chairman
of the Senate Post Office
and Civil Service Committee
during the past decade or so.
Certainly, no member of Con-
gress has done more for Gov
ernment employees in the way
of improving Federal employe
benefits, Senator Johnston
has helped to improve the
caliber of the Government
service, since the Government
must maintain progressive
pay and fringe benefits sys-
TENS If it is to. attract and
retain the finest possible
people in these vital times.
JOSEPH YOUNG.
Evening star., 1961-12-10
Will SON IS MIG H T
TH0TTCHTS Rv Edmond

wills SONS MIG HT
THOUGHTS. BY Edmond
Wilson. (Farrar, Straus
and Cudahy; $4.50)
Edmund Wilson'S latest
book is private stock hap
PLY made public-the curious
sweepings Of a literary desk
which over the decades has
stored up the papers Of a
man whose interests are prob
ably more far-ranging than
those of most of his con-
temporaries. It Is not a
whimsical book but for the
most part a carefree and
jolly one, and while it
would be a mistake to claim
that it contains something
for every one. 1t certainly
offers a great deal to a few.
There is some serious writ
ings-lyric poetry, the intro
duction to Fitzgerald's THE
Last Tycoon" and a num-
ber of short descriptive prose
pieces-but the soul of the
book is fun. Satire, nom
sense, and technical expert
ments in versification are
mixed with pen and ink
sketches and even a couple
of crossword puzzles. these
last so casual and careless
that they must have been
contrived to while away a
short subway ride. There are
many delightful clerihews
and limericks, some Of which
were originally circulated as
Christmas cards, and a really
fetching poem in backward
rhymes, "often found in late
twentieth century poetry"
"Livid" rhymes with devil"
nude ones" with snow
Evening star., 1961-12-10

Museum Of Aarhus Denmark,
is well-qualified for writing
this book and goes at his task
with verve and imagination
(some scholars might say,
too much imaginationD Well
known to the general reader
for his Testimony Of the
Spade" (l956), which tried to
reconstruct the prehistory Of
Northern Europe. Mr.. Bibby
won his archaeological repu-
tation in excavation of the
newly discovered prehistoric
civilization on Bahrain Island
in the Persian Gulf.
In the Fog
Four Thousand Years Ago
skillfully reconstructs the re-
lationships among events
which. to most of us, drift in
a fog Of uncertainty. Abra-
ham. the migrations Of the
Indo-E Europeans, the build
ing Of Stonehenge. Tutank-
hamon. the invention of the
alphabet. the Hyksos, the
Trojan war. Moses and the
fall Of Jericho, Hammurabi
the Law-giver-names such
as these which we all recog-
nize more or less vaguely are
here placed together, each in
its own generation, with the
lines Of influence which link
them carefully drawn. The
whole story is kept on a
vividly concrete basis by fire.
Quent reference to the activi-
ties Of ordinary individuals of
the generation in question.
Such a detailed narrative
could not be made without
interpreting events beyond
the existing evidence. since
the latter is always incom-
plete. Mr.. Bibby has not hes
itated to do this, but I find
no significant errors in his
tale, and in almost every
case I agree with his in
depreciation even when it
goes far beyond the evidence.
The only exception lies in
Mr.. Bibby's story (chapter
13) of a voyage by Scandi-
navian sailors to Crete and
Egypt in the generation 1910
1440 BIC. Most historians
would find 1t easier to imag-
inc a voyage of Cretans to
the North.
Arbitrary Chronology
The one fundamental OBJ
lection which could be made
Of this book is in regard to
its arbitrary chronology. BY
this I do not mean the divi-
sion of the millennium into
Evening star., 1961-12-10
A FoIIing-OH

Miss Mitford's English sis
ters did not fare so we'll. In
fact. there was a lamentable
falling-off in the whole novel;
writing sorority. Jan God
den's "A WINTERS TALE"
(Knopf; 1885, was a pre-
posterous invention about a
triangle composed of a man
and a woman and the mans
dog. v. Sackville- West was
not a shadow of her former
self in a creaking tale of a
man about to die constrain-
edly counting a worldly para
gon of virtues. The name of
this er-forgotten effort
was mo SIGNPOSTS IN
THE SEA" Doubleday;
$2.95. Doris Lessing's "IN
PURSUIT OF THE ENG
LISH" (Simon & Schuster:
$3.75) was a fragmentary
story of some lively people in
a London boarding house.
Two English writer's, Fred
eric Raphael and Gerda
Charles did rather better with
accounts of English Jewry.
Mr.. Raphael's THE LIMITS
OF LOVE" Gippincott;
$4.95) was sensitive and viva
cious, If overlong. Miss
Charles THE CROSSING
POINT" (Knopf; $4.50) had
warmth, wit and understand
Evening star., 1961-12-10
SENATOR FOR THE
SOUTH. BY John E. Huss.

SOUTH. BY John E. Huss.
doubleday; $4.950
This interesting and we'll
told biography relates an
American success story. It's
hero is Senator Olin D.
Johnston Of South Carolina,
who rose from a 25-cent-a-
day job as a textile mill hand
at the age of II to become
Governor of his State at the
age of 81 and later became
United States Senator.
Senator Johnston has rep
resented South Carolina in
the Senate for the past II
years and as a result of his
seniority and experience has
become one of the most pow
erful members of the Con-
gress. He is chairman of
the Senate Post Office and
Civil Service Committee and
is a high-ranking member on
both the Agriculture and Ju-
dietary Committees.
A True Liberal
Not only is Olin Johnston
an influential Senator, he is
one of those rare specimens
in the Congress- truly lib
eral Southern Senator.
AS Senator Wayne Morse
remarks in the book, "Olin
Johnston has one of the best
liberal voting records in the
Senate" Outside of his stand
on civil rights legislation,
which Senator Johnston, as
a political fact of life is op-
Evening star., 1961-12-10

writers or the flrSt half OF
this century, the question
arises why her fame, in the
United States at least. has
been slow in coming and even
today is hardly universal.
Perhaps one reason is that
her background didn't pre-
pare people for the advent of
a literary genius She was a
member of no clique or
school, but rather a music
hall dancer whose first four
books, supposedly autobiog-
raphical. were not a little
scandalous. More to the point,
I think, is that she has not
written one or two books the
titles of which are trade
marks-there is no ulysses"
or The Magic Mountain" in
the Colette canon. The whole
body of her vast oeuUre is on
the same plane. Like Haydn,
whose reputation as a COM
poser of symphonies has suf-
fered because he wrote more
than nine. and has at least
so supreme examples in his
catalog, Colette is SWamped
in her own brilliance. When.
infected by my enthu-
siasm, someone asks me
where to start in Colette, I am
always caught stammering.
open any book, start any
where, it doesn't matter"
Colette writes about ami
mails. the whole physical
world from the roughness of
a pebble on the Mediterran-
can shore to the skud of
clouds in the sky, about
love. more often than not
adulterous, and about her
mother. Who is Sido Coletto
one Of the really completely
achieved women Of fiction
like the Wife of Bath, a Gre
alton Of her daughter. or
flesh and blood rejoicing
in a miraculous biographer?
1t is hard to say, since in
all of Colette's writing fact
and fancy are so blended
that they can never be dis
tinguished.
In Colette life Is more real
Evening star., 1961-12-10
The Canterbury Tales:
A Delightful Selection
THE CANTERBURY TALES:

THE CANTERBURY TALES:
A Selection. edited with
Introduction and Notes by
Daniel Cook. (Anchor
Books; $1.45D
1t is too bad that the
writings of Chaucer, which
in breadth, humanity. humor
and felicity of expression are
not inferior to Shakespeare,
have never become so in
eradicable a part Of our
heritage as the plays Of the
man who lived two centuries
later. Chaucer has suffered
in the esteem of the average
reader for two reasons -
either he is read in a mod
ernized version which robs
his poetry of its individual
ity, or he is not read at all,
since many people, otherwise
men of good will, believe that
Chaucerian English Is as i'm
penetrable as a foreign Ian
guage.
But Chaucer wrote in not
Old but Middle English, and
his poetry is on the border
line of comprehensibility
even for those who are not
trained in it's idiosyncracies
Twenty hours devoted to its
syntax, its vocabulary, and
its verSification will enable
anyone to read it with pleas
ure the equal of which is af-
forded by few other authors
Daniel Cook, in the present
edition mot a reprinD of the
prologue and II of the
Canterbury Tales, has made
even so much preparatory
work unnecessary. Printing
Evening star., 1961-12-10
From ireland

Frank O'Connor's stc-y Of
a deprived childhood illumin-
ated by a magnificent mo-
ther bids fair to rival Sean
O'CaSey's "reminiscences of
growing up in a Dublin slum.
1t does not seem possible that
anyone could read "AN ONLY
CHILD" and rem ain un-
moved.
From Ireland, too, came
this reviewers first choice in
fiction, Mary LAWNS THE
GREAT WAVE" This Amer
ican-born short-story writer
has skill to match emotion.
American short stories are
at such a low ebb as repte-
sented in the grubby collec-
tions Of "bests", that her
Evening star., 1961-12-10
BOOKSI IN REVIEW
tn e Rare Genius
OfCoIeite
BY DAY THORPE
Otar nnnk rrikia
BREAK OF

BREAK OF nAY novel by Colette with introduction by
Glenway Wescott Translated by Enid Mcleod Farrar,
Straus and Cudahy; $3.75)
The first of Colettes fifty books appeared in
France in 900 1t not until 1929 when the reputation
its author already at home that translation of
Colette novel published in English The author
admired by all her colleagues and adored by erate
Fenchman Since it not at all preposerous to suggest that
the Colette will live among the very greatest of all
Evening star., 1961-12-10

finished and varied work is
of special note.
The best light novel Of the
year was unquestionably
Nancy Mitford's DON'T
TELL ALFRED" (Harper;
$685. an episode but hilari-
GUS account of life in the
British Embassy in Paris,
with the heroine just barely
holding her own against
American bluestockings, beat
niks, Zen Budhists and as
sorted modern perils.
Evening star., 1961-12-10

remembrances of growing up
with two contrasting grand
mothers, one an elegant vic
torian, the other a grubby
relic of the Pre-Raphaelite
movement. my GRAND
MOTHERS AND 1" Morton;
S3.95).
MARY QUEEN OF
SCOTS" Vanguard; $4.50),
by N. Byrsson Morrison was
rather breathless recital of
hapless Mary Stuart. THE
INTERNAL WORLD OF
BRANWELL BRONTE" CDou-
Evening star., 1961-12-10
The Pondoro's Box
On q Literary Desk

dunes" and "comrade" with
dare mock" There are
two brilliant extended ex-
amples Of elegiac verse. a
form which Wilson says is
not connected. even etymo-
logically. with the word
"elegy."
What I like best in the
book are the anagrams. one
of which I will quote in full.
not only to tickle the reader
but also in hopes that some
body will clarity two allu-
sions which escape me. Who
is ED p" and what does
"a pen razu" mean? The
anagram Is on an eminent
author and read straight
through as a poem is q neat
comment on its subject:
U DON PRAZE
E.P.-U ADORE N
PORZ, "A NU ED
P. EZ AROUND"
u DON RAJ E.P.:
"UROP ENDZ A
PERZON. ADU,
OUR MAZE DIP!
DAZER UPON
AZURE POND,
A MUD POZER
AND PURE o."
U REZPOND, "A
PROUD ZANE
UPROZE AND
RANUD 'OPEZ,
PORED NUZ, A
ROUZD A PEN
RAZU, OPEND
DORZ UPAN E.
UROP. 'AZND e
URNED PO'Z
PRAZE?" U NOD
Evening star., 1961-12-10
BY MARY McGRORY
star Staff Writer

about men had differing
success. Dean Acheson'S
"SKETCHES FROM LIFE"
(Harper; $4,000, was a witty
recital of diplomatic encount-
ers. In "MY FATHER, LLOYD
GEORGE" Grown; $4,000.
Earl Lloyd George chose to
tell the world about his faith
er's romantic alliances. More
entertaining and poignant
was Diana Holman-Hunt's
Evening star., 1961-12-10

the text on the left hand
page. he devoteS the facing
page to a running explana-
tion and commentary. His
notes are exemplary in ev-
cry way - simple, helpful.
clear, unpatronizing, and Of
a length precisely sufficient.
There will be readers to
whom no other book on the
current publishers lists will
be so welcome.
Evening star., 1961-12-10
Non-Fiction

Several writers OF non
fiction turned to the world
of animals for their inspira-
tion. and on the whole did
very well. Gavin Maxwell's
otter. chronicled in "A RING
OF BRIGHT WATER" Dut-
ton; $500. padded into many
hearts: SHIELD Burnford's
story Of an animal odyssey in
THE INCREDIBLE JOUR-
NEY and Joy Adamson's
further account of her friend
Elsa the lioness in LIVING
FREE provided welcome sur
cease from the drearier round
of the human condition.
Writers who chose to write
Evening star., 1961-12-10
Best Remembered

The books I shall remem-
Der best from 1861 were four:
Theodore H. Whites flavor
some account of the presi-
Dental election. THE MAX.
ING OF A PRESID EMIT;
(Athenaeum: $6.500 Frank
O'Connor's heart sca1ding
memoir Of a Dublin child
hood, "AN ONLY CHILD"
(Knopf; $4.5O and Rus
sci Bakers elegantly saw
age view of the local scene,
IAN AMERICAN IN WASH
INGTON" (Knopf; 1885,.
The finest fiction l read was
a collection of short stories
by Mary LAWN. THE
GREAT WAVE" Macmillan:
$3.50 simply glowed with
artistry and feeling.
The year will go down for
some as the year that J. D.
Salinger. the isolated genius,
finally produced a successor
to his immortal The Catcher
in the Rye" His two stories
about a soul-troubled 20
year-old. tyranny AND
ZOOEY" little, Brown;
$4,000 were ecstatically re-
ceived in some quarters. I
found them rather special
and precious, and devoid of
the humor that made
Catcher" a shining MASTER
piece. The stories had no
character comparable to
Holden Caulfield, an Adde'S
cent so fetching that every
woman thought she saw in
him something of the man
she loved when young, and
every man recognized his
youthful groupings and GAL
1nntrv
Evening star., 1961-12-10
Kennedy's Election

Mr.. Whites book was re-
markable for being both a
critical and commercial sue
cess and an object lesson of
what a true writer can do
with material that has been
handled endlessly by almost
every reporter in the coun-
try. While Mr.. Whites view
of the then Senator Ken
nedy's candidacy was a trifle
romantic. his recapturing of
the color and suspense Of a
hard-fought campaign made
his book more exciting than
most Of the fiction that was
published last year. He even
made the census figures ex-
citing.
Evening star., 1961-12-10

bleday; $4,50), brought us
Daphne DuMaurier in the
guise of a biographer. We
feel she is better employed
as a novelist of suspense.
GEORGE ELIOT, THE
WOMAN" (Yoselofi. So i"
Margaret Crompton was a
workmanlike and sympa-
thetic study of the dyspeptic
but doughty Victorian nov
elist.
Alan Moorehead's "THE
WHITE NILE" Harper:
$3.50, a scrupulous and
beautifully written account
of African exploration in the
last century was in a class by
itself. Edgar Hollis history of
the Irish Rebellion. PRO
TEST IN ARMS" Coward
McCann; So, was excellent.
Short of War
"THE DEATH Ann WE
OF GREAT RICAN
CITIES" by Jacobs was per-
haps the most provocative
book on a subject short of
war that came out last year.
Mrs. Jacobs is a city-dweller
and a city-lover CT deeper.,
dye. Her book is an attack en-
the planners who wish to ls-
olate and homogenize hous-
ing without regard for the
deep human wish to huddle
together. Mrs. Jacobs writes
crisply, convincingly and
with a lack of the jargon that
afflicts the people she OPP
noses. the planners