PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1935 IN THE WORLD 6F BOOKS Luigi Pirandello's Latest Stories Put New Seal BETTER THINK TWICE ABOUT IT. By Luigi Pirandello. QIutton. $3. By DOROTHY GIES Luigi Pirandello, the enigmatic lit- tle Sicilian, winner of last year's Nobel award, stamps a new seal onj his genius and artistry with this most recent volume of short stories. In the thirteen lively tales another ar- ray of Sicilian folk parade, the simple and ignorant, the wise and visionary, each one sharply conceived, sympa- thetic, inimitable. Yet with all the infinite variety of the novelle included here, there is a certain homogeneity of tone and style that is peculiarly Pirandellian. Each one is marked by ,a naked simplicity of plot, an elemental quality of char- acter, and that particular salty hum- or that is Pirandello's own. Clear- cut, sharply drawn, concentrate, from the very barest of outlines is achieved the intensity of a richly packed nar- rative. From one, two, or three char- acters, rarely profound, often child- like and naive, emerges the whole gamut of human experience and emo- tion. It is again characteristic of Pir- andello that the majority of his short stories could be dramatized. He is a master of marionettes, and his own chuckles over their antics are not too carefully masked. He is sometimes tender and full of pity - but he is laughing. Always there is some note of humor, and he touches every key from merry to grim. There is humor even with tragedy superscribed, with laughter contorting to a grimace. I' The Most Complete f LENDING LIBRARY in'Ann Arbor YOU WILL FIND NEW BOOKS IN OUR LIBRARY ON PUBLI- CATION DATE I WITHAMS Corner S. Univ. and Forest Phone 2-1005 On His Genius1 In The Jar the pure comic element is at its best. Don Loblo, a miser who is forever taking legal action against someone for something, has ordered a huge new jar for his olives. But after it has stood in the' shed for a day or two, it is discovered split in two halves, and the old pottery mend- er, Zi' Dima, must be sent for. He proceeds to cement and rivet the jar together until it is as good as new, except that, working from the inside, the old man has sealed himself in.1 There is no alternative: the jar must be broken to release him. A difficult spot for the skinflint Don Lollo, for who is to pay the costs of the jar? It is a baffling legal question, that makes a merry tale. In The Call To Duty a new prob- lem is presented in the eternal tri- angle plot, which is not settled with - out an amusing interlude. Piran- dello delights in twisting the age- old marital theme toward a new and surprising angle. Another instance occurs in the title-story, Better Think Twice About It, woven around a most amazing Sicilian "design for living." An old man has married a pretty young girl, in order to taste the charms of domestic bliss during his last days. But, being a' very wise old man, Professor Toti realizes his wife's youth and provides for her happiness with a handsome young proteg6 of his. All the implications of tragedy and comedy are contained in the slight events narrated. In The Quick and the Dead, a sea- captain returns home to find himself married to two wives. His first wife, long believed drowned, has come back, and all the complexities of a biga- mist's life confront the old skipper. He meets the problem nobly and solves it smoothly, and even this seemingly sober situation is fraught with comedy. "Writers," Pirandello once said, "may be divided into historians, who are content with mere representation or narration, and philosophers, those who feel the spiritual need of giving to their characters a certain universal signification. I, unfortunately, be- long to the latter class." And in- deed, the philosophic, the reflective element, is never wholly divorced from Pirandello's work. In the pres- ent collection, it is best represented by Chants the Epistle. Perhaps the most beautiful, thek most profound and moving tale in the group, it is steeped in the mysti- cism of Assisi. Tommasino Unzio, nicknamed "Chants the Epistle," be- cause such was his duty as sub-deacon before he was unfrocked, is derided and despised at home and in the vil- lage. Gradually isolating himself more and more in the depths of na- ture, he feels the inconsequence, the triviality of life and toil before the unconscious and impassive beauties of cloud and leaf and stone. At last he loses himself in a passionate and tender pity for the tiny ephemeral things, that live and die alone in the midst of tremendous nature. He con.. ceives a deep love for a tiny blade of grass, in which for him the whole universe is parabled. When Signor- ina Fanelli carelessly plucks it, Tom- masino calls her a stupid fool, is challenged by her fianc for the in- ult, and mortally wounded. But to no one can he reveal the reason for his temper: "The priest care to the dying man's bedside and asked:- "'But why was it, my son? Why?' "And Tommasino sighed and smiled very tenderly, and, with half-closed simply:- "'Father, it was for a blade of rass....' "Everyone believed that he re- mained delirious up to the very end." Occasionally one discerns a point in Pirandello's lashes. And not the gentlest is the chastising he inflicts on the religious superstition of the ,peasant-folk, ever bent to "the will of God," to whom every event is a{ divine ordainment. Artistically notable, dramatically moving, this new collection adds an- other asterik to Pirandello's literary achievement. With him it will never be a case of Characters in Search Of a Reader. The Real Morality Reprinted, without even aking for permission (for which we hope no one sues us) from Friday's The Conning Tower, edited by F.P.A., in the New York Herald Tribune. Of all the penetrant bon mots that pierce and blight and kill, It's hard 'to beat the favorite saw of my old Uncle Bill- A sly and trenchant saying of a shrewd and canny man, A devastating epigram- and this is how it ran: We're punished not for sins but for offenses. It isn't for your vice, my son, the crowd will bruise and hurt you, But only for your pestilent, intolerable virtue. They love you for your weaknesses, they hate you for your strength; To keep you on their level they will go to any length:. We're punished not for sins but for offenses. If you'd be safe and happy you must do what others do. Conformity is popular, nobility taboo. The worm must show the color of the stalk he feeds upon; The geese will always rally to the murder of the swan: We're punished not for sins but for offenses. The boys of your fraternity will let you soak in wine And putrefy the midnight air by singing "Adeline"; But cut the booze and cigarettes and go to bed at ten And skim the prom to study math, and see what happens then:I We're punished not for sins but for offenses. A girl may turn a cartwheel to the strains of Boop-a-Doop And sift a little strychnine in her Aunt Maria's soup; But if she has the least regard for what her friends may think She'll never read a serious book or scrub the kitchen sink: We're punished not for sins but for offenses. "He should have gone" 's permitted when the guests are strictly highbrow, But usually "He'd oughta went" precludes a lifted eyebrow. It will not do to let your culture seem the least emphatic; It's always safer to be crude and bluff and democratic: We're punished not for sins but for offenses. Does any upstart speak the truth to liars in high places And call the theologic bluff before the deacons' faces? In spite of holy creeds and bulls does he presume to doubt? Go get a pair of red-hot tongs and pull his toe-nails out! We're punished not for sins but for offenses. Keep quiet while the grafters, like the termites in our walls, Consume the pillars of the state and topple down its halls,j And lynchers toss mankind aside, a charred and blackened ember; But you, my son, do what you please, - so long as you remember: We're punished not for sins but for offenses. -HOMER C. HOUSE Arnold Gingrich's First Novel Is In Many RespectsUnique FOSTER 'Forgive Adam' Has K ,,,,. ,+.A v -,r Perhaps Another Caesar' Itsl Just A Little Too Subtly Done ivuomenr s nd rO t i Restraint FORGIVE ADAM. By Michael Foster. Morrow. At last one of those novels which' take form in the tormented minds of reporters in slack moments has reached print. One might add "thank Heaven." This novel is Michael Foster's. It is called Forgive Adam, it is about a lonely and fine man, it nas moments of greatness-and it is written with cool restraint. This somewhat scram- bled list of virtues is incomplete, but indicative. Anton is the man's name, and we first catch him on the rebound after the departure of his wife, the final departure. Anton's own story runs rather simply toward tragedy. His wife marries again. Anton finds him- self suddenly interested in a girl who has been betrayed in not quite the usual way by Anton's managing edi- tor, and Anton loses the girl trag- ically. Against Anton's story are two others+ of first importance - the girl's and Anton's son Terry's. It is possible that Mr. Foster does not appreciate his, success in making Terry live; with the simplest materials he has drawn a boy this reader will not forget for a long while. The cooly self-con- tained girl is almost an equal triumph. And behind these chief actors there is a host of supers - the typical cru- sading preacher, the typical pussy- footing editor, the typical amorous re- porter, and so on. Even the scenes in the city room of Anton's paper come off, which will delight such newspaper men as may read the novel. Mr. Foster has made stock characters seem living acquaintances. But the chief values of the novel are its quiet emotional power, its simpli- city and, its honesty. It deserves to be "discovered," and made much of. Local Best Sellers HEAVEN'S MY DESTINATION. By Thornton Wilder. Harpers. $2.50. GOOD BYE MR. CHIPS. By James Hilton. Little, Brown. $1.25. THEHFORTY DAYS OF MUSA )AGH. By Frank Werfel. Vik- ing. $3. A HOUSE DIVIDED. By Pearl S. Buck. Reynal & Hitchcock. $2.50. WHILE ROME BURNS. By Alex- ander Woollcott. Viking. $2.75. HALF A MILE DOWN. By Wil- liam Beebe. Harcourt, Brace. $5. Lending Libraries NEW FICTION: Three cents, five cents a day. Washington Birthday Cards. Francisco Boyce, 732 North University. READ BOOKS reviewed in today's book section, five cents a day. Blue Bird Book Nook, Arcade. Newspapers and Magazines NEW YORK TIMES: New York Her- ald Tribune. All famous Newspa- pers, daily and Sunday. Miller Drug North University at Thayer. By JOHN SELBY ANOTHER CAESAR. By Alfred Neumann. Knopf. The historical facts of Louis Napo- lean's life seemed. to Alfred Neumann, not enough to make a good story. So he has made a novel out of them. IR is a long, meticulous novel, and it is so subtly done that even a man acquainted with Louis' life down toI the last detail might have difficulty separating history from Mr. Neu- mann's imagination. Perhaps that is one trouble with the novel. For Mr. Neumann has given almost a day by day account of Louis' life, beginning even before his probably il- legitimate birth, and continuing down to the coup d'etat by which he seized the throne of France and wrecked the republic, after the fall of Louis Philippe. He has done even more than that -he has written a popular history of Europe for the period, bend- ing his chief character to fit his his- torical conception, or vice versa. All this makes an almost irresisti- ble book, and a fairly dangerous one too. The casual reader is likely to be so persuaded by the fluent Mr. Neumann as to forget that a good deal of the novel is pure imagination. In any case, Louis Napoleon de- Is served some such treatment, for he was so contradictory and obscure an individual personally that nobody un- derstands him. A large share of An- other Caesar is given to Louis' child- hood and youth, in an effort to recon- cile some of the later contradictions, doubtless. His mother, Hortense, wife of the puny King of Holland, is like- wise treated in detail. Louis' older brother. Charles, is somewhat sum- marily dismissed - it is possible that the general reader might wish that much of the political background had been cut off short in the same fashion. Nevertheless, if one has the time and inclination, it is possible to get the feel of France and Europe, be- tween the first and second Napoleon, from Another Caesar as from few other books. __ d THE Colonial Book Shop Old and New Books 303 North Division Street Telephone 8876 i , ' I __ i READ THE WANT ADS JACQUES GORDON, 1st Violin PAUL ROBYN, Viola DAVID SACKSON, 2nd Violin NAOUM BENDITZKY, Cellist - - - - - Easy now with KODAK "SS" FILM HOLD the camera in your hands. Click the shutter only once. Snapshots are as easy to make as that. All you need is a camera with an f.6.3 (or faster) lens, two or three Mazda Photoflood bulbs that screw into any socket, and Kodak "S'"Film. Stop in for a descriptive leaflet. All neces- sary supplies here. FRANCISCO-BOYCE 723 North U. and 108 E. Liberty CAST DOWN THE LAUREL. By Arnold Gingrich. Alfred A. Knopf. $2. By PROF. EARL L. GRIGGS (Of The English Dept.) Arnold Gingrich, author of Cast Down the Laurel, was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1925. His first novel is in many respects unique. It lays before the reader not merely the finished product but also a share of the materials from which the book is made. We are, as it were, taken behind the scenes. Wakefield Speare, whose novel Apollo's Young Widow forms the central portion of Mr. Gingrich's book, receives from a friend a series of dossiers or character. sketches. Out of these .(all included in the book) the novel Apollo's Young Widow is constructed; then the orig- inal friend speaks again, to condemn Wakefield Speare for spoiling the story, misrepresenting and re-naming the characters, and generally render- ing the material salable. The whole story deals with artistic temperament, as represented by a group of musicians. The master, Karel Telec, (or Karl Taussig) is thwarted by a perfectability complex, which is, as someone in the book remarks, a philosophy of futility. Among the greatest of musicians, with a tech- nique seldom exceeded, he fails as a performer. The applause of the critics and audiences at the very time he is most conscious of incompetence drivesr him from public concerts to a small town, where he undertakes to give in- struction in music. He seems obsessed with the idea that perhaps he can teach another the perfection he him- selfs lacks.' The book impresses me as a curious, mixture of naivete and sophistication. Mr. Gingrich knows a good deal not only about human beings and musi- cians, but also about music. Yet his characters seem wooden, in both the dossiers and in the novel. Nor are the occasional vulgarities skillfully handled; rather they seem to be sud- denly (and awkwardly) thrust into the picture. We have long had the play within, a play. Mr. Gingrich has given us the novel within a novel. In so doing he might have given us a real view of the creative process; he might have satirized typical modern novel- ists; he might have told us something valuable about the artistic tempera- ment. Carlyle failed in Sartor Resar- tus (which is made up of notes from1 a friend) because his message was too profound and his humor too gross; Mr. Gingrich fails because he is neither profound nor humorous. !. i Used i Wed ,Feb. 2 3:15, Choral Union Series Hill Auditorium TICKETS $1.00 - $1.50 - $2.00 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION Presents America's Foremost Traveler and Raconteur at 8:030 P. me A Screen Tour of Unusual Distinction WE LOOK AT VIENNA and AUSTRIA * Not to know the land of the Beautiful Blue Danube and its grandiose Capitol - the former Kaiserstadt -- is to miss one of the great travel thrills that Europe offers us today. * It was an ultimatum from Vienna that precipitated the World War in 1914. Events of 1934 in Vienna seemed for a time, to presage another great conflict. Vienna is never unimportant. o It was in Vienna that Johann Strauss the Elder wrote his immortal waltzes. From Vienna, Johann Strauss the Younger poured forth the glorious melodic flood of the Beautiful Blue Danube. Vienna is always fascinating. * Austria was the heart and center of one of the greatest of modern empires. Austria is today the most consistently and completely beautiful of Continental countries. * A visit to Vienna and Austria under Burton Holmes' knowl- edgeful guidance is an introduction to places and people of I BOKS - which were out-of-stock last week are a NOW ON HAND (OUR SPECIALTY) I * Bought * Sold * Exchangewd