SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1923'

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

parE SVWN

MENCKEN many, he is interesting, original, and And so if the professors should stil And what excitement this volley of
(Continued from Page Four) often brilliant. He has introduced a insist that he is not a critic, I might Menckenian phrase and dogma is pro-
"constructive criticism." "If the trit- wsolesome and vigorous tone into the concur and say, "No. Remstken is .ot ducing! The man's trenchant and
ic," he says, "retiring to his cell toflabiness of American criticism. To a critic: he is mor than a critic: he pertinent remarks on American poll-
concoct his treatise upon a book or is The Baltimore Sage." tics, manners and government pro-
use Washington ryings famous .voke unlimited rage among the bulls
play or what-not, produces a piece phrase, "his very faults smack of the VIin the arena, and irresponsible delight
of writing that shows sound structure, raciness of his good qualities." His But whether Mencken is a critic or in the stands; his literary pronuncia-
and hrilliant color, and the flash f comusentaries on Nietzsche, as we sensationalist, prophet, hedonist, or mentos have become widely current
new and persuasive ideas, and civi- have seen, are "brilliant" and "ilum- messiah, is, after all, of no real uo- among the intelligentsia; and his at-
ied manners, and the charm of an ting" His various diagnoses of the ment. What does count is that hie i tacks on prudery, censorship, conven-
uncommon personality in free fur- inept and disappointing flaccidity of giving us a most exciting and hilar- tionality, and all the other allotropes
tion, then. he has given something to American literature are convincing, ions time; and that-Whilst keeping of Puritanism are in no small measure
the world that is worth having, and In "Prejudices" there are a number us ceaselessly amused-ie is, ind- responsible for the disrepute into
sufficiently justified his existence. is of casital short studies, and in "Pre- dentally at least, working mucis good. which the latter begins to fall. No-
Carlyle's'Frederick' true? Who cares? faces" there is work of the highest Who has done more tihan deucken thing escapes the man's ken. He has
As thell ask if the Parthenon is true, et. Tie Hsneker study in parti- to shake us from a dangerously fat- a thousand eyes, and as manyears;
or tile C soor Symphony, or 'Wiener cular is excellent. It is my honest alistic and all too facie faith in de- and the crude materials which he so
Blt. beliefthat, together wis thh Com- mocracy? Wis has ida base so nmany steadily funnels into his Cyclopean
lt is impossible, c curse, to age panicn essay written after Huneker's shams, or punctured so nany vain maw he as industriously regurgitates
that Mencken is a "areat" critic death, it will d, a place og the shelf conceits and run down So 'any pios- -framed and illumined by his bound-
Sainte-Beuve's catholicityc' f ta-l , or o 'orld Critciesm. frauds? And '4rh i m n'g s s vali ng phrases, his ready humor, and Is
Brandes' versatility, he has t. 'r uia mat er of fact, Blenc-en, a 'tly defended the "ciilden "'ight penetrating scepticism. In short,
do his pages glow with Huns. s c; _a.-<.?, o s, .eas dne compar - a 5iunt thase solemn asses aveo fan Mencken combines something of the
warmly human charm, n tcr'-s'i t ti' 'w orf a purely critical cying themselves priyyto tieriddles wit of Voltaire and the solidness of
with the atter's far"Pis >,bI' ''u: 5 bin the last fie ears he has of the Universe- ould- fain have Johnson with the sting of Swift-and
nd eclectic hijoutere. And his ca" a.sitn scarsey a soz o «1 'uptamnd lit- shackled their monstrous biases and the levity of Rabelais. Never before
has other 'iitiatons of a posait'e a l ad yta5ils The creative artist s superstitirns uspon Ite whole world" has this land of the Puditans resound-
"mnediate'natur' lia in'.e""n 'sa t ass"' up the critic. and lnd'ed, when o r r-ds aencken ani edi to such imp'ious glee or such merry
v ra'ty seriously lssen 1hs ate al as "noit o's"ens"i ly; a a seeswith what fi andd slaughter.
5 crirr.~ So aio 0*do 's a'us'garty l is 'O i ': '00; ,an h ea.: es e c"n'ucta ia ' ' cry arc one s ce -"I to such blockheads set miy wit;
Ia 'I O In al l's t'nlem inac-d e:f.5b5m And damn you all-Go, go, you X
rtihc clear persective to the pr-' cc r Teuielsdroeck-r Prow:: "I had sa'er etnd' in the bit
ent line.' - c ' eral, sho c f a i, ._bitI"
But with all his faults and t'' - ' ' alr in nntions. ai a TBE FFICIAL OBSERTZ
(Continued from Page Five)
is translated by Charles Whrton
Stork, under the title Modern Se d-
lh Masterpieces (E. P. Dutton Co.
3)$3 and if representative, promises
much, Per Hallstrom, HjamarS-
(6drber, Sigfrid Siwertz and Taere
von Heidenstam live close to the teal
- things of life, yet manage not to lie
weighted down by them In thistiey
stand superior to most Russians#io
are prone to desert reality in thir
,eagerness for realism. The Rssi1an
believes in details; in his storiesthe
*oice of the individual is apt to diyt$n
Stat of humanity. These Swede'do
*, nearly the reverse, andao approailla
little near to the reality of things.
> They are 4ot optimisitc, nor are hey
Ths Are c professional seekers of gloom. If they
T ese A re Fr ocksmeet joy they write of it; if they en.
*q-., conter evil and despair they sy4do,
For College 'om en; plainly, and honestly. With few ax-
ceptions they make no attempt to ore-
ate an atmosphere, but rely on their
tales alone. And these seldom fail.
Of course, to review each and evry
So trim of line, so youthful in style ad ' story is not possible, nor is it worth
while. I like all of them, Per Hall-
so well adapted to campus wear, they win strom's the most and Sigfrid Siwg'tz'
'a'bit the least, Siwertz is a bit ad-
istant approval among the smart .et, ,dictedto goodness, to stories w)itl a
Sports attire is acknowledged as Fashio s s mhun .ay-school moral ithe don
soehee alltron, on the other
favorite costume for the majority of 'hand, has no such weakness; if he
worries over purposes and lessons he
C ''ce. occasions these days keeps those worries to himself., I
await further translations.
C.L. P.
BOOKS AND WRITERS
(Continued from Page Six)
tain that there was not a great deal
'new to store along with it. The age
did produce great books-those of
Dante, Chaucer, and Vilon, for exan-
pie-but this seems due to the force
of the authors rather than to any en-
couragement they got. "The Renais-
sance" attracts me less, probably be-
cause for me the works of Thomas
The Jersey frock in slender silhouette appears in inte esting variations Moore, Spenser and their contempo-
aries wao forever ruined for ue by the
usually adorned with linen collars and cuffs and without other ornaa stupidity of igi-schoi course in "the-
erature". How the teachers of those
mentation. From this group it will be a pleasant task to choose dresses ' courses, dull, pedantic souls 'with
'neither background nor feeling, need
moderately priced. - a book like this!

And so the questions which arese as
'I I unwrapped this book bid fair to b
a swvered favorably. I have read it,
enpoyed, and isrned. I aw55t t-
$12.95 $15.00 $25 and U eviews byvolunCls -
Reviews by Carroll aCne Fenton
American Secular Union

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