Evening Star Newspaper, October 26, 1930, Page 101

THE REDLAKES. By Prancis Brett Young, author of *“My Brother Jona'han,” ete. New York: Harper & Brothers. T is coming to appear as if there is & conecert of purpose among novelists writing of England and English life. As if this were the hour to gather into some degree of effective permanency certain aspects of that life which are passing definitely into the backgrow®d of the past, into history. It is a commonplace, nowadays, t0 find the best of the British novelists deliberaie= ly moving into the foreground that which for- merly served as mere setting to the romances of their making. In other words, the older Eng- land becomes the real hero of the story. The dominant character of the tale is English life itself, standing deep-rooted in an immemorial pasi—yet with a shade of ques‘ion and dubiety in its fronting upon the future. To be sure, upon the surface men and women come and go, absorbed in one or another of the tremen- dous human tions. These serve. in part, in make the story itself go, to make it move forward tly to the wishes of the average reader. In larger part, however, even these are projected as illuminants and remind- ers of English tradition and outlock, of custom set deep in its soil, of habits bred therefrom for stability and endurance and an honorable national life. Galsworthy, Sheila-Kaye Smith, Maugham, Bennett, Wells and another and another of the considerable English writers are engaged in per= petuating & passing era by way of fiction. Among these is this new novcl by Francis Brett Young. A big, encompassing story, gath- ering up half a hundred characters without skimping one of them. Gathering up primarily, however, an England dimming, slightly, before the glare of the new world, of a new England that is & shade raucously crowding to the front. This immediate aspect of England—the raw upon the the rezl protagonist here of a surpassingly fine story. Th2 soil, the sea, the countryside, the youthful sports and pleasures, the lusty grip upon life generally, the orders of society, with a scruplous attention to each of these—all come together to make Eng- land the chief character in the drama. Oid, wise, ripe, rich, powerful, a pattern for the world—England. But a story iIn order to qualify as such must be individual and human in both virtues and errancies. And here is the siory, the top one, carrying forward Jim Redlake—baby and boy and youth and man—upon the tide of English affairs that passed Jim on into the World War. any sense. That, a world climax, in which Jim counted but one. Not part of the story, that. Rather of the matter lie in the slower years of Jim'’s youth, when he was grow- ing up after the rules and fashions of the age- him. long life around Titled folks close to him, including him often in the ritual of their ex- istence. An honorable middle-class family around him, a professional family. insuring for Jim the benefits of English schooling, and just beneath—but most beloved by Jim—the lesser folks who probably thanked God that they were servitors iIn so grand a land. A social to-do of eeremony was the chief medium of this boy’s contact with the world. Young love pro- vides not only a striking romance, but it pro- jects also a beautiful and believable siren of detestable quality. There is so much to this novel, so much of it, that without overstate- ment it may be said to deliver England over into the hands of the reader. A smooth and plausible effect, as a whole, rises out of the author’s clear art of marshaling and arrang- ing that which he sees so clearly and sees down wn depths. A very rich book, whether you count it as reading enjoyment or whether you look upon it as, in spirit, the history of a period that is now passing into something dif- ferent, certainly into something deeply prob- lematical. A long, long novel. Some tell us that now- adays there is mo place for the greatly extended story. They say that the tempo is all wrong, marching not with the present, but with a de- partzd leisure. I think I've felt that way, too. But not in respeet to “The Redlakes,” however. For here is a great nmovel—big from every angle of conception and projection. Engrossing throughout in its vital substance and in the beauty of its companionship. CERTAIN PEOPLE. By Edith Wharton, author of “The Age of Innocence,” etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co. HALP a dozen short stories by Edith Wharton. ‘Weird on the one hand, less other-worldly uncanny on the other, these tales sum to a body of ironic artistry for the entertainment of the reader. Their sardonic turn appears to issue from deep sources of knowledge concerning the human. The artistry is, of course, part and parcel of Mrs. Wharton's Spartan training of her powers to the most exacting demand of art. Every one of these stories is padded and up- holstered In such richmess, in such fitness, as only an indefatigable student and a workman of most exclusive training could command. It is a joy to wander through the wealth, the sheer wealth, provided here. Whether it is London that makes the demand for its own peculiar setting, or an ancient classic pile on the Medi- terranean coast, or & wide spread of the Arabign desert, or whether it is any other spot, you may be sure that you will be able to find no flaw with its least detail. A working conscierfce, thrift and sheer art have made the fabrica- tions of Mrs. Wharton fit for the permanence of galleries and museums. From this point of perfection alone it is excitement and adventure to read this writer's romances. Reading these six stories, all bitter with either the pathos of life or with its cruelty and gencral distrust, one is reminded of that really great story by Edith Wharton, that really great and satanic New Eng- land invention—or was it invention?—-“Ethan Frome.” A masterpiece of its kind. A horrible recital, grim as fate. These stories, too, these aix, shade off from that early triumph of THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 26, 1930. % 1DA_GILPER N[V _MYER./ Another English Writer Engages in Recording a Passing Era—The Newest Work of Francis Brett Young—Other Late Books. Francis Brett Young, whose newest novel, “The Redlakes,” has just been published. literary art in varying degrees of distrust toward life, on the one hand, and in vague outstretching toward something, just a step pe- yond life, on the other. Great work. Nobody can refute such a statement. Truth? Maybe so0, the most of it. Hateful truth, in the main, nevertheless. But so magnificently offered from the very summit of the Mount of Ireny itself. A YACHT IN MEDITERRANEAN SEAS. By Isabel Anderson, LL. D, Litt. D., author of “Circling Africa,” etc. Illustrated. Boston: Marshall Jones Co. R!AD‘IRS. pretty generally, are now coming to expect the open hand of giving from this particular seafarer. To their pleasure and clearly to their profit hosts have already sailed around two continents with Mrs. Larz Anderson. By the book way, to be sure, yet in a vivid partaking of real adventure. This cruise is a shorter one than the two others. A richer one, as well. From Venice down the Adriatic, eastward into the Acgean, finally westward to Leghorn—and the sailing ends. A voyage classic in spirit, pagan in effecT, reminiscent of cld school studies and enamored readings of gods and goddesses in their curi- ously terrestrial concerns and entanglements. Little corners of the Mediterranean expand (o individual seas in a litany of melodious names— Ionian, Acgean, Thracian, Marmora, and so on and so on. Shore excursions re-envisage the Olympian games, reimpress the Delphic oracle into utterances for the passing man and mo- ment, reconstruct the battle of a thousand ships launched by one woman's lovely face—oh, what tales are these, rich and honeyed blend of fact and legend and pure myth! A rather glamor- ous expedition, this Summer sailing of the Saycnara in the Mediterranean seas. And yet—just as is the way with all of Mrs. Andersen’s accountings—this is clear and definite and orderly, as if the adventure were no more than crossing from America to Eng- land or France. And by virtue of such treat- ment there is a curiously contemporanzous effect to all of this classic beating-of ancient waters. Sane, practical, efficient—such is the summing of true adventure by, this writer for the uses of the general reader. Such is habitu-. ally the stamp of her recordings for the ben:fit of the rest of us. Contributing to that purpose is a lavish layout of pictures. A map, in itself a picture, points and objectifies the route itself. An “Epi-Log” gives further definite information —sailings, distances, hours, arrivals, and so on, in a complete budget of specific information. A communicable adventure, passing over to the reader in an effect of really going along, of Yeing an actual part of it. - AMERICAN SHORT STORIES: The Nine- teenth Century. Introduction by John Cour- nos. Everymian's Library. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Tms book of short stories by American writers of the last century serves a dcuble purpose. First, and most important, it offers good entertainment to hundreds of readers in search of exactly that. And next, it provides the student with a survey of the growth of the short story in this country. A survey marking the likenesses of their common parentage and pointing at the same time to the diversities of their individual art. Most of these writers are, by name at least, familiar to the average. Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Stockton, James, Cable, Jack London, O. Henry. Among those not quite so generally known are Ambrose Bierce, “A Horseman of - Notes of Art and Artists. Continued from Eighteenth Page still life subject, “The Peacock Fan,” more finished, perhaps, than any of the other works shown—interesting in color and arrangement, skillful in rendering of surface textures. Of the three landscapes included in this collection especial interest attaches to that entitled “The Jungfrau,” in which the artist is seen in rather a different vein, and which gives promise of still greater achievement in this field. sts HATTIE E. BURDETTE has recently returned from Lexington, Va., where, com- missioned by the Sons of Colonial Wars, she has made a copy of a three-quarter-length por- trait of Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, which belongs to Washington and Lee Univer- sity. ‘This portrait, which was painted in 1772, and for which Washington gave Peale sittings, at one time hung in Mount Vernon. Later it was transferred to Arlington, the home of the Lees, and through the generosity of a descend- ant of the Lees it passed into the possession of the college at Lexington. It represents Washington as a comparatively young man, in the picturesque British colonial uniform—black cloth with red waistcoat and gold trimmings. He is shown wearing the mili- tary cocked hat, a standing pose, with a land- scape background. The color is rich and beau- tifully modulated, thz detail exquisitely ren- dered, but without overemphasis. The portrait has been ordered as a gift to Arlington, which, as is well known, is being at the presenp time restored to the aspect of a stately home. Miss Burdetie spent three weeks in Lexington executing the work and has pro- duced a copy which has not only the semblance but the spirit of the original—a notable achieve- ment, upon which she, as well as those who commissioned the copy, are to be congratulated. ISS ADA RAINEY, art editor of the Wash- ington Post, will give a series of five talks on pictures at local galleries—the Corcoran Gal- lery of Art, the Freer Gallery, the Phillips Memorial Gallery and the National Gallery—on successive Saturday mornings at half-past 10, beginning November 1. These talks, according to the formal announcement, will be simple, clear, yet intelligently explanatory of the princi- ples of art as illustrated by the paintings, sculpture and varicus treasures in the galleries. ‘They will be given as the group in attendance passes from gallery (o gallery and in the pres- ence of the works. Tickets can be obtained from Miss Rainey, 2101 New Hampshire avenue. Washington is behind other cities in the opportunities it affords for guidance in art study. It is an interesting thing that a series of lectures of this sort, much needed here, should, apparently in response to demand, be self-organized rather than instituticnally spon- sored. Al exhibition of paintings and drawings by James A. Porter, instructor in painting, department of art, Howard University, was placed on view in the University Art Gallery October 16, to remain through Sunday, Novem- ber 2, inclusive. The exhibit consists of 10 paintings and 22 drawings, the latter, with one or two except.ons, portrait studies. James A. Porter studied at Howard University under Prof. J. V. Herring and later at the Art Stndents’ League, New York, under Dimitri Romanofsky. It is extremely suitable that a collection of his works should be one of the first exhibits of the season. ‘This exhibition is open to the public on Sat- urdays from 8:30 am. to 12:30 p.m., on other week days from 8:30 am. to 5 pm. and on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. It should prove of interest mot only to the students at Howard University, but to all who are thoughtfully fol- lowing the development and achievement of Negroes in the arts. FRANK J. MacKENZIE has returned to his studio, 1517 H street northwest, after having completed his contract for the Los Angeles Museum for the designing and painting of 16 African habitat groups, also an African water- hole group. The last is supposed to be the largest group of the kind in the world, being 40 feet deep, 80 feet across and 30 feet high, con- taining 33 animals. Miss Florence L. Bryant, who has her studio at the same address, has during the last Sum- mer completed some reproductions for the Los Angeles Museum and other commissions there and in Canada. Miss Bryant is perhaps best known for her excellent portrait studies in pencil. AN exhibition of etchings and pencil sketches of wild flowers by Minnie E. Briggs of this city will open this afternoon with a tea from 4 to 6 in the studio of the League of American Pen Women, 1706 L street. A feature of this exhibition will be a series of etchings in color of wild roses, the American national flower. ACOOA the Sky,” and Herman Melville, “The Town- ho's’ Story.” Al unite in offering the picked company of finely substantial literature. In an introduction to this volume John Cournos says many new and striking things about the short story in this country. The most outstanding among these is that the American short story derives immediately from the spirit and purpose and content of the American pewspaper in its country-wide dis- tribution. And that both of the¢se, story and news-sheet, are rooted in the democratic char- acter of the people and their government. Sounds believable, doesn’t it? From this ecom- mon root-stock come the local tales that make so much of the proper substance of the native fiction. Here, tco, is sourced the special char- acter of the adventure stories. Here, t00, as well, no doubt, the swift drive of these inven- tions, the speedy round-ups—the temperament of the people expressing itself in suitable story. Too much cannct be said for the big design and purpose underlying “the little library.” Nothing less, this, than to make available to all the very best that hais, so far, been pro- duced by the enduring genius of writers. Everyman’s Library is one of these inspired agencies of such wide well-dcing. A clear idealist—a new Don Quixote—presses this pro- gram of gcod reading for every last cne of ws. NNbadl.pmzumhm A fine job, I C KEES. Book by Marian King. Ilustrations by Elizabeth Enright. New York: Harper & Bros. _IELLO, lads! A new boy has come across the sea to play with you, bringing along with him his best friend, too. No, not a dog. A duck, instead. Can you beit that? Hardly, as you will agree when you know Kees, the little Dutch boy from Holland, better, and Kleintje, the tiny Dutech duck from the same place. Here is the story of these two. Adventures of swimming, fishing, skating on the canal roads for which their country is so famous. Later, ice boat races. Once, a town carnival for pets, with prizes to top it off. And when it came to sports Kleintje was 2s much a winner as Kees himself. Not all play, though. There is going to market for these two and visiting with the neighbors and just waddling around doing not much of anything. The story comes to an end with a visit from St. Nicholas him- self on that special day when this saint and all the children of the world get together for a real holiday. Of course, Kleintje, the Duck, could talk— just as your dog can and does whenever you and he are out on business of Kicintje has but a pack—only one, as too, at the pet carnival as they looped the blue ribbon round the shining neck of Kleintje. Kees and Kleintje. Admirable, you will agree. Story and pictures of a single piece of excep- tional work for the use of children—and us. GOG AND MAGOG. By Vincent Sheean, author of “An American Among the Rif,” etc. New York: Harcourt. Brace & Co. IN London Guildhall are two gigantic wooden figures, legendary and mysterious in origin. Gog and Magog, these. The wise man standing by will tell that these are likely of remote Armorican source, that they form the basis of a lengthy discussion by Geofirey of Monmouth, Enough of that. The point of immediate in- terest is that Vincent Sheean has used these wooden giants as symbols in his new novel, Gog and Magog—Russia and the United States, Hardly a novel at all. Rather, under the thin garment of romance, an astute and compree hensive study of Russia at the present time, And, less directly, a pointing upon certain significant likenesses between that country and our own. Both vast regions, climatically similar, Both huge political entities whose very bulk is a menace to the integrity of the whole. Im- mense regions that provide in all likelihood the dominant economic and political elements of the future. However mear in that future they may approach each other, they will ever be held apart by the far effect of separate origin —the East and the West. This book is a most interesting, & meost informed and intelligent study of Russia today. To be sure, it gets on its way in the colors of romance. A young Amer- ican pursues a great Russian singer into her native country. Madly in love with her—yet not so madly after all. He tires of her, but he does not tire of digging into Moscow, into every aspect of its life, into its revolutionary program to discover its source, to detect its purpose. An- other woman, an American girl of fanatic zeal for a liberated world, eomes into the situation— just another touch of the novel here. This, too," a passing interest. The preoccupation of this youth is revolutionary Russia, just as Vincent Sheean’s absorption is that of the publicist and ' not of the amatory individualist. An interest- ing book. A book with study and original thinke ing behind it. SBome plausible deductions, toe, looking toward the United States add interest to it for American readers.