davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1962-08-26
so Years AGO

Since France was about to
name a new President so
years ago, The Star of Au-
gust 25, 1912, told Of the de-
lightful "chore" the new chief
executives wife faced in fur
nishing the French white
House" - the Palace Of the
ElySee: "She has an extraor-
dinary shopping opportunity.
Mere riches could not find
it. Where is money to buy q
bureau that belonged to Du-
barry. a dressing table made
for Nine. de Pompadour, tap
estrieS that hung in the bed
room of Mazarin, clocks from
Louis XVI's own collection, a
dressing mirror m a de for
Marie Antoinette, or
Louis XIV armchairS that Jo-
Sephine thought too old-fash-
ioned to be sent to Mall
maison? Each President
has the right to throw out
the furniture used by his
predecessor and refurnish
the palace in antiques of his
wife's choosing. 1t costs no
one not even the French
governmental single franc.
The shopping is done in a
vast decorative arts museum,
the French National Garde
Meuble, one time the kings
and now the republics fur
niture storehouse, that con-
tains an extraordinary over
flow of precious objects for
merly belonging to kings,
princes and great fam
lilies. :"
n olLIlPlc CcL LctIIOIly uldI hcU
the opening of then new
Army and Navy Club at Sew
enteenth and I streets NV.
so years ago. The Star of
August 10. 1912, said a
bugler from the 18th Cav
airy at Fort Myer, stood on
the steps of the old club
house across the street and
sounded taps" then crossed
the street to the new build
ing and blew "reveille," while
some 300 members Of the
club stood with barred heads.
Evening star., 1962-08-26
Southwest Breeze

Robert Charlick,
Evening star., 1962-05-27
IN FICTION
With q Tope Recorder
Under Each Ear

tence is convenient, as we'll
as awesome, because she has
to keep track Of seven law
yers. six wives, eight secre-
taS1es. one client and a mixed
bag of relatives and friends.
Every one of them emergeS
as a complete and distin-
guishable personality. Even
the very minor characters
are not allowed to waste
their space. CT'his must be
the short story editor at work
in the authorD An obnoxious
young lawyer who is being
wooed by the firm appears
only once but he makes a
lasting impression when,
upon meeting the hero, he
gives "his pink, well-mani-
cured hand as though it were
an expensive little present"
Babette Rosmond is a nov
elist of wit. perception and
great technical skill. It
would be most satisfactory TO
see this book replace some of
the slush that currently
adorns the beSt-seller list.
RUTH HUME.
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Power Complex
Lies Exposed

Richard H. Rovere, the
Washington correspondent OF
the New Yorker Magazine
has provided the Capitol with
enough dinner-table chatter
for months with his essay on
THE AMERICAN ESTAB-
LISHMENT," the title piece
in a new collection. (Har-
court, Brace 81 World; $4.950
In it, he has fear1essly ex-
posed the real power COM
plex. or true in-group Of
American life without regard
to race. religion or political
standing.
Here is one daring line:
Though he now and then
gets an audience in the White
House. Billy Graham is per-
soma non grata in Establish
ment circles. Bishop Fulton
j. Sheen is regarded as a
Catholic Billy Graham and
is similarly a pariah."
Mr.. Rovere has done some
thing more dangerous than
to list the members OF the
Establishment; he lists the
nonmembers. They include
Lyndon johnson, Richard
Nixon and j. Edgar Hoover.
Even Khrushchev. Mr.. Ro-
we're contends. faces "the
facts Of Establishment life"
Other entries in the book
are less provocative but
equally pentrating. Mr.. Ro-
we're is particularly illuminat-
ing on the subject of Sher-
man Adams, and is the first
in this writer's experience,
to explain convincingly. Mr..
Adams fatal friendship with
Bernard Goldfine. There are
also sophisticated and know
ing examinations Of such
subjects as Arthur Vanden-
berg. Wendell Willkie and
THE Conscience Of Arthur
Miller" all Of them going to
prove that Mr.. Rovere Is a
writer who can also think.
Evening star., 1962-05-27

THE LAWYERS. BY Babette
Rosmond. (Walker g. Co.;
$3.95.)
You remember the one
about the preacher who kept
telling the congregation, do
as I say. not as l dol" We'll.
editors who are also authors
sometimes have the same
problem. But not Babette
RoSynond, the fiction editor
of a popular magazine and
the author Of a really first
class new novel about life in
a distinguished New York
law firm.
THE Lawyers" is Miss Hos
mond's fifth novel. Her
performance is impeccable
on all counts, and her pow
ers of characterization are
not only brilliant but occa-
sionally terrifying. 1t is per-
fectly obvious that the girl
has been going around for
years with a Hi-Fi tape re-
corder tucked away in each
ear. Her ability to nail down
a character in half a SEN
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Shipboord
Yarn Sails
OffCourse
ALWAYS GO FIRST CLASS.

By Laurence Marks. IRAN
dom House; $685.
Always Go First Class"
tries to give an amusing inside
look at the life and times of
the crews aboard the pas
Senger liners and, at the same
time, to follow the fortunes
of a young man as he tries
to find his place in the world.
Unfortunately, both the book
and its hero are dull and
unconvincing. At first the
Sordid lives and filthy living
conditions of the crew men,
bers have a certain gruesome
fascination. But soon the
readers taste is dulled, and
the continued description of
the same ugly scenes becomes
more disgusting than reveal
ing.
To some extent the book is
a successful expose of ship
board life. The cynical ex-
ploitation of the passengers
at one point a dining room
steward sells wine dregS as a
rare vintage-is enough to
give even the seasoned trav-
eller second thoughts. And
perhaps customs men had
better start checking crews
more carefully because, ac-
cording 10 this book, every
thing from pornagraphic
movies to refrigeratorS is
Smuggled in wholesale lots.
The very extent of this i'm
morality, however, makes it
quite hard to take seriously.
In attempting to make an
interesting, believable CEN
trail character out of Ronnie
Grant the book fails badly.
This unpleasant, weak-willed
young man is neither virtu-
Gus enough to earn our ad-
miration nor evil enough to
excite our respect. He is a
small-time chisler who, from
time to time, tries to break
away from the vicious routine
that is his life.
At the end of the book
Ronnie makes a major effort
to leave the sea and to lead
a good life. Typically. though.
he gets into a poker game for
lack of something to do and
loses all his money. Presum-
ably it is his last chance.
and now he will have to spend
the rest of his life in drudg-
cry and petty theft on board
ship. But who cares?
This book is intended as
a piece of humor with serious
overtones; instead it is a piece
of dullnesS with a serious
monotone.
CHRISTOPHER
UNDERHILL.
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Stories of Unusual
Rdnge and Power
LABYRINTHs: Selected Sto.

LABYRINTHS: Selected StO-
ries and Other Writings. BY
Jorge Luis Borges. Edited
by Donald A. Yates and
James E. Irby. Preface by
Andre Maurois. New Di-
rectionS: $500
Jorge Luis Borges, an Ar
gentinian writer, was known
to English speaking readers
only through periodicals be-
fore publication of this book.
Whatever the identifying
characteristics of an Argen-
tine writer may be, I doubt
that they are conspicuous in
Borges, for he seems to be
firmly in the Anglo European
tradition. His affinity to
Kafka and Valery is evident,
and he processes his admira-
ton for H. G.. Wells, though
it will take a Wellsian more
thorough than I to discover
similarities. In his early years
Borges wrote poetry; his ma
ture work is exclusively in
the form of very short pieces,
either highly compressed
short stories or equally con-
centrated essays.
The short stories in this
collection are overwhelmingly
Kafkesque, If I may use a
term which is in danger of
becoming dulled by overuse.
The situation is typically sim
pie and told on the realistic
level with the eyewitness
brilliance of the ideal. but
seldom realized, newspaper
story. The ramifications of
the situation are accretionS
that pervade the mind and
sensibilities of the reader al
most without his being aware
of them, and finally the am
biguities and the impossible
tiles grip the reader like life
itself. All this is after the
manner of Kafka c'The Lot
terry of Babylon" for exam
pie, could readily be mistaken
for a newly discovered piece
by that writer, but Borges
differs from the earlier writer
in that while in Kafka the
vocabulary and Syntax are
always extremely simple and
a word never has any mean
ing except the ordinary one
of the market place, with
10rges language is skillfully
Evening star., 1962-05-27

Patrick J. Kennedy of East
Boston. He was twice elected
Mayor of Boston and once to
Congress.
Top Billing
He spent himself for many
years in futile struggle with
his nemesis. James Michael
Curley. He was no match
for the incorrigible James
Michael, who almost steals
this story away from him.
He forgave his rival count
less times. and humbled him.
self to make friends. Not so
his grandson. AS a member
of Congress John F. Kennedy
refused to sign a petition for
the pardon of James Michael,
who was in Federal prison.
John F. Fitzgerald would
have been incapable Of such
unpolitical hardheartedness.
Mr.. Cutters book is best
when he gives running &C
counts of running political
battles when no holds we're
barred. John F. was q kindly
man himself. but he was
aware of the more squalid as
poets of the time. He may
have impaired a few pointers
on campaigning to his grand
son. but none Of his political
philosophy. which seems to
have been to live for the
moment and take what you
can get.
Evening star., 1962-05-27

a passion for completeness.
Pre-eminent among the re-
cent enterprises of this sort
is the Princeton edition of
the jefferson papers. The
editors of the Madison pa
pers, william T. Hutchinson
of the University of Chicago,
and William M. E. Rachal of
the Virginia Historical So
ciety, have modelled their
project on the jefferson
work. If the first volume of
their endeavor may be taken
as an indication of things to
come, they will have succeed
ed remarkably well.
The Madison one meets in
this volume is not the man
most familiar to casual read
ers of American history. The
papers cover the period ISL
1873, ending when Madison
was % years old and a newly
elected delegate to the Con-
tinental Congress. Already
experienced as a member
of the Virginia General
Assembly, he was on the
verge of a brilliant political
career. Drawn into the mael-
Strom of politics by extraoT-
binary circumstances and not
by a natural bent, the young
Madison one finds here Suf-
fered from extensive periods
of ill health and repeatedly
expressed his longing for
books and intellectual pur-
suits.
Among the first political
topics to excite his interest
was the persecution of dis
senting religious sectS in Vir-
ginia. Giving full vent to his
emotions, he wrote to one
friend of pride, ignorance
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Poet, Diplomat,
Mexican Author
Seems at Odds
THE LABYRINTH or SOLI.

TUDE. BY OctaVlo PaZ.
Grove Press; $3.50
Why has the land South
of the Border exerted such
fascination for so many
Americans? In 1880 Kathe-
rine Anne Porter blossomed
with joy in Mexico City when
her first book of stories ap-
peared in print. Since that
day when the sun shone
brightly on Miss Porter's
"Flowering Judas" other
Americans have wandered
through the streets of old
Mexico and found something
there quite distinct.
Octavio Paz, who happens
to be a poet and a diplomat
(in Mexico such combinations
are possible) puts his finger
on Mexico's peculiar distinc-
ton her solitude. He
evokes that solitude when he
draws a verbal picture of the
Mexican under the great
stone night of the high pla-
teau." a picture quite differ
ent from an abstract world
of machines, fellow citizens
and moral precepts" (his
summary of our Northern
world.
Another difference traced
by Mr.. Paz between the two
worlds is that while Ameri-
cans love fairy tales and
detective stories," Mexicans
love myths and legends"
One can almost imagine him
running his fingers through
his dark hair and telling us
that Americans believe in
hygiene, health work"
but perhaps you have never
experienced the 10y. which
is an intoxication, a whirl-
wind"
But perhaps, he has not
known us all.
-INNA UHLIG.
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Setting Could Be
Washington, or
Any Other Town
WEST OF WASHINGTON

NESI Of WASHINGION.
BY Holmes Alexander.
Fleet Publishing Corp;
S4.95.)
Washington has no more
to do with the story or Mr..
AleXander's novel than the
Wood near Athens had to do
with William Shakespeare
"Midsummer's Night Dream.
His tale is simply that of a
well-to-do family of nearby
Virginia cit could have been
British Columbia for all the
difference it makeS which is
rent asunder by the death of
the patriarch and the subse-
quent scramble for his pelf.
The villain of the piece is
a grown-up spoiled brat
named Dennison Lancaster,
a large wheel in the business
office of a newspaper called
the Washington Standard.
Mr.. Alexander considers this
a publication one is likely to
recognize but I must confess
no bells rang for me.
The avaricious Dennison
rewrites wills as other people
adjust bank balances, bedevils
meeker relatives, plays a mig
Cling part with the servants.
makes lecherous advances to-
ward his sister-in-law and,
in the end, attempts to bring
about the demise Of his para
lyzed mother.
He is a most convincing
heel, obviously talented for
this sort of enterprise, but I
can't imagine who he is sup
posed to be. 1t would be
libel to identify him If l
could but I can't.
Mr.. Alexander has the
grace to see to 1t that every
one is taken care Of amply in
the end and 1t is an inter-
esting book. But why Wash
ington?
JERRY O'LEARY, JR.
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Poetry Has
ALonguoge
OF Its Own
THE LANGUAGE POETS

THE LANGUAGE POETS
USE. BY Winifred No
wottny. (Oxford University
Press: S5.75D
Winifred Nowottny's The
Language Poets Use" is really
the hardbound findings of an
investigation as to what it
is that makes the language
of poetry poetic"
A lecturer in English, at
University College, London.
Mrs. Nowottny is also a crit
ic. And she is at her best
and most enlightening on
meaning" in poetry when
she is specific and analytical
breaking down the poetic
structures of Dylan Thomas
or Alexander Pope to prove
what eventually is her point.
After 222 pages it is inn
pressed upon the reader that
Syntax is the groundwork OF
the poets art" 1t is basically
sentence structure. the rela-
tionship of words, that makes
language poetic.
1t is only when Mrs. No
wottny begins to generalize
that she is in trouble and so
is the reader left thrashing
through such thoughts as:
ITO put a distributed
pause in the forepart of a
line creates a rhythmical in
clination towards distribution
of emphasis in what comes
after, since a line not orga-
niZed as a whole balancing
about a main caeSura) tends
to find its metrical equilib-
rum by an internal balance
achieved within that seq
ment of the line which must
counterpoise the distributed
emphasis with which the line
opens"
N. A. STEERS.
Evening star., 1962-05-27
Describes Effect
Of Experimental
Druq, LSD25
MY SELF AND l. BY Con-
stance A. Newland. Cow
ard-McCann. S495)

MY SELF AND 1. BY Con-
stance A. Newland. Cow
ard-McCann; $4.95D
Mrs. Newland's is a battle
against frigidity suffered by
one-third of Americas mar
ried women. according to
Kinsey) with insomnia, a
fear of dentists and a nerv-
Gus tic thrown in. Her weap-
on, which lifts this autobio-
graphical account out of the
ordinary, is a new and eX-
perimental hallucinator. ly-
sergio acid diethylamide rs.
LSD-25 induces a dream
like state while the patient is
awake and aware. This re-
sembles the world of the
schizophrenic. At times, it
seems a vast stage peopled
with colors and living geo.
metric forms.
The author is not so con-
else as Aldous Huxley, who
in Heaven and He'll" de-
scribes the drugged state as
looking on a new creation"
But Mrs. Newland's descrip-
tions are strong:
THE cold was so real. So
very real that I heard winds
roaring about me. Wild winds.
Somehow I was caught up
in the very vortex of a
whirlwind growing smaller
and smaller microscopic
E. as if all the space within
the atoms of me had been
swept away in the wind.
"(Now) I was in a great
whirling water rather a
lovely sensation, being drawn
into the depths Of this dark
dark ocean I looked
curiously around the ocean
floor to see if I could find
myself. I could and did.
"One closed-up clam, alone,
at the bottom of the sea-"
Through visions like this,
Mrs. Newland finds she is
unconsciously a murderer, a
pervert. a cannibal, a sadist
and a masochiSt.
The Freudian shapes taken
by her visions, insights and
what may or may not be
childhood memories, appear
at first glance as full proof
of Freud's theories. But, as
Mrs. Newland points out, she
was versed in these theories
before the LSD-25 sessions
began. Thus it is natural
that her visions generally fol-
low the Freudian party line.
WILLIAM GRIGG.
Evening star., 1962-05-27

artificial, and often words
acquire their power through
genealogical or obsolescent
meanings. mo one saw him
disembark in the unanimous
night" for example, where
the adjective means, quite
literally, "of one mind"
Time is a central preoccu-
patton with Borges. For him
time does not flow like a
river, it is stationary and
objectified. Zeno's paradox of
Achilles and the tortoise fas-
cinates him, as it does every
body who can be shocked by
the irresistible clash of in
controvertible reason and no
less incontrovertible expert
ence.
1t is hard to know what
story to mention first, among
a congregation Of so high a
level of excellence. There is
the land of Tlon, humanity
created by scholars subsi-
died by a millionaire who
wants to prove that not only
God can make a universal
vigorously consistent and
plausible land in which If two
persons are searching for a
single lost pencil, each can
find it separately and inde-
pendently, since material is
created by the conception of
it in the mind. There is the
story (my favorite, I believe)
of the man who wanted to
re = create Don Quixote, I"
without copying the book, by
subjecting himself to every
influence that touched Ger
vantes. The "Quixote" he
writes is identical with the
earlier book in every letter
and comma, but it is an en-
tirely new book, for the words
of the goth century have diff
ferent implications and i'm
pinge on different minds
than those of the 18th. "It
is a revelation" writes
Borges, Ito compare Me-
nard's Don Quixote' with
Cervantes'. The latter, for
example, wrote :"
But l will leave to the
reader of "Labyrinths" the
discovery of Borges' antago-
nistic literary criticisms Of
two identical texts.
Evening star., 1962-05-27

fessor at Wordsmith College.
Is constructed on three emo
tional and intellectual levels.
IN style and purpose it re-
minds the reader at once of
the "Spectra" of Witter
Bynner. and also, in the cool
precision of its diction, its
proclivity for Interviewing
sundry quotations into the
text, and its considerable re-
lance on annexation, it re-
calls Eliot's THE Waste
Land" Secondly, like all ma
jor poetry of our time, it
tends to be autobiography
cal. We are shown the hidden
life Of a great man-great,
but hidden, alive, one might
say, only as the recreator of
what he himself has begot-
ten. Finally, it is the story
OF Charles Xavier, the last
King of the country of Zem-
bla, and the 1858 revolution
in that brave little northern
state which saw one of the
last bastions of monarchy
taken over by the neo-Marx-
ist Extremist Party.
= +
Zembla is a country of ex-
aggerate6 mores, the social
inclinations of which can be
seen from the fact that in it
sexual perversion is confined
to "heteros." In this topsy-
turvy land, Charles, the
young King tborn in 1915
the action of the poem takes
place in 1958-9) is a thought
full, intelligent, and patriotic
idealist who on several occa-
sionS does his best to con-
tinue the royal line. His diff
ficulties are compounded by
the military inSurrectionists,
who, in a successful COUP
d'et1t, seize the throne and
incarcerate the King. With
the help Of a youthful actor
OF the Royal Theater, Charles
escapes and flees into exile.
His flight is abetted by all
loyal male Zemblans who,
taking advantage Of the fact
that every Zemblan with a
beard looks like every other
Zemblan. disguise themselves
identically-to the consterna-
ton and complete confusion
of the secret police.
Charles in his flight is fol-
lowed by the would-be regi-
eide Jakob Gradus. the most
inept murderer in the history
of international crime. He
is habitually unable to hit
his target with a revolver
fired point blank, a queasy
stomach makes him search
out a mems room at the cru
Cial moment of his revolu-
tionary career, and he can
neither decypher correctly
code messages sent him by
headquarters nor transmit
his own information intelli-
gibly. In a sad tale of the
death of kings, Gradus is a
laugh.
Charles eventually arrives
In America, having, tempo
rarily at least shaken off his
nemesis. The scene shifts to
Wordsmith College, where the
Poet John Shade is rounding
off his epic poem, and where
we are introduced to DR..
Charles Kinbote, professor of
zemblan language and lit
erature. DR.. Kinbote is a
close personal friend of Shade,
Evening star., 1962-05-27

whom he loves as a man and
venerateS as an artist. He
has told him the story of
eXiled Charles Xavier and
imbued him with the history
and the national character
istics of Zembla. In the mas
ter's greatest poem, Pale
Fire zembla will have it's
monument and its epitaph.
The poem, as it turns out,
is completed only a few min
utes before the poets un-
timely death. 1t falls to DR..
Kinbote. naturally enough, to
edit, annotate, and publish
the chef d'oeuvre.
When he first examines
the manuscript he is bitterly
disappointed. He feels him.
self betrayed, for at first
glance there is no mention
of zembla, Charles, or Jakob
Gradus in the lines. Careful
study, however, discovers in
allusion and allegory the tale
he has told his friend, made
universal in the crucible of
art. Exegisis, it is evedent, is
absolutely necessary to the
public appreciation of a poem
so yelled in its utterance that
even the source of its story
does not at first recognize
the plot. 1t cannot be truth
fully assevered that the notes
to Pale Fire" are without
Importance, and every reader
will be grateful to DR.. Kinbote
(that is, to Mr.. Nabokov)
for supplying them.
These notes are in no re-
Spect more remarkable than
in treating a tale essentially
tragic they manage to pre-
serve a spark of humor. In
deed, now and then the read
er smiles wiStfully at all
other times he is laughing
uproariously. Every aspect of
zembla, implicit in the poem,
is made explicit in the notes
and in the exhaustive index
which is far more than a
dry compilation of facts.
While it is true, alas, that to
explain the very greatest po-
etry is always to risk crush
ing the flower and dissipat-
ing its fragrance, in the pres
ent case the reader will be
impelled to reconstruct the
perfection of the poem by
re-reading it after having as
simulated the commentary.
Mr.. Nabokov himself suggests
tearing out the pages of po-
etry and pasting them to the
margins of the pages of per-
tinent exegesis. or, better yet,
buying two copies of the book
which can be read simulta-
neously.
I refrain from recounting
the eventual fate of the prin-
cipal characters. and I admit
to an intentional omission of
the blazing catalyst that Wv
ifies Charles Xavier and the
commentator. I believe Mr..
Nabokov would approve of
my reticence, and know the
reader will applaud it.
With Pale Fire" added to
"Pnin" and Lolita" Mr.. Ma
bokov has proved that not
only is he Americas most
original and versatile novel;
ist, but that he is also our
most dependable. "Nabokov"
has become a trademark that
stands for quality.