davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1962-02-11

she neither believes nor un-
derstands.
Monsieur Brenner, the
school teacher, appreciates
the boys abilities and ar
ranges that he go to college.
During the summer when he
is 13 years old he meets En-
lille, the sister of a school
mate, and establishes an
equivocal relationship which
brings him the only happi-
ness of his life. But Emile
deserts him and he is thrown
back on himself and on Mon
Sieur Brenner. When we last
see him he is writing his old
teacher: "One is not damned
after death; one is already
damned in this life. . To-
day I realized all my weak
ness and l had a great desire
to revert to childhood. I have
been so wrong about myself!
All I have is the strength to
hate, the strength of pride:
the other, the strength and
the patience for love, I no
longer have. Life is a lie"
Miss Blais' book is incon-
elusive, and perhaps she her
self has never come to grips
with the question of what
makes her hero tick. But if
"Tete- Blanche" Is not a very
good book, the somber sim
plicity of its style gives
promise of better to come.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Books of the Current Week in Brief Review

lot Law Whyte. "a Double
day Anchor; 95 cents.)
Antedating the great psy-
chiatrist. Reprint.
PARADISE LOST. And
Other Poems. BY John
Milton. GA Mentor Book,
New American Library; rs
centS.) The greatest epic
poem in the English Ian
guage; newly annotated
with a biographical intro
duction by Edward LIE
Comte.
7 Emmy SON. BY Harold
Nicolson. GA Doubleday
Anchor; $1.25D A life por-
trait. Reprint.
MAX WEBER. BY Reinhard
Bendix. CA Doubleday An
chor; $1.45.) A portrait of
the intellectual. Reprint.
Evening star., 1962-02-11

kind; they are primarily
about people, and when
their author turns to his own
past he finds that what in
terests him most are the
hundreds of personalities he
has known. His early practice
in friendship was in his
birthplace, Brooklyn, and
then at Columbia University
where he knew Hart Crane
and Kenneth Burke and
John Erskine, and was thus
well prepared for Paris in the
early days after the First
World War, where there was a
concentration Of artistic Gre
alton probably not equaled
since the days of 10Th CEN
tury Weimar or Elizabethan
London. From the memories
of his youth he has drawn a
stream of anecdotage that
will delight any reader who
likes a well-concocted mixture
of wit, scandal and bizarrerie.
Evening star., 1962-02-11

whether he has been to Arim-
athea, but if he has spent
only five minutes there he
undoubtedly has at least one
first-hand story to tell about
Joseph.
In his large canvas of
painters, poets, musicians, and
various other artistic types,
there is often very little to
show who are the surrealists
and who the other mortals.
Eluard and Ernst rub shoul-
ders with Hemingway and
Henry Miller, and though the
last = named is labeled an
American surrealist," there
is little attempt to discover
the essence of the powerful
movement or to discuss the
works of art it produced.
AS a writer, Mr.. Josephson's
great success has been in BIZ
ography. His lives of Stendhal,
Rousseu and Zola are out
standing works Of their
Evening star., 1962-02-11

Pamela Frankau, who has
written some witty novels in
her day. although not lately.
tells how she does it in PEN
TO PAPER CHarper; SO go.
It is not a "how-to" book at
all. Technique" says the
author flatly of the novelist,
"is the tool of his trade TO be
acquired only by years of
hard work. No creative
writing course can give him
that"
Rather 1t is an engaging
combination of shop-talk and
autobiography which the
general reader curious to
analyze the anatomy of his
entertainment, can enjoy.
This inveterate novel-reader
found most interesting Miss
Frankau's description of the
rough" and smooth" drafts
the one a catch-all, the
other a laborious recapitula-
ton, all by hand.
Occasionally Miss Frankau
Evening star., 1962-02-11

cludes a sampling of the
earlier COLLECTED POEMS,
two complete volumes: LIKE
A BULWARK and o, TO BE
A DRAGON, and a number
of translations from THE
FABLES OF LA FONTAINE.
But there are also new and
otherwise uncollected poems
that provide a prospect of
undiminished vitality to cap
the retrospective brilliance of
half a century's work.
A survey of this accom-
plishment will substantiate
Randall Jarrell's testimony
that Miss Moore is "the
greatest living woman poet. "
But there is no treacle and
verbena Of the "poetess"
about her. She shares Eliot's
distaste for poetizing and
strives at every turn for
poetry, with nothing poetic
about it, poetry standing
naked in its bare bones, or
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Mr.. Gluskin Lets
Australia Down
THE LAND THAT SLEEPS

THE LAND THAT SLEEPS.
By G. M. Glaskin. Double
day & Co.; $4.95.)
Australia's desolate West
has survived fire. drought and
storm, and doubtless will sur
vive Mr.. Glaskin's treatment,
too.
Still, it is unfortunate that
an area so beautiful and for
bidding-and so potentially
productive-should be dealt
with so specifically.
Mr.. Glaskin's account of
his motor trip through this
area, about the size of the
American West, is OCCASION
ally entertaining. In the
end, however, he abandons
the travelogue and clumsily
plugs for development of the
areas resources-quite a diff
ferent story.
All in all, it Is a disap-
pointing book about a coun-
try that deserves far better.
WILLIAM MacDOUGALL,
Evening star., 1962-02-11
District Author
Writes Riotous
First Novel
THE BOMB IN THE ATTIC.
By Jacob Hay. CMacmil-
Ian. S2 Q5l

THE BOMB IN THE ATTIC.
By Jacob Hay. (Macmil-
Ian; $3.50
Friends of Jake Hay-and
there is a loyal army Of
them among Washington and
Baltimore journalists-are
familiar with his gift for
fantasy.
After a couple of Gibsons,
Mr.. Hays accents often
lapsed with hilarious effect
into British establishment,
Japanese houseboy or Prus-
sian junker, depending on his
mood. Hiding behind a
bristling auburn mustache
and horn-rimmed spectacles,
wearing a genuine leather
beret of the Northumberland
F'usilierS, the author was a
startling figure at the Ma
tional Geographic Society
and the BIO, where he
formerly held writing jobs.
1.-THE Bomb in the Attic"
written abroad this year, is
his first novel. It demon
strates how enjoyable such
fantasies can be when cast
into prose. The plot is a
Rabelaisian account of a
Washington writer, Frederick
Lazenby, who stores a
friends luggage upstairs only
to learn in horror that it
containS the finest collection
of pornography this side of
Port Said. His adventures
trying to dispose of the
bomb" fill 81 chapters.
Mr.. Hay is a kind of
Evening star., 1962-02-11

group of novels about this
century which will be called
"The Human Predicament."
"The Fox in the Attic"
while it embraces a number
of characters and situations,
is essentially a tale of two
countries between the wars.
The principal character, a
winning Englishman, who,
like the author, has a way
with children, is the innocent
abroad in a Germany gone
mad on grievance, initiation,
chaos and a monstrous, swol-
len national pride.
Augustine had expected to
die on the battlefield with
the rest of his generation.
Reprieved, he hardly knows
what to do with himself. He
becomes the squire of a
bleak Welsh domain, an
exercise which closes abrupt
ly when a little girl is found
dead on his acres and he is
accused by the vindictive vii
layers of her murder.
He decides to travel in
Germany and visit distant
relatives. ClueleSs, babbling
Augustine has no idea CT the
maelstrom around him. His
careless dispensing of a 10
shilling note imperils the
whole economy of Munich.
The hotel clerk to whom he
gives it is a passionate young
Nazi who goes out with his
Sodality every week end
drawn by the silence and
purity of the ancient Ger
Evening star., 1962-02-11

passive and receptive" In
this book Mr.. Gollwitzer
delves deeply into drawing
surfaces and into artists
materials, but more i'm
portant he tries to train
the eye and teach self
discipline.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHIT
TIER. BY Lewis Leary;
WILLIAM ELLERY CHAN
MING. BY Arthur w.
Brown; EDWARD TAY-
LOR. BY Norman S.
Grabo; JOHN DOS PAS
SOS. BY John H. Wrenn;
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS.
BY Signi L. Falk. (Twayne;
$3.50 each.) Twayne'S
United States Authors"
series.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Mr.. Fuentes
Does Fine
New Novel
THE GOOD CONSCIENCE.
By Carlos Fuentes. (Ivan
Obolensky, Inc; $685.

Ss4 @So = e~~4AV~Ss N@FsN3A
Obolensky, Inc; $3.50
Carlos Fuentes is the most
promising Of the new Mexi-
can novelists. His first novel,
Where the Air Is Clear"
spoke for a group of Mexicans
in an arresting and original
voice.
His second novel is even
better. It is more compact,
more concentrated in devel-
oping its characters and
ideas. There is a spare power
in it that few of our wordier
novels have.
1.-THE Good Conscience"
deals with a family in the
provincial mountain town of
Guanajuato, capital of the
state Of Guanajuato. This is
not only one of the most
colorful of Mexico's colonial
towns, but symbolizes for the
author a whole way of life,
quite different from that of,
say, Mexico City. We are
concerned with the Ceballos
family, an upper-crust clan
which is traced briefly from
its earliest days of transition
from Spain more than 100
years ago.
The contemporary genera
ton is wealthy, by Mexican
standards. Don Joge Bal
carcel, who has married into
the family, is its present
head and dictator. A man of
political and social influence,
he is a hypocrite, anti
clerical because it is politi-
cally popular, going to church
because it pleases certain
others. His wife Is subservient
and his brother-in-law, per-
Suaded to abandon his lower
class wife, is a weakling. It
is with this brother-in-law's
son, Jaime Ceballos, with
whom we are mostly con-
cerned. We see him grow
from boyhood into a troubled
adolescence, intelligent, torn
between the injustice done
his mother, his forbidden
friendship with an Indian
boy and domination Of his
self righteous uncle. who
runs the boys life without a
protest from his Intellectual
father.
It is small wonder that
at II Jaime is almost a
psychopath. However, he sur
renders to his uncle, decides
to forget his, Jaime's ideas
of social justice and decency,
and carry on the family
name and fortune. The boy
hopes somehow to compro-
mise his life and still not
relinquiSh all his ideals.
Jaime inspires sympathy
from the first. There is,
however, one episode at the
close Of the book in which
the youth does a senselessly
sadistic thing quite out Of
keeping with his character.
This purposeless deed came
near forfeiting my sympathy
for him. I can only wonder
why the author brought it in.
Mr.. Fuentes, the son of a
Mexican diplomat, studied
law at the University of Mex
leo and the University of
Geneva, but turned to writ
ing for his career. It was
a fortunate choice.
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
PAPERBACKS

HEGEL ON TRACE Y.
Edited with an introduction
by Anne and Henry Pao-
lucci. "a Doubleday An
chor; $1.45D A reprint.
THE NEWCOMERS. BY
Oscar Handlin. CA Double
day Anchor; $1.25.) A re-
print of one of the best
monographs on the racial
problem in America.
THE NECESSITY OF
CHOICE. By Henry A.
Kissinger. "a Doubleday
Anchor; $1.45.) The pros
poets of American foreign
policy.
THE UNCONSCIOUS BE-
FORE FREUD. BY Lance
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Aimed Her Son
For Priesthood
MINERS HILL. BY Michael
O'MalleY. (Harper: $4.9h.l

MINERS HILL. BY Michael
O'Malley. (Harper; $4.95.(
Young Patrick Riley's ado
lescent life is dominated by
his mothers overwhelming
determination that he must
become a priest. (The priest
hood as status symbol in the
eyes of ambitious Irish
American mothers is a tick
lish problem in life as well
as in literature.) The author,
who sounds as though he has
lived through it all person.
ally, or at least observed it
at close quarters, skillfully
captures the lads confusion
of mind and the substandard
framework Of his life in a
depressed mining town. You
can almost smell the stale
cabbage. This is a vividly de-
signed first novel.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
THE FORAGERS. BY Ben
Haas. (Simon and Schus-
ter. 81 5fl

1ftE FOhAGEkS. by Ben
Haas. (Simon and Schus-
ter. $4.50.)
During the closing months
of the Civil War, one of the
last and most agonizing &C
tivities of the Confederate
Army was foraging duty. 1t
involved stripping to the last
crumb and bone whatever
dwindling reserves of food
and livestock might remain to
the starving civilian popula-
tion. Captain Marshall
Wales, embittered by a Dear
John" letter from his wife,
enforces his grim duty on a
Virginia farm and its two
women occupants. The story
is one Of unrelieved tragedy
but it is a story well told in
a first novel Of undeniable
power.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
PLAYING WITH INFINITY,

PLAYING WITH INFINITY.
BY Rosa Peter. (Simon &
Schuster; $4.950
The large number of books
published in recent years
whose purpose is to explain
the beauties of mathematics
to the layman is evidence
that this fundamental sci
ence is enjoying an upre-
cedented popularity. Ten
years ago. I, as an amateur,
had at least a passing ac-
quaintance with most of the
books in this field, and could
give an opinion of their rela-
tive merits. Today the ex-
tent of the literature makes
comparison more difficult,
but I suspect that Prof.
Rosa Peters playing With
Infinity" is one of the most
successful treatises on num-
bers that the non-professional
can open, and read perhaps
for instruction but certainly
for enjoyment.
Prof. Peter, who teaches
mathematics at the EotvoS
Lorand University in Buda-
pest, undertakes in her book
(Which appeared originally
in 1943 and now is trans
lated into English for the
first time) to explain num-
bers to intellectually mind
ed people who are not math-
ematicians. It is written for
men of literature. of art, of
the humanities. I have re-
ceived a great deal from the
arts, she says, land would
now like in my turn to pre-
sent mathematics - and let
everyone see that mathemat-
les and the arts are not so
different from one another"
1t is quite true-as nearly
demonstrable as anything in
aesthetics-that the pleasure
the mind and the senses de-
rive from the unfolding of a
mathematical thought is
closely allied, even identical,
to that experienced by hear
ing music, seeing pictures, or
reading poetry. I imagine it
comes from the suspension
of disbelief, as what is known
alternates with little sur
prises, in much the same way
that a melody is attractive
because notes we expect are
followed by those quite un-
expected.
Prof. Peters discipline is
to explain mathematics en-
tirely without the use of for
mulas, the tools of the pro-
fessional. She starts with
that great creation of man
kind, the series of numbers,
which she believes may have
originated not with the prac-
tical purpose of counting
sheep or family but as a
game, as sheer play, and car
ries the story through to the
abstruse reasoning of Goe-
Evening star., 1962-02-11
FICTION

A SIGNAL VICTORY. BY
David Stacton. pantheon;
$3.95D Based on an event
in 18th century history,
the novel tells the story
of Guerrero, a young ship
wrecked Spanish sailor,
who narrowly escapes
death and finally finds
refuge and a new way of
life among the Maya in
Yucatan.
THE DYNASTY. BY Charles
Knickerbocker. Double
day; $4.50) A novel about
a powerful family of doc
tors who dominate their
sector of the profession and
Of the idealistic young
physician who challenges
the domination OF the clan.
LOVE IS ENOUGH. BY Sis
ter Miriam, RSM. CDevin
Adair; $500 New and
selected poems. Sister Mir
Jams poems have appeared
in America, " ave Maria"
"The Catholic World" and
many others.
BARBARA. By Wayne Robin
son. doubleday; $4.500 A
novel about death and sur
vival in tank combat.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
BOOKS IN REVIEW
EARLY SurreoIism:
A Remembrance
BY DAY THORPE
Star Book Critic

LIFE AMONG THE SURREALISTS, a Memoir by Matthew
Josephson (Holt Rinehart & Winston; $6.)
From 1920 to $780, Matthew Josephson lived in Paris
during the birth and the Towering Of the sreast
ment. He knew them ALL all the who striking
through the cardboard mask Of reaty-Soupaut Sate,
Sten Tzara Grosz, Aragon and E. E. Cummings In fact
in the present book of memoirs which has its locale not
only Paris but also Brooklyn Greenwich Village and the
Maine woods the most remarkable characteristic Of Joseph
son the astonishing ability to meet the maximum number
Of lusrous people with the minimum effort do not know
Evening star., 1962-02-11

Jonathan Winters in print,
but unfortunately he got
his needle stuck in a broken
record. His cast becomes rid
died with pornography COL
lectors, including Lazenby's
secretary, editor, and lawyer.
Despite this flaw, Mr.. Hay
will probably be courted by
publishers from here on out.
He has learned his craft well.
With a little more control,
he may yet have a BERTHE
Wooster or even a Walter
NIFTY in him.
TRUMAN r. TEMPLE.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
TO BE REVIEWED

Reviews Of the following books
will oppeor on the editorial poee
of The Stor this week:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" by John
D. Mortz. University Of North Caro-
lima Press.)
WEDNESDAY Strange Peo-
pIe." by Fronk Edwords. lyle
Stuort.)
FRlDAY-"The Nature Of Notu-
roI History" by Morston Botes.
tScribner's.)
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Pamela Frunkou Brings You:
To Her Writing I able ,

falls into a kind of heavy
whimsy-she calls her writer's
integrity Nanny" for in-.
stance-and some pages are
clogged with the fearful cnat-
tiness of the English school,
girl. Generally, however, it
is a lively and rewarding
excursion to the noveliSt's
Writing-table.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
FROM THE STORYTELLERS
TwoFirst Novels Lead
Lively Fiction List

of life, has enough sense to
realize that the fascinating
art dealer. Lucas Webb, does
not love her for herself alone.
What's on Lucas wicked,
steel-trap mind? If you are
interested either in lost Rem
brandt's, or in first-class
storytelling, or in both, don't
miss this superior novel about
high, middle and low-level
hanky-panky in the art busi-
ness.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
GEN ERAL
B ND THE URAL
MOUNTAINS. The Adven-

ND THE URAL
MOUNTAINS. The Adven-
lures of a Siberian Hunter.
BY Ivan Aramilev. (Rand
McNally; $4.95.) In English
translation for the first
time, these are the best
works of the widely read
Siberian writer.
THE ESSENTIAL OF ZEN
BUDDHISM. Edited by
Bernard Phillips. (Dutton;
$7.50.0 An anthology of the
writings of Daisetz T.
Suzuki arranged to present
as connected a treatment
of the subject as possible.
THE IRREVERSIBLE DECI-
SION 1939-195O. BY Robert
Bachelor. (H oughton-
Mifflin; So An analysis
of the events which shaped
the decision to use the
atomic bomb-and a plea
for a new ethic to guide
the political and military
decisions of the nuclear age.
EARTH: The Stuff of Life.
By Firman E. Bear. (Uni-
versity of Okla h o m a;
$3.95) The primary pur-
pose of this book is to
bring the beneficence of
nature into focus, as it was
when man took over, as it
is now, and as it could be
if nature were more fully
understood and aided by
man.
THE JOY OF DRAWING: A
Course for the Willing Be-
ginner. BY Gerald Coll
witzer. (Sterling; $2.500
Everyone should draw,
make music, write and
work creatively," says the
author. "These are the
things people need in to-
days world in which al
most everyone is merely
Evening star., 1962-02-11
MARIANNE MOORE

READER. Viking Press;
$685.
POETRY"
I, too, dislike 1t: there are
things that are important
all this fiddle.
Reading it, however, tDith a
perfect contempt for it, one
diScoUerS in
it after all a place for the
genuine.
This volume is certain to
captivate the uninitiated and
seduce them into the ever
enlarging circle of charmed
Mariannesques. Here is an
abundance of Miss Moore's
unique verse and bolstering
prose. which she has clearly
selected with what Robert
Frost calls passionate pref
erence."
The verse gathering in
Evening star., 1962-02-11
READING AND WRITING
Mr.. Hughes Novel
Is Truly ToLstoyon
BY MARY McGRORY
Star Staff Writer

Anyone who has forgotten how compelling the novel can
be readily be reminded by reading of The Fox in the
Attic" arper $450) The work of silent Richard
Hughes, author of "A High Wind in jamaica establishes
from the first paragraph arbitrary that only an
old master achieve.
The word "Tostoyan" has already been applied in Mr.
Hughes native England and for once it is not too much
1t is, happily, told in foreWord, the first in
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Lost Rembrundts
And Wasted Love

NIGHTWATCH. BY Nicolette
Devas. (Harcourt, Brace;
$4.50.)
Florence Atkinson, broke,
lonely, and absolutely unable
to cope with the exigencies
Evening star., 1962-02-11
What Robert Frost Calls Poetry
Selected in Passionate Preference

so transparent that in
reading it we are intent on
what the poem points at and
not on the poetry"
The Handy Horse"
She points unabashedly-
and always at things, from
a steeplejack to the Brook.
lyn Dodgers in the realm of
man; her bizarre bestiary
houses an exotic pangolin,
but there is also a stall for
that handy horse" Tom
Fool. -
Why an inordinate interest
In animals and athletes?
They are subjects for art
and eremplars of it, are
they not? minding their
oDn business. PangolinS,
hornbills, pitchers, catch.
erS, do not pry or prey-or
prolong the conversation.
Miss Moore is profoundly
aware Of T. E. Hulme's pre-
cept that language should
endeavor to arrest you, and
to make you continuously
see a physical thing, and
prevent your gliding through
an abstract process"
To this end she risks every
logical strategem, every lin
guistic and prosodic device.
The product is a rich and
incisive gallimaufry, to which
she appends the most fasci-
mating footnotes in the busi-
ness, documenting her intel
lectual experience and crazy
quilt reading: Nor is it valid
to discriminate against 'busi-
ness documents and school
books; all these phenomena
are important.
With Steel Wool
From the least likely mate
rials, always willing to be
reckless" she fashions pieces
paradoxically domestic and
baroque, tough and impas-
stoned, faulty disciplined
and freehand. Her enterprise
suggests my Aunt Annie's
tatting anti macasSarS of
string. Give Miss Moore 300
lbs. of steel wool and she
could knit you a kitchen
range, no less ornate or sub
picted on a can Of stove
black.
The critical essays, lee
lures, book reviews and gen.
eral articles included are of
a piece with the verse. They
exude Humility, Concentra-
ton, and Gusto," those lit
erary virtues she extols in
others. The galvanic tension
eXerted by her mania for
straight writing" against her
"circuitous approach to
plants, animals, or places" "
in the prose as in the poetry,
characterizeS her "idiolect, +"
Harry Levin's coinage signi-
flying "the language of a
speaker or writer who has
an infection Of his own"
A Dimension
This singular voice be-
speaks her photogenic image,
as she sits in a typical pose,
Staunchly wearing a tricorn
and a Continental Army
cape, for all the world like
Paul Revere-another metic-
ulous and exuberant crafts
man.
The present collection also
comprises a frank and
Illuminating interview with
Donald Hall and, happily
Miss Moore's delectable cor
reSpondence with the Ford
Motor Company, undertaken
in an abortive effort to name
what became the late-la-
mented Edsel.
For her penetrating IN
Slgnt DaSed on acute obSer-
vation, her practical wisdom,
and her gentle craft Miss
Moore is herself a dimension
of American letters, the
measure of which this volume
is a tantalizing hint.
One quibble: a recent New
Yorker poem testifies to a
transfer of fealty. Bereft of
"Messrs. Aston and Reese, "
she now rides the bandwagon
across Brooklyn Bridge to
that "adastrium," Yankee
Stadium. o, tempora, o,
moreS!
PHILIP HERZBRUN.
Evening star., 1962-02-11
Thr Sunhay Star
WEEKLY BOOK SURVEY

The Sunday Star has arranged ,uith some
of the leading book sellers of Washington
and suburban areas to report each ,ueek
the books Dhich sell best as guide to
,ohat Washington is reading. The num-
bers represent the rank of each book
among best sellers at the store named.
For Week Ending February 9, 1862