TIDE MICHIGAN DAILY IN THE WORLD OF BOOKSi THE LIBERALS Preston's Novel A Welcome Relief. 'House Of All N Attempt At S( N, the people she writes about really ex- The day of naturalism for natural- aionsBulky ist. But that does not justify her ism's sake is gone. book as an artistic effort. Few people Miss Stead's heart is in the right ci a D ocum en would contend that an author could place, but I will 'enjoy her next book write a sprightly little novel about a much more if she will revise it before publication, making her story a story, Which brings up my other objec- 'family of perverts and masochists making her story pointed, scratching tion. If Miss Stead is insistent enough, !without attempting to offer a justifi- out a few hundred pages and scratch- I am perfectly willing to believe that Ijcation for the existence of :he book. 1 ing out a few hundred characters, Xp TilE LTBERALS, by John Hyde Pres-. ton. John Day Co., New York. $2.50., By GEORGE MUTRNICK I The scene is a smal Connecticut town. But don't mistalke it. These are no horse and buggy days. You'll find in this town Fitzpatrick, a re- spectable leader of the Town's Pa- triotic Comittee He has been evict- ing tenants as well as acting as a spy for the Nazis. You'll find Greg, a spirited young Communist who has renounced the benevolent autocracy of his father (Marston), the local in- dustrialist. Greg's brother Will leans toward Fitzpatrick; sister Ann, to- ward Greg. The character around whom the whole story spins is Phil. He is a liberal. When the story opens' he can't make up his mind where he stands. He is a frustrated artist. He is also longing for a woman. Having just left his Canadian re- treat in despair, Phil comes to visit Will. In the Marston house Phil is injected into the conflict of ideas and values which make our political aild, cultural life so exciting today. Events move fast. Phil falls in love with Ann to whom he is drawn more close- ly as together they emerge from the state of indecisive liberalism. He is drawn with Greg into a conflict be- tween poor tenants and Fitzpatrick's armed thugs. When he sees an old man being slaughtered, he can no longer stay on the sidelines. He gets his head cracked. Now he is better. able to understand the way Obilitch, the trade union leader, has of look-' ing at things. Philgoes to the par- ties of the local intelligentsia and finds a pseudo-intellectualism which is unmasked by their drinking bouts and sexual debaucheries. He finds something much more wholesome in. the vigor of Greg's proletarian poetry. Mr. Marston. a kindly if troubled old soul, is also a liberal of a sdrt. He doesn't like Fitzpatrick, and beneath it all he likes Greg better than Will. L But he wants his men to trust iU him, terial a keen analysis of the charac- HOUSE OF ALL NATIONS, by Chris- i not the CIO. For a long time he feels ters and events of modern life. The tina Stead. Simon & Schuster, 7951 an affinity with Phil. The latter, clarity with which he portrays dy- pp. $5.00. however, under the pressure of events. namic growth of character amid the By HARVEY SWADO a parts ways with Old Marston. In the 1combined influence of physical and I would like to give a brief outline moments of crisis, Phil gains insight intellectual happenings is the most of the story of this book, since that into the nature of his split with this distinguished quality of his work. The is what one generally does in news- well-meaning liberal character. He Liberals is a welcome relief from the paper reviews, but if Miss Stead has understands that the liberal "lived . been unable to tell a story in 800 in a world where ie thought allI sg hpages, I hardly feel that I can do it things were solved by the individual the work of better known pens. in a few paragraphs. -by his enlightened understanding, Should we mention, for example, The House of All Nations, despite itsf his love of justice, his powerful and Prodigal Parents? size, its ballyhoo, its publishers, its balanced sense of the good." Large .._;sales, its favorable Fadiman plug, and numbers of individuals together be- tion "was born in America . .. dur- the reputation of its author, is in my come a new quality which only the' hopinion a very bad book. What Miss mass can represent. The question in ing the hanaicraft period," and that.Stead attempts to do is to give a pano- Phil's mind becomes one of choosing Franklin "invented . . . the American rama of the lives and intrigues of the sides. Not so with Marston. Only Spirit." ,Because of his technological international bankers and finan- after his own daughter is shot by his bias he finds that little or no con- ciers; what she does is to write page hired guards while she attempts to tinuity existed between civilizations after page of description of the con- bring aid to the sit-down strikers, before the invention of the printing versation of dozens of queer, unreal does he submit to the CIO. It is sub- press. But the gap between the an- people. She makes no pretense of mission, not acceptance. 'cient world and the mediaeval, which telling a connected story, but she is Mr. Preston has brought to his ma- he makes so much of, was a gap pri- obviously hopeful that her book will ___ marily in technology. And on the be referred to in the reviews as an other hand, there was in literature, epic. This is what I object to. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING dobe-rc esoal.Nwbd I theology and philosophy a definite IM Ncontinuity, (as Gilson, for one, has ________ shown in his Spirit of the Middle A Novel.ISt's H istory of ^Ages).. Besides his technological bias, American Invention Burlingame is afflicted with a cer- tain insensitivity to the texture of (continued from Page 4) events, and the details of human as- sociation. To him, for example, the tory, the railroads, Ben Franklin) is printing press is necessarily a cause of written in a lucid, pelasing, lukewarm greater unity. Perhaps it is, but it style. Unfortunate iapses of diction, has usually served to destroy older as his reference to inventors being unities (the names of Luther, Vol- "inextricably associated with the taire, Tom Paine, come to mind), and stuffiness of oatmeal" are few. it has always produced a new unity. But his historical theory has not This episodic history is not altogeth- been assimilated. At the beginning er worthless. As a good, non-tech- of each chapter he makes a methodo- nical survey - of American invention, logical offering to Clio, and then tells it may, when its formidable 442 pages his story without utilizing it. His are cut to 200 and infused with some prefaces point out that invention is a slight degree of perspective, prove of slow growth, contributed to by many permanent value to high school stu- hands, but his chapters contain daz.. dents and to those college students zling conclusions such as that inven- I who seek nothing deeper. It is damnably difficult to tell the characters apart, but after you have plowed through a certain amount of the book you come to the conclusion that it doesn't make much difference anyway. For her people exist merely to say strange things, to live strange lives, without having either actual or symbolic significance. They talk casually of millions of dollars, francs, or gulden; they are completely cyni- cal. Half of them are communists, the other half fascists. The com- munists spend their time in buying and selling non-existent grain, etc. and in devising methods whereby the Party can make profits, like a good business organization. The fascists are merely nasty morons: I can hard- ly quarrel with Miss Stead in this generalization, but I do not see how the expansion of such a statement can enhance the artistic qualities of, her book. i- FOR RENT FOR RENT-Very attractive for wo- man, in business or school. Home privileges. 411 E. Washington near State. 6318. 69 FOR RENT-Double room for boys. Approved, $2.50 each. 1232 White., Phone 2-1954. Near Ferry Field. 70 FOR RENT-Campus area, 2 room Apt., hot water, private bath, frig- idaire, reasonable. 540 Packard. 68 FOR RENT-Rooms for boys, 2 blocks from cmpus, stores, 1 block from movies. Suites at $3, $3.25, and $3.75. Single at $4. Roomy. Call 2-1767. 311 Thompson. 52 FOR RENT-3-roOm furnished apart- ment. Private bath, newly decorat- J ed. Apply 7905 G Street. Near main highway, Dexter, Michigan. 50 FOR RENT-Beautifully furnished suite for three. Private bath and shower. Also newly deccrated double. Steam heat. Phone 8544. 422 E. Washington. 76 FOR RENT-Furnished Apt. 711 Ann St. Two blocks from campus. Key at Apt. 3. 78 FOR RENT-Suite, study room, and sleeping porch. Instructor or gradu- ate desired. Garage. Phone 7856. 82 FOR RENT-First class single and double, price reasonable. New .beds and desks. 1117 S. Forest. 36 LOST and FOUND LOST-Green Wild hat from open car along So. Fourth or E. William initialed NSR. Call N. S. Robson, 2-3297. 34 LOST-Pair of horn-rimmed glasses in case marked Burdines, Miami, Fla. Please return to Lawyer's Club, Room E. 33. ' 83 NOTICES ENROLLMENT in Public Evening School classes Monday evening, Oct. 10th. Classes in Shorthand, Typing, Bookkeeping, English, Mathematics, French, German, Spanish, Citizen-' ship, English for Foreigners, Art, Public Speaking, Sports, 'Piano, Sewing; First Aid, Home Nursing, Photography, Woodwork, Drama- tics, tip Reading, Mechanical Draw- ing, Interior Decorating, Aviation, Cooking, Salesmanship, and Mer- chandising. Registration Fee. Ann, Arbor High School. For further in- formation call 5797. 81 MISCELLANEOUS WASHED SAND and Gravel, Drive- way gravel, washed pebbles. Killins Gravel Company, Phone 7112. 17 WANTED - TYPING VIOLA STEIN--Experienced typist. Reasonable rates, 706 Oaklaid. Phone 6327. .10 LAUNDRIES LAUNDRY - 2-1044. Sox darned Careful work at low prices. LAUNDRY-Studeits' laundry. Shi 12c. We call for and deliver. Phon 4863 for other prices. Mrs. Richard SILVER LAUNDRY 607 Hoover Phone 5594 Free pickups and deliveries Price List All articles washed and ironed. Shirts. .................12 Undershirts................04 Shorts . ........ ......04 Pajama Suits 10 Socks, pair..03 Handkerchiefs..............02 Bath ,Towels .............03 All Work Guaranteed Also special prices on Coed's laun- dries. All bundles done separately. No markings. Silks, wools our specialty. FOR SALE FOR SALE--Fine hunting dog. Reg istered pedigreed German Pointe Call 2-2961. FOR SALE-Ford car, 1934 ForF Sedan. In excellent shape. doo tires, battery. $125. Phone 3305. ' 'FOR SALE-Microscope, complete it cluding oil immersion. Reasonab priced. Phone 8867. 1 assues m 'f Woollcott To Open Lecture Series Oct. 25 Alexander Woollcott will make his second Ann Arbor appearance on October 25. Author of "While Rome Burns," and compiler of the "First" and "Second Woollcott Reader,' he was dramatic critic for the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and the New York World. Alexander Woollcott is probably best known for his popular series of broadcasts titled "The Town Crier." !/ . ..' /. PRICES I' ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT Single Admission Tickets Main floor...75c COL. W. STEWART RODDIE, C.V. O., will Season Tickets Main floor.$3.50 Three central sections- Main floor. $3.00 Extreme right and left- First Balcony, three central sections $3.00 First Balcony, extreme right and left $2.75 present "European Mosaic," on Nov. 29. His talk, Balcony ,..5c will be an account of the conditions in Europe. I (Woolicott and van Zeeland single, admission tickets .. . $1.00 and 75c) !'_____.---- MAIL ORDERS NOW Applications for tickets will be filled in the order received. Mail all orders to the Oratorical Asso- DR. PAUL VAN ZEELAND is probably the outstand- ing figure among the younger European statesmen. As a member of the Belgium Relief Commission, former Premier of Belgium, and author of the van Zeeland World Trade Report, lie became an internationally renowned figure. Van Zeeland will appear on the lecture series Nov. 15. ciation, 3211 Angell Hall, Ann Arbor. rI .. Ism.