hokfsand Aurthorsa
AI;iERtICA AN(D THIE YOUNIG INTEL- SALT LAKE
LECTUAL . "By Pierre Benoit I
-By Harold Stearns ." (A Revlew by L. E. W.)
(A Review by L. A. S.) It is perhaps unfair to expect as
The critics of the White-Matthews-. French beast-seller to be superior to'
Phelps school have complacently ad- an . American best-seller. Even ina
ministered their tut-tut to Harold France a rich cultural tradition is thet
Stearns' "America and the Young In- heritage of only a few, and there musta
tellectual" (Doran), while the more be scores o? scribblets there as farr
liberal critics have, in general, found below Romain Rolland and Anatole1
a good word to say about the bfook. France as our own Harold Bell2
The type reactions of the raderg, it is Wrighters are below Hergesheimer, i
easy to imagine, will follow those of yet it is insistently disappointing to
the critics. The conservatives will read "Salt Lake," by Pierre Benot,
heartily condemn it and, the liberals and to learn that "M. Benoit has be-
will recommend it enthusiastically. Ae t comrn, in recent years, the prine fav-
any rate, regardless of one's personal orite of French readers, who bought I
opinion, one must admit that this vol- oVer 110,000 copies of Salt Lake in
ume and one other, "Civilization in a few months."' .
the United States" (edited by Mr. The story is laid in America, princi-p
Stearns), sum up in a clear and con- pally in Salt Lake City, during the
cise fashion the attitude of an increas- reign of Brigham Young. The auth-
ingly targe class of intellectuals and or's interelt in Mormonism and his
liberal critics in this country. strong antagonism toward it are
The first impulse of the .average reminiscent of Zane Grey, as is also
reader will be to call Mr. Stearns un- the somewhat theatrical quality of the
patriotic. 'Such is the accusation al- tale. Zane Grey, too, might have writ-
ways shot at the head of the "destruc- ten of a beautiful and wealthy young
tive" critic. In-the case of-the artist,' widow tricked into a Mormon mar-
the question of patriotism is beside riage, of her appeals for help when
the point; but, as the present author she discovers next day that her hus-
makes claim to being ao intellectual band is a Mormon and that she is wife
rather than an artist, the question is number two, but just when Zane Grey
perhaps pertinent. would have had his superlatively vir-
As a. matter of fact, Mr. Stearns tuous heroine fainting with shame
is' s'rayed by a patriotism that .goes' and horror, Mr. Benoit tells us calmly:
a great deal deeper than that oWthe "Throughout the next day, Saturday,
usual nosy hundred percenter. But she stayed thus in her room, dull and
his patriotism is not the variety that inert, waiting for her master with
blinks at the facts and substitutes a only one fear in her heart-that he
tUtopia of Fourth of July orations. He might not cme.
sees America as it is, culturally hope-
less, and becoming more so with the -
persistent spread of standardization,
of crowd rule and crowd thought, and
of "petty regulations of all kinds."
le makes the inevitable comparison
to France where "to be 'different' is
not to be excommunlcated," ehere the
people realise that "there can-be nos t y
decent art or decent personal life iny
a country that is mnch standardized -
or much regimented."
Art in this country, as the author XW e belie
points out, is considered superfluous'
and effeminate. Industrialism, whichO
is more in evidence here than in any
other land, is deadening the abiliy
to feel that art is essentially a part
of life. He draws a significant com-
parison between the .United . States
and other countries. "There are
music festivals in Vienna even though
the children are starving.. ..For those
who seek carnival and the Latin spirit
there is still Paris,'though France is
face-to face with financial ruin. Those
"to wehomn the theatre means everything r'Li Sj
"w~a"; ''sti::3:n~stel;"nThis is ji
will/ get the stimulation they need ,
in Berlin and Munich, though Ger- many O
many lives under- the treaty of Ver- J7
sallies" June. V
Mr. Stearns sadly shakes his head,
Culturally, America is certainly lack- mal or n
ing. What is more, it offers small op- s
portunity for the present and coming will -find
generations of young intellectuals and
artists. What is this class to do, asks stoc.
the author? Is there to be only one
ankwer-get out? Evidently he has
succeeded in finding no other, for Mr. AS uSua
Stearns has himesf recently removed
to France. preS ar
From an English newspaper corre-
spondent, Mr. Hamilton Fyfe, until
recently one of the leading lights in 5
the Northcliffe press, comes a novel
"The Widow's Cruse," published by"
Thomas Seltzer, which bears testimony 604
to a practised hand, Mr. Fyfe is a
man of established literary reputation "QUALIT
in England, and is the author of what
is regarded as the best book on Mex- --
ico. "
"Ho lad too muc res ect for thoesiaply must bite the dust befora tag
I ormon law. ins o'eloCk had not final fade-out or te- pxesent admln-
yet struck whse be knctsked at the ;tration would be called to account.
door. W ith a few m ore changes and a com-
Come in,'" she msurmaured. plate revision of the conclusion-
"He embraces her, whispers tender which is unhappy in every sense of
reproaches. His suave recriminations the word-"Salt Lake" might be'made
find her defenseless. To tell the truth, int' a scenario sufficiently sappy to
she listeus gladly." rival "Way Down East" and "Over the
Thiis would, of course, never do, i i:l." As it stands I cannot see why
any right-thinking community. Andi as popsular appeal has been so great.
worse yet, the smooth villain, is an It seems absurd to suggest that it has
apostate Methodist minister, "the Rev- any other appeal.
erend Jemini Gsvinett, of Baltimore." TIhe authenticity of the material has
He deserts his church and induces been questioned. That is a matter
a beautifssl young woman to marry for historical critics to detersmine, but
him under false pretences, and his re- the book does not have an air of ac-
ward is-not ruin and destruction, tuality. It suggests that it was writ-
but success and power. This seems to 'en with the aid of frequent references
4o -evidence of a fatal slip-up in the to a simple history, a geography, a
Sunday-school system. There is sum- zoology and a botany or Gene Strat-
ly some mistake. Things would have ton Porter. It is overburdened with
to be changed a little before the book descriptions of the plants and animaes
could be made into a popular .movie of the region, and occasionally there
fur an American audience. The brute is a passage such as the following:
who ain't done right by our little Nell -"The murmurinsg waters soothed
_.I
ve you will place your stamp
a= - - g
)f approval on our new
ITFA N
ust the outfit you will need on
Ccasions between now and
hether it be for summer for-
.,
rerely for e ve n1ng wear, you
I the thing you want in our
l, the quality is right and the
re reasonable.
EAST LIBERTY STREET'
FI RST - ECONOMY ALWAYS"
LM
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