G THE M ICH iGAN DAILY SUNDA ', AP ,IL 24, 1938 IN THE WORLD OF BOOKS -~ ~ ~ - -~ - - - - Saroyan's Confused Philosophy Is Apparent In Latest Collection MURDER LOVE HERE IS MY HAT, and other Short Romances by William Saroy- a n. Modern Age Books, Inc. 1938. 25 cents. By STAN M. SWNTON Reading this fifth coliection of Saroyan short stories, one feels the mental confusion of the author creeping into his work, permeating it, giving it individuality and at the sae time dulling the appetite of the reader who would take it in more than small doses. There are more and more straight narratives among these recent works. Contained in this volume, for in-' stance, is "Gus The Gambler" which is very amusing and makes one won- dc if Saroyan has not been reading Dimioh. Runyon. And there is the admirable "Three, Four, Shut the Door," .a mature, finished piece of work, telling an obvious tale and at the same time subtly acquainting tr e reader with the ugly story of a white man's affair with a Negro wom- ait and the tragedy which resulted. These stories, and half-a-dozen others in the new volume, are minus the intensely personal quality and to') often personal language of "My- self Upon The Earth" and "70,000 Asyrians." Here one finds some- thing which, while more common- place, will reach a wider audience ar:d, at the same time, offers more pleasant reading. In the case of Saroyan, I think this tendency to conform is to be approved, for his facile technique and the prodigious, number of stories he writes have left the average reader just a little bored with his persoral essays. Many of the stories in Love, Here Is My Hat are amusing. "Jim Pem - berton and His Boy Trigger" makes one chuckle, as does "Ever Fall In Love With a Midget?" "The Genius" is a heartfelt portrait drawn by one who but recently deserted Hollywood and knows of what he writes. "One of the Least Famous Love, Affairs of History" brings back memories of younger years. Also good is the title piece. The old Saroyan, however, is still to be found. "Ah Life, Ah Death, Ah Music, Ah France, Ah Everything" and, especially, "For My Part I'll Smoke a Good Ten-Cent Cigar," bring back memories of his first book. They are put together with facility, but one wonders if the intensity of feeling they attempt to convey is not artificial.yThis reviewer has never been convinced of Saroyan's sincer- ity. And, too, there are stories which seem between the two extremes: "Trains," "The LaSalle Hotel in Chi- cago," "The Fire," "A Lady Named Caroline" and others. They are dif- ferent from the run-of-the-mill short story and, in the main, good. But no matter how one looks at it, Saroyan's stories reflect, his confused mental state, The best of which he is cap-.t able will not come until after he finds something sure and solid, a phildso- phy which will act as an island in what seems to be a sea of mental un- rest. Some Choice Crimes Are Collected For Fans VURDERS NOT QUITE SOLVED, by Alvin F. Harlow. Julian Messner. $3. S HE LATE Edmund Pearson once said that when he started writing about real life murders some years igo he was about the only practi- aioner in the field. Before he laid aside his pen, how- over, the retelling of old murder cases had almost approached the status of a major industry. ' Writers found this a fruitful field, .vith a large public. Books recount- ing famous murder trials of the past appeared with frequency. Alvin F. Harlow is the latest author to appear with a collection of cases -"Murders Not Quite Solved" he :alls them. As his publishers have observed, he has avoided the old "war horses" and his book turns up several fascinating murder cases that will be new to many readers. Others are more familiar-the Col- lings murder mystery of 1931, for in- stance. Harlow presents a detailed and satisfactory account of the sin- gular happenings on the motor yacht "Valentine" in Long Island Sound-a mystery which is just as deep today as it was seven years ago when the uurious story first was unfolded to the authorities. One of the stories is concerned not head Roman God) . . . The National Government had to imitate the busi- ness man ... ("Folklore," goes on to say that the growth of the business man into the huge, efficient, corporation was in- evitable. It shows how the courts up- held the business man myth by cloth- ing the corporations with the indi- vidual rights and freedom of the busi- ness man. The book says politicians like Theodore Roosevelt and Senator William E. Borah built careers on their preachings against trusts. The general idea was that trusts were a sin, and a good preacher fought sin, though he knew full well he'd never abolish it). Orthodox History Naturally many people would disa- gree with a man who thinks like that. General Hugh S. Johnson has called Arnold "The reddest thing that ever came down the pike," and Senator Borah has suspected he is some kind of an economic fascist who favors monopolies and trusts. Thurman Arnold's personal history is orthodox. He is a product of Wyo- ming, was educated at Princeton and Harvard. He served in the army on the Mexican border and in France. He was a mayor of Laramie and served in the Wyoming legislature. F 7 . .. .... . ... The Hopwood Rules Seem A Bit Too Inflexible-Or Do They? This seems like about as auspicious a time as any to make a few remarks about the Hopwood Contest and its eligibility rules. There are two schools of thought on the matter of the Hop- woods among student writers: one holds that they are fine as they are and no changes need be made in the rules; the second maintains that the rules are altogether too strict and inhibit the development of a great free literary tradition at Michigan. The first group is made up of those who have never been ineligible for the contests. The second is composed of those who have. The official regulations of the con- test call for strict scholastic eligi- bility, with no marks below a C for the previous semester and a C rating in all courses for the current semester at the time of the filing of manu- scripts, which is about the middle of the term. Blueprints from the Regis- trar's office are necessary to fulfill the first requirement, and signed notes from each instructor to fulfill the second. It is also necessary to be enrolled in a composition course and to be taking a prescribed number of hours with murder, but with kidnaping. "The first kidnaping for ransom in America," Harlow says, "was that of the boy Charlie Ross in 1874. The second was that of a man after he was dead.'' The body was that of Alexander T. Stewart, America's first great mer- chant prince, who died in April, 1876. The body was stolen from its vault in the churchyard of St. Mark's-in-the- Bouwerie seven months after burial, and from then on for years was un- rolled an almost incredible story of negotiations for its return. of school work. The latter rule seems necessary, pernaps, to restrict com- petition to real honest-to-goodness students and keep out possible pro- fessional literary prize pirates whof might sneak into the contest by en-. rolling in a one-hour qorrespondence course in, say, creative numerology.] But some individuals will be inclined to inquire, why the restriction to composition students? Who knows but that some engineer, forester, den- tist or foreign language. major may not be hiding a little gem of purest able to allow students who received a D the previous semester to enter the contest if they wanted to very badly.a Of course it might be pointed out by1 the defenders of the status quo that ' 67 students, a record total, submitted; 87 manuscripts, another record total. 'this year, but after all, there are 12,-' 000 students enrolled here, which means that one-half of one per cent of the student body is competing for about $8,500 in prizes every year. - -..- G . The Noise Of Cities "The swish and crackle of paper is the underlying sound of the metro- polis; more important to the inner content of its existence than the whining rhythm of its machines. What is visible and real in this world Should I Ever Borrow Money? * Intelligent borrowing is the common-sense way of smooth- ing out the ups-and-downs of income or expenses. There are two methods of self- financing: 1. 'Save first,' then buy. (Savings Account) 2. Buy first, repay latex (Personal Loan) . Your choice of these two ways depends on your own sit- uation. But emergencies and opportunities seldom wait until you can save enough to take care of them. s ONLY REQUIREMENT for a loan here: your ability to repay small, regular amounts on the loan plan that's easiest for you to handle. * No endorsers required. Pri- vacy assured. Loans available to all university people except students. PERSONAL LOANS j Up to $300 Personal Finance Co. 376 Offices 10th Year in Ann Arbor Ground Floor Wolverine Bldg. 201-203 S. FOURTH AVE. Phone 4000 R.W. Horn, Mgr. Read It In The Daily ray serene in the dark unfathomed is only what has been transferred to caves of his own school or depart- ment files? Possibly there is a mas- ter's thesis on the geography of North Dakota which would prove a best seller if brought out into the open market. The point here is simply this: do the Hopwood Contests (or contest- authorities differ on whether it or they is or are singular or plural) have to be restricted by artificial means? If they are really intended to foster creative writing, shouldn't the rules be made as broad as pos- sible, With as loose as possible an interpretation by t h e Hopwood Committee. Perhaps it would even be advis- paper.-From the Culture o: Cities, by Lewis Mumford. Papa pays k "As an expectant father you are very much like your grandfather and his grandfather before him- you are the forgotten man of propa- gation. You are without honor among men, who wisecrack about your future responsibilities. You have no standing among physicians, who refuse to recognize your coming la- bor pains. You are the butt of every second-rate comedian who is stumped for a gag."-From Father's Doing Nicely, by David Victor. U Thurman rod, Cpitalisms Dissector, Is Now Its Doctor If furs were gold, We'd worry not When vaults were strong, Whether cold or hot. For while any vault Will do for gold, When it comes to furs They must be cold! By MORGAN 14 . BEATTY WASHINGTON-(P) Pass Thurman Wesley Arnold 'on Pennsylvania av- en ue at 4:30' in the afternoon, and you take him for another one of those well-paid civil service workers head- ing. for a bus and that little house out on the fringe of town. There's little enough about him to brnd him as Uncle Sam's new trust- buster; and less to mark him as au- thor of ,a national best seller. The fact remains that he does head the anti-trust division of the Depart- ment of Justice, and he did dash off "The Folklore of Capitalism," that lusty account of economic myths and mIorab1. flynamite See him in his sleek suite in the Department of Justice building, and 1r - you are suddenly aware that dyna- mite may be housed in this neat, middle-aged frame, decorated rather l carelessly with a light blue spring suit. Arnold thinks in a startlingly harsh language. He tells us that many of' our economic creeds are myths. Beating. the air with his arms, he explains: "If your favorite grandfather were ill, and you wanted to know what was wrong, you wouldn't study the portrait of the old gentleman hanging in the library. You'd get a chart of anatomy and compare it with x-rays of your grandfather's insides. "Then again, if you were not con- cerned with his health, merely want- ed an idealistic memento of the old gentleman, you wouldn't hang a pic- ture of his anatomy, but you'd get an artist to paint his portrait." "But what's that got to do with- ?" you begin. 'I Want Facts' "It's the same way with studying our industrial system," Arnold runs on, ignoring your query. "I want facts. If you want idealism, that's another thing. I'm sorry I called the book 'The Folklore of Capitalism.' 'The Anatomy of Capitalism' would have been accurate. I merely report- ed the-facts of our economic ills of the 0s and the years that followed." The book said things like this: "It is not the content of a govern- mental creed which molds institutions but the imaginary personalities which make up the national mythology . . In the United tStates the mythology used to be very simple . . . 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