The Realm of Books
SMITH, JESSICA
The Realm of Books Changing Russia A Review by JESSICA SMITH rjjg REFORGING OF RUSSIA. 0m Fduin Ware Hullinger. New fork: E. P. Dutton & Co. $i.OO. FfJR one fundamentally out of lympathy with...
...Ruint," Hatcher Hughes' new play which oponed this week st, th* Prov-inretown Theatre, will b* published shortly In book form by Harpen...
...The same house announces that sonic of the verses in A. A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young," some fourteen of th* poem«, have be*n set to music and ia ready for Immediate publication under the title, "Fourteen Songt," the volume containing the verses and music...
...But since Mr...
...Elias Tobenkin gives here /t beat a sketch which a competent novelist might transmogrify from its sodden clay to veritable life...
...This book presents a sort of rhapsodic laureate of Love, the which, one gathers, so dogs and wor-rle* at her that she scarce thinks of anythSng else...
...Un evenness marks the book...
...THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES...
...Yesterday, Today — and Tomorrmv...
...At best, the Christians shown are professing Christians, not essentially believing Christians...
...It is possible that nowhere in the book is hinted the way out...
...If you don't like my selection of 'best* poems, go publish one yourself," the affronted anthologist can rejoin —unanswerably...
...Among these poems are "Happiness," "Ha« Anybody Se»n My Moutrr' "Lin»a and Squares," "Market Square," 'The Three Foxes," "Half-way Down," "In the Fashion," and "Veapert...
...While the incurious stars burnt on— And Night as weary caravans the hours led, • I asked of God, in dreams your soul to keep Till morning wake you glad— then comforted I I fell asleep, I While the incurious stars burnt on...
...Recent Poetry A Rev.ew by RAYMOND FULLER THE BEST POEMS OF Ml...
...The Treasure," Sslma Lagerlnf's sixteenth-century tale of the little maid, Klsalill, whose heart was tern to pieces between the living and the dead, will, be published by Doubleday,' Page & Company on April 10...
...William Lea/ Notes On Books For earlv publication the Muttons announce "Poets of America," by Clement Wood, a volume of criticism and comment surveying the whole body of American poetry from Colonial times to the immediate present...
...Th* Dial Preaa announce...
...Hullinger's attitude toward the revolution is far more toltraht than that of many people emfessedly more in sympathy with the idea of revolution, but less realistic in judging the actuality of revolution...
...He decibel the operation of tha Nep, the tndusl getting into motion of the ""wis of industry and the normalU «tion of life...
...This step has the backing of his Jewyi»h uncle in Chicago, but not of the uncle's wife, and of course alienates him from his father in the Old World...
...Life in Mediaeval France," by Mita Joan Evana, ia a book the intent ion of which ia to preaent a clear picture of the background against which the history of mediaeval Franca unfolded it-aclf, for those who cannot read th* original aoUrccs...
...The theme of the' book is important, for alt tha unimportance of the1 finished product before us...
...Butler...
...The latest venture in publishing is tha founding of The Viking Press...
...B*ck...
...where honest dissent carries no stigma...
...But if you want to believe th* comforting fiction that the Constitution is almost as sacred as thd Ark of ths Covenant and that anyone who suggest* a change in it is an atheist, I can cheerfully recommend Mr...
...Apart from these considerations, Mr...
...THERE is almost nothing ona can say about an anthology In reviewing it...
...Now, another volume of constitu-tlonal mythology, containing no new argument* and no new facts, another volume of conventional blah-blah, aren't worth a column of ridicule, But the fact that Butler and Beck art» held up as the leading spokesmen of things as they are, of conventional Ideals, conventional history, conv*ntlotMl *lft*r*JWm}* makes it worth whil* to *S%«d sftl# moments, if not analysing, at least examining the neture of that muck-praised intellectual 'support' of erudite, cultured, well-bred Babbittry...
...Beck are able men...
...The last section of the hook deals exclusively with the feminist movement and the future...
...Hullinger give* ftaiarkably fair and accurate ac-Mpt This is the more remarkable, jK* Hullinger himself came Into nther tharp conflict with the cen-itrihip department, ae a Result of which he was expelled from Rus8;a, IBd ordinarily such experiences color the whole outlook of the per-W0 Who has been through them...
...tm,nt "corded auch Com-**v.iL " Kr»,h«><:hekhov, who-• Been imprisoned for trying to Personal profit out of their ^mMmt » industry...
...What Is there about the Constitution thst makes even the mildest objective examination seem to the True Bdievcr* something like heresy and sacrilegeT Well, that's the way Beck write...
...Ing, in Lucienne'* survey of the life around her...
...The man or woman of clarified scientific vision today says to the Jew: the world's best thought holds that your religion Is all based upon illusion...
...They knew exactly what they wanted...
...all things are e***titl*llr one...
...th* world's best thought may conceivably be in error...
...The volume is arranged in acctioni each dealing with a feature of dally existence auch aa: Town Life, Monaatlc Life, Feudal Society, Pilgrimage, etc., snd will be pub li>hnil l>v Oxford IInlv*r*itV Press...
...If I quote a typical page here, I will lay before readers a fair sample of the author's style and treatment...
...unenlmism," of those who f**l st sense "of th* actual organic units' of life beyond the conventional unite of individual things and persons.'' This tendency offthv* modem* (* find new nam** for themselves, to hall themselves aa exponent* of n**i theories, founder* of new schools, should not blind us to tho fset that sn underlying unity in life ha* bees seen by many writers, nor to the equal fact that Remain* I* a genuine artist "Lucienne" is replete with observation of life sad with keen analysis of moods snd motive...
...Hullinger moved about Russia freely and saw much...
...hut a country that lap* up Hal deman-Julius's "Little Blue Books" furnishing homeopathic doses of Voltaire, Darwin, and other anti-god specifics, Is marching toward an ac reptance of dissent...
...In some of her poems there is someflfing of a lack of fibre— thbugh some are truly deep...
...He does not tell how for the first time cultural opportunities are being opened up for thousands of workers and peasants...
...He then points out that the Russian revolution is simply passing through a normal stage of development, the unusual feature of it being the continuance of the same leaders during tho period of revolution ind the present period of reconstruction...
...they U)l ,'the genius of organization...
...At this point Mr...
...But It has nevertheless awakened in them a human self-consciousness which they had not dared articulate before...
...But into the tragic symphony the first strains of the melody of hope and happiness are beginning...
...Tractors will revolutionize farm methods...
...Clear-* •yed a* ahe is, Lucienne foresaw no such disposal of herself, no such singleness as com** to bind h*r with that provincial family in a tie ef union...
...Inc., by Harold K Guinsburg, formerly of Simon h Schuster, and George S. Op-penheimer, who for the last threa and a half years hss been advertising and publicity manager for Alfred A. Knopf...
...What is there in the Constitution that make* even the s bleat of men act like religious fanatic*, unable to bear not only criticism but even critical examination...
...How to Se* Modern Pictures," 'by Ralph M. Pearson...
...There is nothing unreal nor impossible in the plot...
...when others hf the peddler class, rather than of the merchant class to which Samuel belonged, arrived and pursued their humble and odorous existence, th* distinction between Jew and goy grows naticeable...
...for immediate publication "Men Seen," by Paul Roaenfeld, an interpretation of the young*r generation of artists...
...succeeded them because...
...The theme of racial mingling, in the case of white and Negro, is handled with exquisite beauty by Leonard Merrick, himself a few, in "The Quaint Companions...
...To both he says: Go your way, believe as you will, if you must...
...The Barbeleneta hav*, bentatg their surface differences and hoetflie tie*, a family feeling that giro* them power, a, way of working out th -ir separata problems ae a family unit, that carries I u 'onnst and the distant cousin whom she loves along the unyielding family way...
...We can, however, say that we have read most of the work in this "Best Poems of 1924" (the fiscal year), scanned thoughtfully and Judicially its list of British and American poets, and we have found it just what we expected it would be —good stuff...
...Occasionally there I* to be found a radical who 1* really a. liberal, but most radicals wage war upon liberty with any instrument upon which they can lay hands...
...It is sjtetrlble phase, and during its heat it is often difficult to see a clearing •head...
...Life to her la eae long merging...
...1914...
...Th* story Is moving, In its portrayal ef the wee —four—women Involved, and ravesL...
...But the moment he comes within bailing distance of Constitutional convention he abandons his historic sense and approaches like a True Believer, reverently...
...Samuel is a believing Jew, while not a profeaaing Jew...
...it flow* in a pro** that is round and vigorous and at ease...
...The real ^wakening of the peasant masses can come only through education...
...George later ihows woman a emergence Into fuller power and influence In the Renaissance, snd reviews the political story of woman In the end of- the eighteenth century, the nineteenth, and the early years of the twentieth...
...Socialism is "refuted" by an old, old chestnut about the Irishman who wa* a Socialist and who would be willing to divide up everything if he had It...
...This is more true of the city today than ef th* country...
...the peasants are at work again...
...Butler and Mr...
...Beck is thoroughly informed in the history of the Constitution...
...Robert Nathan, suthor of "The I'uppri Mauler...
...But, as I respect your belief, respect my lack of it...
...The characters in "God of Might" never emerge from the mist into human reality...
...If you want to know the Constitution, read Charles A. Beard, Max Par-rand or Paul Leicester Ford...
...To th* Christian he says the identical thing...
...The preface was written by Robert M. La Follette...
...rk revolution in the final analyst" says Mr...
...Some hitherto neglected figures...
...Cultured Babbittry A Review by WILLIAM hi FEfCENBAUM THE FAITH OF A LIBERAL...
...Now for Dr...
...A wise Jewish friend, who has tried the other course, advises Samuel to turn goy...
...His testi-ssniy is worth listening to, but wtuld have been more valuable had h« published the book immediately eireturning to this country...
...Beck's is his series of lectures on the Constitution' delivered before the Benchers of Grsy's Inn, London, and repeated in Paris and New York...
...The Bolshevik...
...I note with interest many opinions on Prohibition, Socialism, a Federal Budget, the Constitution, Democracy, and I see nothing la the book from end to end that is worth a second thought...
...New York: George H. Dorarjp IT is inevitable, I suppose, that the President of America's largest university and the Solicitor-General of th* United States should .be invited to deliver public addresses...
...Cultural life, he says, lias been stifled...
...Neither, I venture to guess, will be remembered for a single year...
...Presenting her Idea* and observations in the first person, the author Is enabled to elide from one event to th* next with a •emblems* of continuity and even, natural blending...
...There was no attempt, he states, to simper his movements...
...j"jd that the Communist party ™1«* Ruooia because it is only force '««can rule Russia" . . . this *tt»t be the underlying motif of future until education (plua Wrtunity) has time to substitute "!"• other motive force in the ""n«f and hearts of Russia's mil-of moujhiks who can neither "so nor write...
...Anthology Compiled by L. A. G. Strong...
...M*molrs of a Napoleonic Officer," by J*an-Baptiata Hnrres, and "XLI Poema," by fc...
...Clement Wood's forthcoming survey and critical discussion of the American jioetlcal product, "Posts of Americn," is announced for publication oh April It by E. P. Dutton * Co...
...A new .loot by W. L. George, "The Story *r Woman," will be published by Harpers early in April...
...But sooner or ikttr every great revolutionary ¦sf'saiiient has thrown- off the hysteria of Its Initial fanaticism and entered a period of reorganization and construction...
...New York: Charles Scribner'i Sons...
...And he asks us to "member that Russia has behind it J Wckground of centuries of despotism and force, in addition to the JwrnadUte emotional background of tkfrexrs of revolution and terror...
...Bernard Kellermann, author of "The Sea...
...Hullinger's tendency ttexsggerate the amount of espionage and suspicion to be found in Ratals, which he takes for granted itijl persists in the same degree as when he was there...
...The first hslf of the book is devoted to woman In the ages before Christ, her life, mantel and physical growth, and her position in the created order as it changed from period to period...
...By Eliot Toben-kin...
...to steal...
...Hullinger, "is simply iTlurry-up phase in the general sthenic of human evolution...
...Happiness la marriage is a gamble, with life holding the bank, and the odds figured carefully against the players...
...The minor tone," he says, "is still the overshadowing note of Russian life today...
...Revolution is oft.cn an exotic thing, and may change its courts repeatedly several times before merging back into the slower ejurnt of evolution...
...Uinton, Batch A Co...
...It has aroused them to the fact that they are human beings, not dogs, and that they can have an influence on their own destiny if they only will think hard enough...
...Both are well informed, not only in their own lines, but likewise In general culture...
...They have been producing, and have a chance to improve their lot—most of all, they have the use of the land...
...Bianchi's delectable looking little red volume), we can be much more pointed—and disappointed...
...But if tha two concerned can escape from the superstitious clouds of Judaism and Christianity alike, and face life together believer* is man, and not in man's wraith-Ilk* deities, there is more chance of happiness...
...However, toward tho end of the baok the theme enlarges to take in eight "war poems" of somewhat temporary value...
...Certain it is that the revolution has stirred the peasant masses as they never were stirred before...
...As we have remarked once on this page, all anthologies are good—but some are better than others...
...Hullinger has been away from Russia lot'over two years he has not befn sale to keep entirely abreast of the changes that have occurred use* that time...
...This appears to be one of the better ones...
...Ho rightly stresses the importance of peasant Russia, which had to make its start after the famine literally from death's door...
...Hullinger considers the Kerensky collapse inevitable ss a result of internal dissensions and the fact that Kerensky attempted to Set up a political democ-rscyr in a country which for centuries was used only to the ways of a feudal empire...
...The story ends as Samuel goes into a Jewish synagogue in Chicago and prays for strength to remain Jew—and himself...
...But while censuring the Communists for their supposed eagerness for profits, he sees at the same time the hope for Russia'a future in the greater opportunities along this line ahead...
...Bottom: Houghton-Mifflin Co...
...That P Communists are now trying W* "est to be good capitalists...
...A naw Huebsch reprint is "The Con-acltntioua Objector in America" a war record with special validity in time of peace...
...Hullinger feels that there is communism left in Russia...
...By Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia Univertity...
...He lays the improvement to the abandonment of Communism, stither than to the fact that for the first time Russia is at peace and free to begin to develop her program...
...And behold, in time they do so appear and have their day when they are reviewed in the literary publications, and sections are promptly forgotten, their names to be preserved only on the title page, in future books and in tho list of their works in the annual editions of "Who's Who...
...In American poetry sre also considered and , g!v«n their due...
...Samuel's children are raised as Christians, and he does not know what to do to be accepted whole-heartedly by "Christian" Lincoln...
...Take your choice*, deal gently to the belief* of other*, and luck go with you in your passage toward that universal goal, toward that reunion with th* scattering substance of the earth that i* at once our source, our nutriment, and Our future...
...As a novel, it does not impress...
...Beck is one of the greatest constitutional lawyers in the country...
...it has not enlightened them, nor has it given them the ideals originally promised...
...he does know that there the land is—that the old estate owners, have been driven away, and that he is now using the land as if it were his own...
...The constant symbolism expressed by capital-lettered Love becomes monotonous to me— and well-nigh undecipherable in meaning...
...E. dimming*, and a aecend edition of "Obaervationa," by Marianne Moore, which received the Dial Prize award In 1024...
...Indeed, I suspect that the two gentlemen referred to (and a whole raft of other gentlemen of similar standing) privately think of their addresses as "Papers...
...He traces the constitutional history of the colonies to show thst the Colonist* were accustomed to self-government, and his analysis of the Article* of Confederation is masterly...
...By Jul** ******* Nov York: Boni at UvtnyhU $I.S0...
...New York...
...Summing up, Mr...
...Among its unique and especially interesting features are Its study of the contributions to American4* poetry made by Indian songs and by Negro verse,' this being the first extensive ami careful treatment of either of tbesosubjects...
...He sketches the development of the ctwi| war, the White Terror, the Red Terror, the establishment of political dictatorship, and of an economic dictatorship modeled on the Communist pattern...
...flourished in business and took unto himself a Christian wife...
...I hav* read th* lecture* carefully, ss one should who 1* preparing to write an honest review...
...hut who wouldn't divide up his two pigs because he had two-pig...
...Add to thi* element of uncertainty, a difference in race and culture, and the chance of happiness in general is further minimised...
...Both Dr...
...Jew Into Goy A Review by CLEMENT WOOD GOD OF MIGHT...
...Excellent for commencement day Orations, hut absolutely of th* moment and of the moment slpns...
...It has confused them, pcr-hsps...
...HulHngcr fails in his logic...
...This is not her first published volume of poetry...
...X.i0...
...Samuel Wassermsn- this was his American name—was at first the only Jew ,in the City of Lincoln...
...But Merrick's chsracters livs and breathe, and are not mere puppets set kicking by the finger-twitches of their creator...
...Thst is, though, not to say that the aforesaid presump-tiousness and parauoicism is not detectable—but we know that we shall not get out as good a collection in 1925...
...Wa are coming into a culture where more and more moss-backed adherence to the illusions of the past is not required of forward-looking men and women...
...But when we come to our book table and seize upon an "anthology" of one poet's writing (say like Mrs...
...Bianchi has a Hound of Heaven all her own...
...By James M. Beck...
...Lucienne 1* a young Parisian who goes to the province* to make her living as a piano teacher, and comes in contact with a family and with life...
...TaU experience does perhaps ac-(oant for Mr...
...Thirdly, no -two inhabitants of this oblate spheroid would ever agree on "principles of selection"— hence all (to yourself) presumptive omissions and paranoic inclusions ran be justified suavely by any one bold enough to get out an anthology...
...Small, Maynard ? Co, ft .00, THE WANDERING EROS...
...The peasant is in phys-icsl possession of the soil, and selling his products freely...
...When education is established on an effective universal scale, and freedom of expression comes to Russia, popular educators will find far more receptive and sensitive cars because of the fact of the revolution...
...At on* moment they sre Socialists, st another Communist*, at another upholders of class government, at another detpots, using, whan they can, th* law-making power to annoy, to harass, and to restrict men in their just and proper activities...
...But it's * well written book, snd no doubt the Benchers of Gray's bill had a great time listening to thi lectures...
...Dr.' Butler's volume consists of addresses delivered upon various occasions before various organizations all over the United States and in Europe—including a Senate committee and a high court in Paris...
...And more quietly he continues: There may be more happiness in seeing toward truth as it is, rather than through venerable glasses stained with a* religious light, whether the red glare of the Christian hall or tha musty false dawn of a Messiah still to come to Jehovah'* admittedly chosen people...
...He IW out that the Soviet experi-»k«Awas initiated under the abnormal conditions of civil war, that it "«'*r, in fact, had a real chance, •WJIien proceeds to attribute the ftihte of production to the failure "'the Communist program, and ac-C*J** it as the failure of commitmm Hit in considering the progress «f th* rebuilding that followed he' '•members, as so many others have fjlles.to do, that Russia had to be-Wn ktr reconstruction program with, »»r energy drained by one of the *«rit ordeals that any modern people have ever survived...
...Hullinger believes that the revolution has prepared the way for a far better development than would have been possible if its rough kiss had not awakened Russia from her long slumbers, that Russia will develop a more wholesome, unified Government than without the shakeup, and that she is bound to continue her artistic and cultured development— "for Russia has the human timber of which greatness is made...
...Butler's opinions ar* absolutely Correct...
...100 par cent ism, without rawness snd rough* ness...
...The Unjty of Lift LVCIENNK...
...Boston...
...KltAOf Pavis, author of "I'll Show You Th* Town...
...Ihey were well disciplined...
...The story is thin, sketchy, unemotional, lacking in poignancy...
...it is of quotable length, and not as good as some others...
...For the believers all consideration should be felt...
...Jr...
...But thi* statement ef opinion is worth quoting because it show* whst paiseth for understanding of public matter* among tit* White Haired Lad* of th* Plutocracy: "Radicalism is not a form of liberalism...
...Martha Dickinson BianchL lttt...
...Its author l> Norman Thomas, Socialist, candidate for Governor of New York in tha last election...
...And yet their publiq work, aside from their particular jobs, is utterly sterile...
...There are, for in-iUse*, a number of such inaccura-ri*l *s his statement that there arc re pest-war telephone directories in Meseow...
...Butler is a brilliant educator and a remarkable administrator, w le Mr...
...2.00...
...On tie I aught jr...
...The peasant, he declares, knowi little of his legal status...
...In a small, mid-Western city he settled and built for himself a place in the esteem of the natives...
...fori ,"u,IIn*er h"» » rather con-"•o Idea of the present economic fnnization—or rather no idea at «• »«ys that the Communists '"business for personal profit— kr tk . h,rd|y to >»" borne out ¦ai7...
...If you like it, the better you...
...In his eyes, it is his, and he intends to keep it...
...THIS is the story of Samuel Wasserman, son of a Russian ghetto, who came to America to avtid religious persecution...
...In hi* foreword, Waldo, Freak, who ha* given a sympathetic and sound translation, declares that the author belong* to th* school at...
...Hi* book containa much historical material that is valuable (although nothing that i* n*w to anyone even moderately well informed on the history of that period...
...The, poetess strums on this taut string Love, Love, Love, till one is maddened to know whether her every amotion, every experience, every memory, every friendship, every natural beauty is ''Love...
...if you don't, the better the anthologist—at least one feels this is what all controversy about it would eventually coma to...
...Abraham Cahan, in "The Rise of David Levin-sky," showed how magnificently material not entirely dissimilar might be treated...
...And when he talks of living conditions, he tells of the princes and princesses he visited, and under what miserable conditions they have had to live—he does not tell how the workers are living—of their clubs, their theatres, their day nurseries...
...And it is likewise inevitable that such addresses should be prepared in advance and the manuscripts preserved in the expectation that in the course of time they may appear in book form...
...FfJR one fundamentally out of lympathy with the Idea of revo-latino and the ultimate aimi of s«Moviet State, Mr...
...Also, if you like much of it and disdain the rest—well, what of It...
...Erie Maachwltz, a newcomer, Gilbert < films aad laabel Ottrandar era nan-1 sented on Robert M. McBridt's apring fiction liat...
...It's been done a thousand times by a thousand pompous orator...
Vol. 2 • April 1925 • No. 15
