ISSUE: Winter 1943
miniature, but it is executed by ft (lawless Stoma*. Knopf $2.00
WAR & PEACE Jheg Were Expendable, by W. L. White.
Told by members of MTB Squadron 3, Ihis account is one which can thrill because of the gallantry and courage of our lighting men, but one which can depress because the story of too little and too late is again repeated. Because wc arc a democracy, the mistakes of battle can k told, and here they arc told grimly, realistically. The defense of the Philippines, “America’s little Dunkirk,” is a tragedy which cannot be read with complacency, and the telling of it should end all false optimism and deliver a challenge to all Americans. Harcourt, Brace $2.00
Queen of the Flat-Tops, by Stanley Johnston.
As a result of his experience aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington during her last weeks, Mr. Johnston writes revcal-jngly and interestingly of the marvelously organized life on a great warship, of carrier functions and tactics, of the training and duties of the personnel, and not least of the lady Lex’s Pacific engagements: the first action at Bougainville, smashing the Japs at Lac and Snlamnun, destroying a Jap ffcet at Tuagi and the Coral Sea battle, from Misima to Tagula, until the ship is gutted by internal fires. As a reporter who has a background of naval and aerial knowledge, Mr. Johnston selects his events wisely and lets the facts and reports of eyewitness pilots speak for themselves. The facts evoke a vivid drama that makes memorable these pages of naval history and heroism.
Button $8
Lifelines of Victory, by Squadron Leader Murray Harris.
This sane and logical discussion of the importance of maintaining supply routes for our armed effort is the answer to those who wish an all-out offensive, even a premature one, without thinking of the probable effect. The control of communications, the routes by which oil, food, ammunition must be delivered, must remain in our hands. The war can be won only when such lines arc secure and when the
The
ATLANTIC VICTORY PRIZE
for 1943 $5000.00
is offered by the Atlantic Monthly Press in association with Little, Brown & Company for the most interesting non-fiction book-length manuscript having to do with the war or the peace that will follow it. Closing date, April 15. 1943.
l’oh circular giving complete details, address
ATLANTIC VICTORY CONTEST FOR 1943 8 Arlington St., Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
I’m doing my shopping in a bookstore
because BOOKS are the one thing everyone likes
Give them good books for Christmas, and you give them precious gifts they will always treasure. You’ll give yourself a shopping treat—for you’ll Hud book-shopping quick, easy, pleasant, There’s a right book for every person. Your bookseller will gladly help you select it.
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ix Axis’ lines are cut. Not until then can an offensive be launched which will succeed. The first step, Harris argues, is the reopening of the Mediterranean. Since his principles seem to be a part of the strategy of our command, this book reveals the value of a Fabian delay and is an encouraging commentary on our waging of the war. Putnam $2
A Layman’s Guide to Naval Strategy, by Bernard Brodie,
The average reader will do well to turn to this book for a clear account of the principles governing naval action and the facts and methods by which naval strategy is implemented. Sea power in modern war, command of the sea, the defense of shipping, land-sca operations, bases, the place of the airplane in naval warfare, the tactics of fleet action: these are some of the intricate background of naval strategy discussed by Mr. Brodie in full detail, yet with detail always subordinated to the basic aim of the discussion.
Princeton $2.50
Democratic Ideals and Reality, by Halford J. Mackinder.
Although first printed in 1919, this volume is still an excellent introduction to geopolitics. With convincing clarity the author demonstrates the relationship between geography and the strategy of war and peace. The chapters showing how the world’s geography has influenced both sea-power and land-power are alone worth the book’s price. Holt $2.50
Conditions of Peace, by Edward II. Carr.
No peaceful society is possible if government is to be dominated by business and bureaucracy, if economic life is to be motivated solely by profits, and if national loyalty continues to mean the old nationalism and self-determination. Rather than apply tottering doctrines to postwar Europe, the author recommends a European Planning Board which, necessary for immediate post-war reconstruction, may be expediently developed into a practical, permanent economic and political organization. Professor Carr’s analysis, although keen, realistic, and ex-
trcmcly clear, is perhaps weakened by his virtual ignoring of the Oriental peoples,
Macmillan $2.51}
Agenda for a Post-War World, by J, B Condliffe.
The emphasis of this book is on the economic measures that the United Nations must undertake if both they and the conquered hope to escape post-war chaos in trade, agriculture, and finance, Professor Condliffe indicates that some existing agencies may lay the foundation for “a politically hard but economically generous peace.” A careful, sane discussion by a scholar who sees the interdependence of politics and economics.
Norton $2.50
Permanent Revolution, by Sigmund Neumann.
The aims and impact of the totalitarian state are discussed in considerable detail, and the conflict between democracy and dictatorship growing out of weaknesses of the former, yet calling out its strength in opposition, is analyzed with great care. “In world politics it is nationalism that is on trial,” writes Dr. Neumann; “Within the nations the political institutions must be treated anew . . . the individual . . . will have to redefine his position in the community.” To survive, the democracies “must strike a balance on all three planes: international, national, and personal.” The book is aimed at all who are concerned in the conflict; the extensive bibliography at the end is intended primarily for the expert. Harper $$
BIOGRAPHY & HISTORY
Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic, by Matthew Joseph-son.
The author of “Zola and His Time” and “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” has added to his studies of French literary-political figures a detailed and painstaking biography of the giant of French literature. Hugo, from his Royalist boyhood in the Napoleonic era to his apotheosis as the great democrat and beloved Pere Hugo of the Third Republic, epitomizes the nineteenth New Books from
CHAPEL HILL
century—its romanticism, its political idealism, its amazing literary vitality. Mr, Josephson has attempted to cover nil phases of his stormy career. The long Juel with Napoleon III and the extraordinary fifty-year liaison with Juliette flrotiet arc given equal attention; the thunders of “I.cs Miserables” have not drowned out the delicate and beautiful poetry. The reader may grow impatient with the detailed explanation 0f the relationship between Madame Hugo and Saintc-Bcuve, with the long synopses of well known novels and deservedly forgotten plays, with the harping on Freudian psychology. But much new material has been woven into this hook, which will probably not soon be supplanted as the best biography in English of the “Great Romantic.” Doubleday, Doran $8.50
The Man Who Made News. A Biography of James Gordon Bennett, 1705-1872, by Oliver Carlson.
When the elder Bennett founded the New York Herald in 1835 he brought into being the first modern newspaper. He revolutionized American and British journalism by insisting that newspapers should be 7ic7twpapers. Bennett transformed them from drab journals of opinion into journals of information, dependent upon mass circulation and mass support, presenting the news as fully, as accurately, and as quickly as possible. For over three decades he was the best known, the most feared, mid the most hated editor in America. His Herald was the most sensational and sardonic newspaper in the world, and had the largest circulation. The “satanic” and unscrupulous Bennett was unsurpassed in a day of great editors for skill and daring iii gathering and printing news, for editorial independence, and for introducing innovations. Not only was he the father of “yellow journalism” but he was the first editor to employ the direct interview, the first to insist upon cash in advance for advertisements, the first to give financial news and stock-market reports, the first to give news summaries on the front page, the first to make full use of illustrations, and to have regular departments cover->ng sporting, theatrical, religious, and social news,
Mr. Carlson has written the first good
FREEDOM FORGOTTEN AND REMEMBERED
By HELMUT KUHN. Three advance readers report this by far thj best statement they have seen on the basic conditions leading to the war. A masterpiece of condensation and clarity, January 31. $2.00
THE BRIGHT PLAIN
By CHARLES EDWARD EATON. Sixty short lyric poems, of whose author Paul Green says, “he has a fine eye and ear and us fine a mind for an appraisement of the scene around htm.” December S.
$2.00
THE INTERNATIONAL STEEL CARTEL
By ERV1N P. HEXNER. A study of the Steel Cartel and Its economic implications, with special attention to American participation and to the influence of the ISC on international affairs. January 17. $6.00
HEINE IN ENGLAND
By STANTON L. WORMLEY. Heine in Eng. lish translation, in English criticism, in English informal opinion, and his influence on English poetry. January 23. $4.00
FRANCIS BACON ON COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC ADDRESS
By KARL R. WALLACE. Stressing Bacon’s view of Rhetoric’s peculiar function of “recommending reason to the imagination for the better moving of the will,” the author studies Bacon’s theory of communication and rhetoric as seen in his writings, both formal and informal. January 30. $5.00
THE LIFE OF JONATHAN M. BENNETT
By HARVEY M. RICE. The life and times of a .-.tan who was an active participant—lawyer, landowner, director of railroads and banks, politician, State Auditor of Virginia during the Civil War-in the growth of western Virginia, as It emerged from a pioneer agricultural section to full-grown, industrialized statehood, January 23. $3,50
ALABAMA FOLK PLAYS
By KATE PORTER LEWIS. Five one-act plays particularly adapted for Little Theatre, high school and college production. The third volume in The Carolina Playmaker Series, January 30. $2.50
The University of North Carolina Press
CHAPIL HILL, N. C.
biography of the amazing Bennett. It is an informed, well-balanced, and lively account of the Scottish immigrant who became the “Napoleon of the Press,” of the evolution of the modern newspaper, and of American life as reflected in the press from the days of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to Lincoln and President Grant.
Ducll, Sloan and Pearcc $3.50
This Was Cicero, by II. J. Haskell.
In this book the editor of the Kansas City Star presents Cicero the political!. The career of Rome’s first orator is shown against the events which saw the change from republic to monarchy. In readable, lively narrative we follow the rise of a “new man” to the highest office in the Roman state. Mr. Haskell is obviously familiar with the sources and literature of the period which he treats, but he interprets them from a fresh and personal point of view. Knopf $8,50
Thucydides, by John II. Finley, Jr.
The ancient Greeks had their Great World War and waged it for most of thirty years, until the side of enlightenment and democracy was beaten to the earth. They were fortunate in having a great historian to record the struggle. Mr. Finley has studied anew Thucydides against his background, his art as historian, his analysis of the motives which caused the war and of its progress. In clear, readable prose, without unduly stressing the parallels and with due attention to the differences between the 5th century B. C. and the 20th A. D., he sets forth the collapse of an imperial democracy which forgot the first principles of democracy.
Harvard $3.50
Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy, by Elting E. Morison.
“Reform in a democracy is a tedious business,” Mr. Morison declares, and this brilliant biography of William Sowden Sims would seem to prove it. Sims struggled to perfect target practice, to establish the convoy system, and to achieve a central high command in the Navy. Seldom succeeding in his requests, he led
tvii
a career bent on the improvement of out navy and was never discouraged bv apathy. The reforms he instituted to make our modern navy may have been a tedious business, but in this biographer’s hands they make interesting and pertinent reading. Houghton Mifflin §
Dr. Bard of Hyde Park, by J. Brett Lane-staff.
Pieced together chronologically here is a chronicle of one of the chief medical figures in early New York. One learns not only of Dr. Bard’s personal and professional life, but of medical training at Edinburgh, the founding of the medical school at King’s College, and early attempts to fight disease. There are, too, sidelights on conflicting loyalties in 1776, on schisms in science and religion, and on a multitude of tangential people. The crowd of personalities almost results in a source-book; indeed, the author provides a 44-page biographical index. Although somewhat stiff in style and naive in its interpretations, the work appears accurate as to fact and makes copious use of primary sources. Dutton $8.16
Builders of Latin America, by Watt StcM’art and Harold F. Peterson.
The biographical approach, used in “Builders of Latin America,” is always interesting and always popular, and any collection of life sketches is of value in teaching. Hence this group of 22 biographies, arranged more or less in chronological order and somewhat connected by context, might well serve as a text book for the teaching of Latin American history in high schools if not in colleges. The whole work forms a pleasing method of presenting the development of Latin American civilization. The volume is greatly enhanced in value by the excellent illustrations and by several maps.
Harper
No Royal Road. Luco Pacioli and his Times, by R. Emmett Taylor.
This biography of Luca Pacioli, the great Renaissance mathematician and close friend of Leonardo da Vinci, attempts to reconstruct once more the globus ye »rsoftliefi^tecntn century in Italy. The full career of Pacioli, which brought him into contact with many of
the gfeatoi!lis ^ay’ a^owstncautllor abundant opportunity to display his
knowledge of the times
A’orfVt Carolina $4
Storm Over the Land, by Carl Sandburg.
This “Profile of the Civil War,” taken mainly from the highly praised “Abraham Lincoln: The War Years,” is Mr. Sandburg’s story of the four years of struggle which ended in making these states truly united. The story itself is a complete one here, of the campaigns, the politics, the human weaknesses, the tears and the joys of all the people. It is a story of triumph and of despair: crowded as it is into these pages, it never lacks the necessary detail and it is powerful in its brevity. Many photographs by Brady arc published here for the first time. Harcourt, Brace $3.50
The Golden Age of Colonial Culture, by Thomas J. Wertenbakcr.
In the Anson G. Phelps lectures for 1942 at New York University, published under the above title, Professor Wertcn-baker has presented graphic sketches of the late colonial culture of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Williamsburg, and Charleston. Though the towns were small and the culture not too original, the basis of American civilization was largely laid in those times and places. The author regrets that the developments were not more democratic and American, hut he obviously considers them more interesting than later manifestations of these qualities. Concise and well written, the lectures will appeal to the general reader. Ne7v York University. $8
Zones of International Friction: The Great Lakes Frontier, Canada, The West hdies, India 17J,8-115Jh by Lawrence Henry Gipson.
This work represents the fifth volume in Mr. Gipson’s exhaustive study, “The British Empire before the American Revolution.” It maintains the high standards of scholarship and literary craft-manship that characterized the earlier volumes. Mr. Gipson has made a serious and successful effort to avoid the dry
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mi political and diplomatic treatment that is usually given this period of European history. He emphasizes social and economic conditions, and in this particular volume has much interesting information on the fur trade, the life of the Canadians, and the social and political structure of the American Indians. Knopf $5
Latin America. Its Place in World Life, by Samuel Guy Inman.
For nearly three decades Dr. Inman has been a close student, at first hand, of events in Latin America. This book, as well as its predecessor published in 1937, attests to his clear perception of the characteristics of the genus Latinoamericano. Hence his work is that of a mature student and a philosopher who is eminently able to interpret Latin American life to outsiders.
The author has presented a panorama of Latin American civilization from colonial days to the present, with special emphasis on racial backgrounds, character molds, social trends, economic progress, political development, foreign interference, and United States imperialism, Pan Americanism, and good neighborli-ness. Moreover, post-Pearl Harbor events in Latin America arc connected with world affairs. The author concludes that “the American Continent is one in its devotion to the ‘American way of life’ and in its determination to stand against despotism.”
This book might well be “must” rending for students of the contemporary scene in Latin America, whether or not they be inside or outside of the class room. A bibliographical essay, a list of “Important dates in Latin American history,” and a fair index add considerably to the vnlue of the volume.
Harcourt, Brace $3.76
POETRY
Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, by Wallace Stevens.
Divided into three sections, “It must be abstract,” “It must change,” “It must give pleasure,” this commentary on the
philosophy behind the creation of the “supreme fiction” weaves subtle variations on the themes. Mr. Stevens known for his piquant and puzzling verse is more articulate here than in some oi his other work, but this does not damage the inventiveness of his verse, the striking mosaics of his speech, or the keen parallelism of his imagery.
The Cummington Press $S
The Revolutionists, by Selden Rodman.
The second of three long poems on the destination of modern man, this blank verse drama of the rebellion of the Haitian slaves led by Toussaint Louvcrture is a study in the emotion of revolution: the first blow against a decaying order, the triumph of the clever over the sincere, and the final, fatal struggle among the revolutionists. For such a study the background of the Haitian revolution was well chosen; its events themselves arc dramatic enough. But to these Mr. Hodman adds subtle characterizations, confident verse, and a more than adequate knowledge of stagecraft. Illustrations by Rudolf von Ripper.
Ditcll, Sloan c} Pearce,
Sonnets to Orpheus, by Raincr Maria Rilke. Translated by M. D. Hester Morton.
“Our task,” wrote Rilke, “is so deeply and so passionately to impress upon ourselves this provisional and perishable earth, that its essential being will arise again ‘invisibly’ in us.” It was his own store of the “invisible,” accumulated through years of an almost unparalleled intensity of introversion, which he poured into his later poetry, the Duino Elegies and these magnificent sonnets. Mrs. Morton’s translation is admirable in its lucidity and accuracy but (perhaps wisely) makes no attempt to retain cither Rilke’s rhymes or the more subtle music of his rhythm and cadences, on which a good part of the meaning, not to say benuty, of his poetry relies. Fortunately, however, this edition prints the German on pages opposite the English.
Norton $2.50
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to
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(Continued in back advertising pages.) YOUR tj BOOK PROBLEM
Which New Books to Know About — Which to Buy — Which to Keep — Where to Find the Answers
Iet’s begin with some figures. In the eight-ten years since The Saturday Review of iterature was started, somewhere in the vi-finity of 117,000 books were published, fat year, you can add 7000 more books to that list. Not all, of course, are going to compete for popular acceptance or will even be offered to the general public. But there fill be enough to frighten anyone who feels tlatoneof the marks of an enlightened, well-informed person is his ability to know somc-(about books both new and old; to know ibat they stand for and the place they occupy in their fields; to know which ones of them it is important that he read.
For such a person, there is a world of ideas and intellect as well as a world of events and leadlines, and he has the background and perspective to see each in relation to the other, u well as in relation to himself. His interest in books is as genuine as it is unassuming; as balanced as it is exacting.
A book review medium is obviously his first and best aid. But even here he is likely to want a certain type of book review. He is suspicious of reviewers who try to “top” the authors; he doesn’t question the honesty of the average review, whether it appears in a newspaper or magazine, but he comes to ‘ecognize, after a while, which ones are as careful to warn the render about a book’s limitations and faults as they are to commend its virtues; he comes to know, too, which wiews he can count on for sound advice, »hich reviews give him the feel of what’s new Jn<l vital in the book world.
The Saturday Review attempts to address
itself to such a person. This is a pretty large order and we are not so foolish as to think that the magazine always succeeds in filling it. But that this is the purpose and direction of the SRL, there can be no doubt. Nor can there be any question about this: the magazine seeks out reviewers who represent the pick of the nation’s critical literary talent. These reviewers know that the one thing required of them above everything else is their honest opinions of the book before them.
But sifting out and reporting on books is not the only function of the SRL, although it must be emphasized that it is the basic one. The Saturday Review is also an organ of serious culture, approaching the other arts through books, in much the same way that L’Illustration, perhaps the leading periodical in pre-Vichy France, approached French culture through art. So that The Review, far from being one-sided, realizes that books are only a medium of expression in which all the other arts share,
Even more important, perhaps, is The Review’s conception of its role in a world at war. It would be easy for The Review to fool itself into thinking that literature for literature’s sake is enough. But such an ivory tower pose is as foolish as it is futile. Literature must be related to events. That means emphasizing in articles and reviews those books which capture the spirit of the times and help readers to understand the times.
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A Wreath of Christmas Poems.
An old and still pleasant idea is exemplified in this collection of nineteen poems on the theme of Christ’s birth. The authors run in time from Virgil to Phyllis McGinley; but, as might be expected, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance contribute more than the moderns in number and substance. This little volume is delightful to look at and would make a really charming gift for Christmas. Nexv Directions $1
Bells and Grass, by Walter de la Mare.
These poems are typically de la Mare, although they are not all first class examples of the poet’s fey and whimsical gifts. In an Introduction delving back into his early poetic past, Mr. de la Mare hints that these are poems for the young, whatever their age in birthdays may be. But they are, as usual, for the subtle and enigmatic child-in-mind rather than for the crude and boisterous. The illustrations and end papers, drawn by Dorothy Lathrop, are charming. Viking $2.50
Natalie Maisie and PavilastuJcay, by John Masefield.
Two idealistic narrative poems by England’s laureate make up this book. One is a love story laid in the Russia of Peter the Great, with the plot mainly based on that monarch’s legendary bullish temperament; the other recounts the thoughts and emotions of a rather hazy Englishman wandering as one of a group of tourists through the remains of a lost civilization.
Macmillan $2.50
LITERARY STUDIES
The Globe Playhouse: Its Design and Equipment, by John Cranford Adams.
There is no other physical circumstance that has more to do with the intelligent interpretation of an Elizabethan play than the nature of the playhouse in which it was presented. A formidable amount of careful research went into the writing of Sir Edmund Chambers’ large volumes and the monographs by J. Q. Adams, W. J. Lawrence, and others. It
xviii
remained true that no clear and satisfying explanation had been given that met all the conditions to explain the presentation of a Shakespeare play in the Globe Theatre. John C. Adams in “The Globe Playhouse” has reconstructed every detail of that wooden O with such minute study of architectural and legal evidence and with such convincing logic in fitting the structure to the requirements of the stage directions of the plays that if last words were ever written, this should he the last word at the sign of “Hercules and his load.” Even when not completely convinced, the reader feels safe in surrendering his imagination for a working reconstruction of the plays to Mr. Adams, confident that a specialist who has reasoned so well on so much is as likely, in any minor matter, to be right as the next one. Illustrations and designs are good and the author knows bow to make intricate details interesting. The most modest Shakespearean library should include “The Globe Playhouse.” Harvard $
The Starlit Dome, by G. Wilson Knight.
In the present group of essays Professor Knight, known for his imaginative interpretation of Shakespeare, employs his very personal technique of “symbolistic translation” on the four great Romantic poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats. The very sensitively realized insights which result are often thrilling and at all times provocative. The author’s pages look as of old—crowded with an intimidating plethora of quotations and line references. Oxford $4.1)0
The One Wordsworth, by Mary E. Butler.
A perhaps too fervent defense of the character and poetic genius of the later Wordsworth, made from a study of the revisions of “The Prelude.” In chapters dealing with such matters as the poet’s improvement of the diction of his great autobiographical poem and his emendations of its redundancies, the author seeks first and last to prove the older Wordsworth “a vastly better poet than his younger self.” ” North Carolina $S Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, edited by E. de Selincourt.
It is the fashion in some circles today to exaggerate Dorothy Wordsworth’s literary gifts, in direct opposition to her own opinion of them. The reader who wishes to draw his own conclusions can find no better place than this nearly complete edition of the “Journals,” which presents more fully than any previous volume those diaries and accounts of tours and excursions which Dorothy wrote for a public, although an extremely limited one. Besides displaying her literary ability, the “Journals” show with clarity the poet’s life in particular and domestic life in general in early nineteenth century England. The illustrations and the maps, especially, deserve an extra note of praise.
Macmillan $10
The Death of the Moth and Other Essays, by Virginia Woolf.
Had the granting of one boon been promised to the lovers of Virginia Woolf’s books, it is to be guessed that those who prized her most woidd have chosen a novel that could be put beside “To the Lighthouse.” Yet in the long test of time it is probable that more readers would call for a third “Common Reader.” In the collection of twenty-eight papers garnered since her death to make the volume “The Death of the Moth” the total impression is not of such rounded perfection as distinguished “the Common Reader” and “The Second Common Reader.” A few of the pieces seem ephemeral. Others are exquisite— Virginia Woolf at her best. “The Historian and ‘The Gibbon,’ ” and the three reviews of Henry James, for example, remind us that the great tradition of the essay was not dead while Virginia Woolf lived. Though most of these papers were written for magazine publication and many as reviews, the book will prove one of the most durable of Virginia Woolf’s publications. And, as she says of Henry James’ “The Middle Years,” if she could have chosen, her last words “would have been like these, words of recollection and of love.” Harcourt, Brace $3
Virginia Woolf, by David Daiches. Mr. Daiches, has understanding and
imagination. He has not impaled the I butterfly upon a pin, but he has traced with 1 insight the pattern of its gossamer wings For the reader of Virginia Woolf’s novels who wishes to have them placed in relation to each other, or who desires to see their subtler meanings made clearer by tactful analysis, this is an invaluable book.
New Directions $1,50 1
Virginia Woolf, by E. M. Forster. i
Of Mr. Forster’s novels, Virginia Woolf 1
wrote, “We feel that something has failed ’
us at the critical moment.” Of Virginia 1
Woolf, Mr. Forster says, “Life eternal she I
could seldom give.” In “Virginia Woolf” ’
this essay of forty pages (originally a I
Cambridge lecture), the author of “As- 1
peets of the Novel” (perhaps the best 1
book on the modern novel) has paid tribute >
to the woman and her books. The hooks ’
he likens to “a row of little silver cups.” ’
Some readers will find this brief volume 1
more delightful as a Forster essay than , enlightening as an evaluation of Virginia Woolf. Harcourt, Brace <jl
i
‘Thomas Mann’s World, by Joseph Gerard i
Rrcnnan. i
A helpful but unprofound and not very I original inquiry into the art and philosophy 1 of Thomas Mann, deriving chiefly from ’ “The Magic Mountain” and works pre- : ceding it. In spite of the fact that this 1 book makes no pretense at being a complete study of Mann, one finds recurrent 1 reason to regret that its author should have ’ chosen to avoid nearly the whole problem of the. Joseph epic—a masterpiece which, although unfinished, is certainly clear J enough in its outlines, substance, and ’ technique to have its place in any discussion of Mann’s work. Columbia $2.50 j
i
On Native Grounds. An Interpretation j of Modern American Prose Literature, by I Alfred Kazin. !
This excellent book, parts of which ap- I poured first in the Virginia Quarterly Rc- « view, proclaims its young author a vigor- ’ ous critical intelligence to be reckoned with I now and in years to come. In pages of exuberant judgment, sure erudition, and I spacious perspective, novelists, historians, d critics of the last few decades are dealt 3th not only as figures in the literary history of our time hut also, as Mr. Kazin ’ Jics as forces in our moral history. 15 ’ Regnal anil Hitchcock $8.75
fcopleof l‘oros, by Peter Gray.
Poros i » “n island across the Saronic Gulf from Athens. This hook tells of the author’s return to the island after an absence, of his hilarious welcome by his old friends and of his life there for some Ivro years. Greek fishermen and sailors and their women folk move through its s. By his sympathy and insight and through his expressive prose, Mr. Gray jives us a glimpse of the people who make up the little nation which dared to stand up against the Nazi war-machine, of their joys and sorrows, of the dee]) sense of a tradition which links them with a remote past, against the background of Greek sea and mountains. Whittlesey House $8
The Mediterranean, by Kmil Ludwig.
“This is not a travel book,” the author need hardly say; “it is nature and history as I see them.” And it is with Wellsiaii assiduity that Ludwig tackles his largest ob yet—the life story of the Mediterranean, “the Helen among oceans,” and all the civilizations that have flourished on its shores. Although this work Jacks the novelty of form and substance of “The .Vile,” it is written in the familiar Ludwig manner (“putting the human element in the foreground”), and thus should have its appeal for many. Whittlesey House $3.75
Virginia Is a State of Mind, by Virginia Moore.
Miss Moore lias carefully stitched a patchwork quilt of famous figures and incidents, personal reminiscences, poetic geography, and simple folks to interpret the intangible qualities of Virginia. The state’s brilliant, soft, and dull colors are worked into the pattern side by side against a background of character and individualism shown in the lives of Virginia’s great and little in fame. A detailed index draws together the informal collection of information about places, people, and history.
Button $3
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cam The Days of Ofelia, by Gertrude Diamant.
The author went to Mexico to determine the I. Q. of the Otomf Indians, but she found out more than that. For her extraordinary maid, the ten year old Ofelia, introduced her to the vital, elemental Mexican life: in place of a sociological study of or a guide book to Mexico, we have a faithful human document of the people whose whole spirit Gertrude Diamant has read. “The Days of Ofelia,” rich in the atmosphere of that strange, tropical nation that is our neighbor, is a too intimate description of an important people to be overlooked by any American reader. Illustrations by John O’Hara Cosgravc II.
Houghton, Mifflin $2.76
The Turning Point, by Klaus Mann.
Thomas Mann’s son, who has lived thirty-five years in this century, writes his autobiography as a restrained study of a post-war generation plunged into another catastrophe. Valuable as it is for its portrait of the Mann family, for its keen criticism of modern writers, for its intimate impressions of celebrities, and for its vivid observations on continental and American life, it is far more valuable as a pronouncement against barbarism by a sensitive and gifted writer who believes that his testimony, as every testimony, means much in these days of crisis. Fischer $3
The Weald of Youth, by Siegfried Sas-soon.
This excursion in autobiography is a continuation of “The Old Century”: recreated here is the period in Sassoon’s life from his first publication in a “real” magazine to England’s entrance into the first World War, 1909 to 1914. The England of this time is filled with steeple-chasing, cricket, and hunting, and Sassoon lived the romantic life he described in his character George Sherston. A charming quality of peace and restfulness, coupled with intimate glances of Englishmen of letters, make this a varied and interesting book. Viking $2.76
Van Loon’s IAves, by Hendrik Willcm Van Loon.
Many authors, including William Haa-
litt, have ventured to choose from the b> mous dead those whom they would have liked to know; but no one save Mr. Van Loon has had the temerity to entertain them at dinner, with food, music, and conversation chosen to suit each guest. The guests range from “the greatest inventor of all time,” the primitive man who first made a knife, to Thomas Jefferson and Erasmus. Their behavior and their ideas run the same gamut, and provide Mr. Van Loon with a delightful if not chronological history of the growth of man’s mind and ideals. Simon $ Schuster $3,U
The Walter Clinton Jackson F.ssays, edited by Vera Largent.
This volume of essays in the social sciences attains a high level of excellence, Breadth of interest, timeliness, sound scholarship, and originality characterize such contributions as “the Definition of the General Will” by John A. Clark, “Scientific Method and Democratic Procedure” by Elizabeth Duffy, “Psychology, Social Science, and Democracy” by Wilton P. Chase, “Napoleon and Hitler: Ncv Order and Grand Design” by Eugene E. Pfnff, “The Colonial Status of the South” by Benjamin B. Kendrick, and “Impressment during the American Revolution” by Elizabeth Cometti. ‘The editorial work of Miss Vera Largent reflects credit upon the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, the fiftieth anniversary of which this volume memorializes.
North Carolina $
Men at War, edited with an introduction, by Ernest Hemingway.
This collection of stories, accounts, and narratives has been selected with the prime intention of giving a true picture of men at war. Timely in its conception and informative as well as entertaining, this anthology draws on noted writers from Xenophon to Lawrence of Arabia and includes stories or descriptions of almost every great historical conflict from the fall of Troy and the battle of Jericho to the evacuation of Dunkirk and the victory
at Midway. Crown $S
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