' THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TH E
WORLD
OF
BOOKS
- Frdeed it may be considerable. Surely, r
Sith Voi r cO fJideOR rn in 'in a special way, Strigelius' attempts
PUbish.Six hV OumJules o ains' Sion and Viaur's experiments in the
- ---- ---i-- d---------.-_ -- t control of reflex action by the mind Mrs.I
THE STUBBORN WAY, by Baxter v Pis 'years out of high school. As the story N Jov Series Fa s A Little Fexcite interest but it is not an in- major
Hathaway. Macmillian, New York. opens Wally, still hungering for the terest which can be long maintained, viously
$2.50. college opportunities so far denied ------ and their stories must remain for-
By PROF. CARLTON F. WELLS him, half-heartedly resolves that this MEN OF GOOD WILL, v, vi, THE ;elf which seem to have almost al- eign tosthe sustaining current of the nespa
(fteEgihDprmn)novel as a whole. ished a
(Of the English Department) year at the paper mill shall be his DEPTHS AND THE HEIGHTS, by ays prevented novels of the intel- Although it has no passaes of World.
To gate, four Hopwood prize novels last. Yet in this particular depres- Jules Romains. 'Translated from Althoife frombeing-gpeaages vf
have reiv th furtherirecogni sion year his widowed mother and the French by Gerard Hopkins. Al- rg writing, on any of its many sub- Drinkw
tion of book publication--Mildred younger sister need more than ever fred A. Knopf, New York. 1937. Good novels, like good plays, must jects, which equal the best compar- publishi
Walker's Fireweed (1934) Hubert his weekly wages, and the tiring fac- $3.00. arouse vital interest in their main able scenes in previous volumes, this to mak
Skidmore's I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes tory routine is wearing down his reso- By JAMES C. O'NEILL aractes-an interest hich,so volume will intrigue those who are I woul
S1936) Ruth L e Dobn' T Of the French Department) oftentasanxious to see the completed picture
(9h ininger sons lution. Most of all, his own wrong-IThissixth volume of the transla- in the recognition on our part of and who must still be content with Rooseve
Straw in the Wind (1937), and this headed, wavering nature stands in tion of Romains' great novel-series factors in their experience which are, tantalizing glimpses of scenes to come, over th
October, Baxter Hathaway's The the way. Then he breaks with Ma- consists of parts XI and XII of the or which might be, common to us all. or find pleasure in their own spec- respect
Stubborn Way. Of these four, two " French original. These are provided These factors are almost inevitably u ations. In spite of digressions, the siderabl
have had a Michigan setting. Fire- n~ran, his conventional-dull "steady" ~ oiia.Teeaepoie ltos nsieo irsintesdrb
have had a Michigan setting, Fire- with somewhat alluring sub-titles (To those of their emotional and passional great scheme has progressed a little. was in
weed describing an Upper Penninsula attending the local college, and that l"e Guter and To the Stars respec- life; the humanity and universality The translation is in the main very holds a:
lumbering and mining town faced doesn't help matters. More or less tively) and with the publisher's as- of great characterizations depend good; some passages of familiar or revise 1
with a final stoppage of its dying in- Ion the rebound, he takes up with surance that this volume, better than largely on the effective and true pres- colloquial dialogue do not ring true, Mr. Dr
ductries, and The Stubborn Way giv- colloquial dialoguefdohnotoringltrueiMr.hDrr
ing a picture of a southern Michigan Anna, a waitress, and the affair runs any of the preceding ones, can stand entation of the role played in their perhaps because of excessive zeal to visioni
gpt r community. Butn tihigast its brief disillusioning course. He alone as a novel and be read and en- lives by emotional rather than by prevent them from sounding stilted. least h
~paper mill community. But this last emerges a somewhat more embittered joyed apart from the whole. In the intellectual elements of experience.
is the only Hopwood prize novel to but also a somewhat wiser young man, opinion of this reviewer quite the op- In creating characters who are to
interpret aspects of America's ma- though as hopelessly tied to the mill posite is true. In fact, considered represent primarily not the common
chine civilization with any fullness or as ever. The ultimate resolution of as separate fictional entities, Mr. Ro- run of men, but men of intellect or
penetration; and it is this interpre- Wally's problem comes inconvincing mains' two excursions do not impress; genius, the novelist is forced by the
give cto The Stubborn Way its special BAXTER HATHAWAY human terms-in terms, b the way, bnl n his fligh to the gtevresontrs atuiso exclusivelyi on'bc that t which wel mkes aElm0LoLET
taton more than anything else that comnvinc-ningm b te ay his trip to the gutter verges on the nature of his subject to dwell almost
*ivehat Thaveubpeculiyars spgnifiBAXEncHATAoAYj banal, and his flight to the stars is xcusvRyENThAwhchmLe
distinction. * * that have peculiar significance for 'simply dull. Admitting the value them unique-their intellect-rather
Mr. Hathaway has, however, no m yw grum-ble" Mr. Hathaway'sdmostaeofsParts of each section, and the than on that which makes them uni-
thesis to propound or explicit pro- gH The above suggestion of the plot) value of both to the advancement of , versal-their emotions. As soon as For only 3c per day you can rent the
test to make against our machine- memorable writing concerns events does not of course indicate the merits the whole great scheme of Men of he does otherwise, his creation steps will be delighted with our represen
dominated system. Labor troubles in the mill: the night shift in the ma- of the book. Wally Stevenson, for Good Will, let us inspect some of the back into the mass of humanity where
are no more than hinted at. There chine room, the casual talk of "Sam- example, is an original and altogether failings of the present volume, taken he is no different from, no more in- minute mysteries, romances, charac
are no strikes no labor meetings, and son" and Red Nuyen and Jerry and real person, blundering, stubborn- by itself. trinsically interesting than other men. stories - or every taste.
dispite the depression, no shut- downs. other mill workers, and that exhaust- willed, but essentially decent and To the Gutter, with its attempt at A genius in love or consumed with Please come in and see them.
But the 100-yard-long paper ma- ing 24-hour stretch when the huge anxious to understand his world. He presenting the purlieux of semi-re- Jealousy or ambition is subject to the(
chines dominate the book-"the con- machine broke down. In that long is a significant addition to the fic- nned vice in Paris, invites a com- i same forces as a plumber in com-
tinuous grumble, the slow protesting chapter the very "feel" of the mill is tional gallery of present-generation parison which is odious. One is reParable circumstances. So it is that
of the unwieldly dryer rolls, the giant i realized with almost painful actuali- young Americans. The mill workers minded inevitably of similar volumes Romains' two men of intellect, Dr.
iron cylinders that turn uneasily in ty, until the reader understands what also, though briefly treated, are of Proust which treat the same ma- Viaur and the poet Strigelius, have " "
their' sturdy shafts . . . the persis- the mill does to the minds and spirits recognizable individuals. Mr. Hatha- terial from the only angle which saves the failings, as protagonists of a 11 1 ah11"00
tent howl of the suction roll ... the of many of these men, "so much way knows their typical talk, their it from the suspicion of cheapness- novel, of all of their literary prede-
rapid but definite tumult of the driftwood in the modern world."I habits of mind, their shortcoming and that of profound psychological an- cessors. The interest we have i 322 South State Street at N
winder as it rattled along tounwind The story, simple in pattern, coversitheir virtues. Wally's friends of his alysis. Whereas Proust's Cities of the'themisthdeintereswe can havein
the newly made sheet . . . the noises one crucial year in the life of Wally, other world-on the "right" side of Plain penetrates deeply into the; hi tde rreerhsn n
of the long room mingled into one Stevenson, young mill hand three the railroad tracks-are not, I think, sources in human nature whence such
drawn with so sure a hand. But 'vice develops, Romains' sketches of
---- ------ - when describing the life of the mill family life among the perverts are su-
he reveals a quiet graphic skill and perficial. His protagonist, George Al-
M r. Blackiston Gives Low-D own 'an acute awareness of all that goes lory, isa poor thing whose adventures
on around the giant paper machines. border on the comic and whose ex-
He writes of that scene, of that life, cursions into the seamy side of life
O n W riting Stories For M oney with compelling fidelity and power. lack entirely the depth and sincerity
The Stubborn Way is a forthright, of treatment which give to the no-
-------------------------------honest novel that does substantial torious Charlus and his friends their
SHORT STORY WRITING FOR larly so their name will be remem- honor to the Hopwood awards. inevitability, their universal signifi-
PROFIT, by Elliott Blackiston. The 'bered. -- cance. Here we have puppets manip-
ulated through a series of unpleasant
Writer, Inc., Boston. $2.00. Do not, Blackiston warns, narrate phasises, have as their primary pur- uated th srie of unmasnt
I to nterain.maneuvers. In the scope of Romains'
Granted, then, that Blackiston has 4eatmet w asibl, rbutthe iT
Can short story writing be taught? Out for cliches, sentimentality, lack 4sound advice toasoffer.utStill the bookN
Con realrtysandylackiomhonesty.hu.sound advice to offer. Still the book no use in pretending that this section
After dozens of essays, discussions, of reality and lack of honesty. But has several flaws. His habit of giv- is in itself a good novel.
speeches and books like "Short Story most important of all is this: "A suc- ing a page of examples to get across To the Stars fails to be interesting
Writing For Profit" the question is cess is made of short story writing I on the whole, but for entirely dif-
still bitterly debated. Yet, it would only when the writer coms to realize a very simple point makes him appear ferent reasons, and on account of dif-
seem, thery anseris simple, an answer n wnto be writing down to his audience. ficulties inherent in the subject it-
seem, the answer is simple, an answer that he must put into his work as Another criticism is that the book!__
which Mr. Blackiston offers and an many hours and as much effort as is is written for the "conventional" i
answer so logical that those who required by any of the professions." group. By offering a set formula for mercial writer usually does.
think the matter through completely That is sound, important advice, as is a story (arresting opening; narrative In short, the faults of the book are
are bound to see it-commercial short his dictate to read and study. ior expository background; introduc- these: it is not well written, it occas-
story writing can be taught but n o Then Blackiston goes on to make tion of story problem; swift pace to- sionally contradicts itself, it is not
meant fortanyabutenovicesrinesearc
to poderh an iter to some rather startling and true state- ward solution of problem; final cli- meant for any but novices in search
les produce a Ierry short story un- ments about commercial writing: "A max; denouement) he is only helping of gold and the author is not an
less he has the innate ability neces- distinction can be made between lit- to increase the supply of the mechan- Edward J. O'Brien.
say. erary writing and conventional writ- ical stories he decries.
All writers. Mr. Blackiston says, be- ing by saying that the person who What he does say to the "literary"
long to one of two classes. Either writes literary stories writes honestly class is good: "write for yourselves
'they have an I.Q. of 140 or over but the person who writes convention- if you wish," write that which is part
(genius) and belong to the "Literary" a! stories writes mechanically," and of yourself-according to your back- The T rave1
class or else they are of the rank and further, "Unfortunately, practically ground, experience, emotional capa- Le on ct
file and belong to the "Conventional" all of our magazines in America are city, desire and imagination; not fromners
group. To become successful writers made up of manufactured stories." ' _ _--
the former must learn only form, he Again he hits the mark by declar-
'states, while the latter must be in ed ts th marblar- INSTRUCTIONS Li r y ,"
taught form and pattern. ing:"Readers of commercial maga- L r r
zines-regardless of the type of mag- Every form of dancing.
Having thus decided how one be- azine--are interested in stories hav- open 10 to 10. Terrace OndCa mp u s
Scomesa successful author, Mr. Blak- ing appeal to the emotions rather TarenBtudgo. u 95 ondonbyE..oppe
iston goes on to give some really than in stories having appeal to the 2nd Floor Paris by Moma Clar
sound advice. Dialogue must really intellect." Popular magazines, he em- _ome by Gabriel Faure
mean something. Characters should-____. - -
Ve/nic b P by Molmenti
s. Roosevelt And
Mr. Drinkiy ater
Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose
literary experience has pre-
been confined to her daily
per column, has just had pub-
book entitled This Troubled
Readers who remember Joti
ater's book of the same name
ed in 1933, will have a chance
e an interesting comparison.
d appear off-hand that Mrs.
lt has a distinct advantage
e British playwright in one
-the world is certainly con-
ly more troubled now than it
1933. Mrs. Roosevelt likewise
nother advantage, for she can
her book if necessary, while
inkwater has gone where re-
is no longer possible, or at
ardly necessary.
!S
IBRARY!
Best New Books; you
tative and up-to-the-
ter novels, adventure
day - loc minimum)
rT'S
k Store
orth University
-9
WYI
ay
I
I
i
I
us Arrived . .
Niebuhr--Beyond Tragedy $2.00 '
Park--Retreat of the West 3.00
Lippman-The Good Society 3.00
Leacock--My Discovery of the West 2.00
Kang-East Goes West 2.75
The 1937 New Yorker Album 2.50
WANR s BOOKSTORES
316 South State Street
11
Y Gi I tL~r l~y . IVI1 1m
The Italian Lakes by Gabriel
Faure
Florence by Pierre Gautheiez
The French Riviera by De-
voluy and Borel
Switzerland-Northern and
Eastern by Paul Guiton
Switzerland-Western and
Southern by Paul Guiton
The Dolomites by Gabriel
Faure
Now only
89c each
WAHR'S
I
11
11
316 So. State St.
2
OO
0
L
MAN !N A !'u f I MP
/5
U~U A A L~ A E k A1 I
1 I
I'll
be
seeing
M
I you
I
f
I
P f T
nr AI"nnv
I
I