Literary Gossip
by
PAT MORRISSETTE
The decadent novel, to borrow a
line from Havelock Ellis’s excuse
for J. K. Huysmans’ “Against the
Grain’’, is a novel decomposed to
the extent that ‘ ‘ the whole gives
away to the chapter, the chapter
gives away to the page, and the page
to the sentence. The Word is Ulti
mate.’’ (And then even some of the
Words give away!)
Now, for the benefit of the aud
ience, we will translate' Huysmans’
great novel concerning the soulful
ennui of an aesthetical mattoid, with
the idea of showing the relationship
of Decadence to Rotteness. For
sooth :
“Against the Brain: a novel of
the Ultimate Word.”
Poor .Tean grew up. But he had
struggled so pleasantly through the
nauseate odium of scrufula, chlor
osis, anaemia etc, that by the time
he was fully grown he had quite the
appearance of the dilettanti, and was
a literary connoisseur with an ex
treme finesses of taste. He early
showed his stupidity by his prefer
ence for Latin rather than Greek,
and formed a profound attachment
to those Latin authors who reminded
him most of his lack of Greek. His
father and mother having died of
several strange maladies he was left
alone to en.ioy life hindered only by
a bathyeolpian and down-reaching
ennui—an ennui so self-absorbing
that he could not help but think.
No sooner was one thought out of
his head, than—Presto! he was
thinking of another. It was terrible.
Book II
To satisfy his deep aesthetical
sense he built himself a house with
pink and orange bed rooms. But
even this had no attraction. His
soul was more profound. Accordingly
he bought a pet turtle and paved its
back with precious stones. Somehow
the turtle reminded him that once
he had had a tooth pulled, and then,
after he had had a nightmare, the
darn turtle died. His death proved
to be a great disappointment, as he
was a young turtle.
Book III
Exotic flowers jarred the conein
nity of his gracefully balanced aes
thetical sense, gave him nightmares,
and reminded him of whole congeries
of weak women. He thought of tak
ing a bath, and once walked around
the room for exercise but this was
too stupid. Instead he spent days
smelling a great variety of perfumes,
and got a terrible bounce out of
tickling his throat with numerous
liquors. Here was satisfaction for
the soul in these subtle sensations
caused by changing from brandy to
/the many derivatives of Sherry! But
this specializations of taste had its
draw backs. He noted with horror
that he was losing his taste for
cheese and onions.
Book TV
The climax comes. The poor man
looked into the mirror. Horrors!
The act almost killed him. His
doctors were summoned, and they
told him the worst. He must leave
his profound aesthetical contempla
tions or go insane. He left. Insan
ity was no new experience for poor
Jean. Life is cruel.
A healthy portrait of the whole
modern decadent movement from a
rather superior angle is found in
Car! Van Vechten’s “The Blind Bow
Boy’’. Harold—a silver flamingo—
graduates from college. Being an
ignorant college graduate, he is in
troduced into “the world’’ — “the
world’’ meaning everything unnat
ural that he had heard about. The
author takes the opportunity to par
ade the products of the “world” be
fore the amused reader. One finds
everything from the . demi-pouceaux
to the ^-cranked. Here is an author
who is laughing at Decadents—who
are laughing at life. Vet, from a
different point of view, Van Vechten
can be taken for a decadent himself.
A rhetorical innovation sanctions
the ommission of all quotation marks
from the book.
Now to assume with Havelock
that “Against the OrainD is illus
trative of the ‘1 modern ’ ’ decadence
is to assume that New York is some
40 years behind Paris. This would
only be a pleasure to a Frenchman.
And besides, there are certain differ
ences between the ‘1 old ’ ’ and the
“new” Decandents which the Eng
list Spartan has not noticed.
Huymans ’ one theme, as Huneker
has noted, is the The Strangling En
nui—with variations, of course. He
is bored with life itself. The mod
ern decadents, like Aldous Huxley
with his “Crome Yellow”, “Lim
bo”, “Mortal Coils” (all in the
library), are only amused with the
idea of living. The modern deca
dents have transferred the irony of
! the old into healthy satire. Instead
| of imitating Baudelaire they imitate
| each other, and laugh in strange cir
: cles about this amrsing function of
i the human race—existence. They
stop living, these Decadents, in order
to enjoy “life”.
» «■ *
Say, by the way, the Constable
edition of Herman Melville has ar
rived. The poor books are sticking
their blue backs out from the lib
rary shelves without a name in ’em.
There’s some missing. And “Clar
el”, possibly, isn’t in the bunch.
And also among the current event:
(I) Young Herbert Howe has de
vised a brand new system of philoso
phy and is wondering whether he has
enough nerve to present it, gratis, to
the philosophy club; and, (2) the
American Mercury has appeared with
| out startling the campus, and gives
: great promise of becoming the cat’s
mewow.
j -
Oxforditis Is Rampant
on University Campus
(Continued from page one)
tures which may he attended at
the discretion of the students.
Since the entire student body is
a thinking group, personal and«or
ganization discussions are common;
are, perhaps, one of the most im
portant educational factors.
Upon personal research, properly
advised, and upon student discus
sion the system is based. When
: the scholar has completed his
! studies he goes before an examin
ing board, not the instructors with
whom he has studied, but men who
have never seen him before. He
is examined, not as to the extent of
his knowledge—it is taken for
granted that he has covered the
field in which he is interested—but
upon his ability to use this knowl
edge and upon his grasp of it’s sig
nificance.
With such a system a man has
to think; the mere memorizer is lost.
It is this divergence in the na
ture of the institutions . that is the
i basis for the assertion that Europ
ean universities excel ours; it is
due to this divergence that the av
erage American college senior is
rated abroad as the intellectual
equal of the average Oxford*fresh
man. And it is due to this differ
'ence, this apparent superiority, that
agitation has been started in this
j country for a different type of
I higher education, patterned, I*er
j haps, after the plan of England.
Oregana Art Work
Worked in Browns
■
(Continued from page one)
| able, for each is working on that
| part in which he is interested. Ma
I terial and exact scenes from the
12th Century period are being thor
oughly investigated by the art stu
| dents so that the true Norman at
' mosphere is expressed in every de
tail.
On the dedication page below
the photograph, is the etched draw
ing of a queen bestowing the rank
of knighthood on a courtier sym
bolizing the conferring of honor in
that century.
The type of lettering used is the
type preceding the Old English, and
Gothic style. Throughout the ad
ministration section hand-lettering
from the days of the Normans is
effectively employed instead of the
usual printing. Even the body type
with large ornate initial capitals is
chosen from old style type.
The 1924 Oregana will be a book
of individuality. And when once
one has entered the portals of its
pages, he will be lost in the beauty
of those pages reflecting an age of
Norman romance and love of ad
venture. And after all, is it not
romance and love of adventure and
change—that continuous variation
expelling monotony—that the college
man and woman of today enjoy?
How About Your Clothes
During the rush of social engagements during vacation
your clothes worked overtime. Take time out now and
have your entire wardrobe renovated. Send us your
suits, overcoats, dresses and gloves—we’ll make them
like new.
If we clean it, it’s CLEAN
City Cleaners
Phone 220 44 West 8th
Memories of Wagner Told
* * * * * *
Historical Piano Restored
Just a year ago at this time,
i Richard Wagner’s own piano was
brought to this country by Robert
H. Prosser, formerly of Eugene.
| He discovered the instrument in the
[drawing room of an old music
teacher in Berlin, while serving
overseas as an American soldier.
In a letter to Mrs. P. L. Camp
bell, shortly after the piano had
been brought to America, Mr.
Prosser s;tid, “ My finding the piano
resulted from hearing about it
from acquaintances I made while
overseas. When conditions were
more settled I started a thorough
investigation; it finally took me
more than two and a half years to
get it out of Germany.”
On December 21 of last year, a
memorial concert was held in the
studios of William Knabe and com
pany in honor of the official intro
duction into the United States of
Wagner’s piano, presented to him
by King Ludwig II, of Bavaria, 58
years before.
For 48 years the piano had stood
in the little salon of Tlieobold
Guenther, who had taught the
children of Bechstein, the manufac
turer of the piano. In 1874 Bech
stein secured the instrument from
Wagner, and offered it to his chil
dren ’s teacher.
In a reprint from the Musical
Courier, the story of the old piano
and of Wagner’s association with
it is told. “Of the turning point
in Wagner’s life the old piano
stands today as a silent "witness, ”
the article states. “Simultaneously
with its ■ final coat of varnish, a
boy king came on the throne of
Bavaria.”
Three years before, the story ex
plains, the young king, at the age
of 15, had heard “Lohengrin,” by
Wagner, then termed the “mad
composer.” The young king order
led his secretary, Pfeistcrmeister, to
j find the composer. Wagner was
| then fleeing from creditors, in a
state of utter discouragement.
When Pfeistcrmeister finally traced
the disheartened composer, Wagner
refused to see him, believing the
j king's messenger to* be only another
| creditor.
I
Finally, the romantic story de
velops, Pfeistermeister gave Wag
ner a ring from the king, and a
message urging him to finish the
“Ring,” with the royal treasury to
draw upon. From that time on,
the so-called “mad composer” was
able to turn his dreams into musical
realities.
At the same time that the com
! poser was creating his immortal
music, he was living “the great
human romance that the world has
I forgiven because of its beauty.”
I Wagner loved Cosima, the daughter
of Liszt, and the wife of Von Bu
jlow. The story tells, “Liszt implor
| eel his daughter and bitterly eon
! demned Wagner. Von Bulow cried
jout, “I cannot kill the master. If
1 he were anyone else he would have
been dead long ago.” But Wagner
I and Cosima loved and loved triumph
ed, the music drama emerged in
perfect completeness.”
Cosima is called the heroine of
the old piano. Wagner had ex
perienced one unhappy marriage,
1 and now Cosima inspired the
| master to pour out his soul on the
i instrument.
Thei concert, which introduced
the historical instrument to Ameri
ca, was held just two weeks after
its arrival in New York. Mr. Pros
ser said in his letter, “The concert
turned out to be one of the big
society events of the season.
Mr. Prosser, now living in New
York, is still in possession of the
piano.
Stack Climbers
Must Face Soot
“Many have climbed and none
have fallen,” might be a timely
comment on the ambitious members
of the student body who succeeded
in ascending the new smokestack
which is now playing its much ap
preciated part of keeping the stu
dent body warm during these frosty
days.
More than one adventurous in
dividual paid up his life insurance,
took a long breath and made the
ascent to the top. “The rungs im
bedded in the brick were most
capricious at times,” .said one
freshman. “Each time the play
ful little thing pulled out an inch
or two from the wall as I grasped
it, I began to think how unyield
ing cement floors were to drop on,
from a height of 100 feet or so,
whether the folks would miss mo
very much and how' many sins 1
had committed which had been re
corded by St. Peter.”
The view from the top equals
anything that can be seen from
Spencer’s Butte on a clear day, in
the opinion of those who have
“Chiropractic”
[s the science of restoring
health, through the nerves.
Chiropractic co-ordinating
with the principles of Elec
trotherophy is getting re
sults that is safe, sane and
sure.
Dr. Geo. Simon
Phone 355J 916 Willamette
Over Ludford store
)
Good
Simple
Arithmetic
Good Flour
plus
Good Baker
Equals
Good Bread
\N\WAkV\V
Butter-Krust]
It BREAD
climbed, and being nearer the cen
ter of things, the sightseer gets
I more a view of the surrounding
j country.
Those who have missed the op
portunity of the climb will have to
satisfy themselves with hearing the
This Modernism
i
I
Slowly, insiduously there has seep
ed into the church of the present
day a new mental point of view. It
is simply a reflection of the new
mental habits of the age in which
we live. It has been happily named
Modernism, for it is just that—an
absorbtion by the ministry and laity
of the churches of Christendom of the
modern view point.
It is capable of enriching and
broadening the life of the churches.
Indeed it has already done so. But
| incidentally yet quite inevitably this
Modernism is out of sympathy with
I the ancient creeds and dogmatisms
j of the Church, considered as an Jiis
l toric institution. It can, it is true,
use the ancient creeds, expressing a
theology based on antique assump
tions of unique authority resident
in the instituted church and the in
fallibility of the inspired Bible ns
the word of God, but Modernism can
use all this only figuratively and
| symbolically, as the vesture for a
nobler faith for moderns.
Within recent years those within
i the churches who cling closely to the
old expressions of faith, to the in
fallibilities of the Church of Christ
and the inspired book, together with
the doctrines centering around the
vicarious sacrificial death of Christ,
have been aroused to a sense of
danger. They see more clearly than
Modernists within the church that
the whole body of their doctrine is
being slowly disintegrated, that it
cannot live in the atmosphere of Mod
ernism. This party calling themselves
' Fundamentalists have become milit
i
ant anil frankly say they intend to
cast out these heretical Modernists
from the fold of Orthodoxy.
Unitarianism rejected most of the
ancient doctrines of the Orthodox
church a century ago. Within Unitar
ianism there was no resistance to the
reception of modern point of view.
The theory of evolution came as a
greatly desired illumination of their
; quest for truth. So Unitarianism to
day can in sonic degree play the
prophetic role. Unitarians know from
■ experience about, where Modernism
arrives philosophically.
Next Sunday the Rev. Frank Fay
Eddy of the Unitarian Church will
begin a series of sermons dealing
with the significance of Modernism
j and its probable evolution. The
! theme of the first of these sermons
will be “The Fundamentalism of a
Modernist.”
The soloist at this service will bo
| Lora Teschnnr, cellist.
There is a class in New Testa
ment History led by Mrs. Vera Todd
Crow for University women, and a
class in philosophy, led by Mr. Eddy,
both of which meet in the Manse at
the hour of the Church School im
mediately following the Morning
Service. /
The church is located on EaAt
Eleventh Avenue at Ferry Street. Tfie
hour of Morning Sendee is 10:45
o ’clock.
The men and women of the Uni
versity are cordially invited to all
the services of this church, which
likes to describe itself as “The Little
Church of the Human Spirit.”
(Paid Advertisement)
It isrit necessary
to buy New Shoes
"four old ones can
be Rebuilt by
GOODYEAR m
SYSTEM
Jim the Shoe Doctor
98G Willamette Street Phone 867
experiences of ohers from now on
unless they wish to coat themselves
: with n liberal supply of good old
i chimney soot for the new heating
piant is in action for the rest of the
years, says Mr. Fisher, University
superintendent of grounds.
! STUDENT ANNOUNCES
ENGAGEMENT
The engagement of Lowell Angell,
of Portland, a junior in the school
of business administration, to Viola
Thompson, also of Portland, who
last term was a sophomore major
ing in medicine, was announced
Friday night at the Sigma Pi Tau
fraternity. At present Miss Thomp
son is living in Portland, as she
did not return to the campus this
term. She is a member of Sigma
Beta Phi sorority.
REX
The inspiring contrast between
traffic-crowded streets in New York
and magnificent open spaces of
mountainous Arizona are shown in
a manner never before presented on
the screen in “The Call of the
Canyon,” a Paramount picture
adapted from Zane Grey’s latest
novel, which will be on view at the
Bex theatre Monday for three days.
Featured in the cast aro Richard
Dix, Lois Wilson and Marjorie Daw.
BELL
Theatre
SPRINGFIELD
# # #
Sunday January 6th
* # #
Johnny Hines
in
“Sure Fire Flint”
A comedy drama full of ac
tion and thrill
# # #
Comedy
“Good Riddance”
m # #
Starting at 6 p. m., running
continous
j
EXPERT SHOE SHINING
For a number of years we have been the students’ bead
quarters for shoe shining. We clean, dye and shine any
color shoes. Orders for repairing taken.
REX SHOE SHINING PARLOR
(Next Rex Theatre)
| New Wrinkles
m The upper part of the face is what you
notice first when you meet a person. A
ls u so msnguring that it doesn’t matter
how atti active the person otherwise appears, the scowl
spoils it.
In most cases scowls are the direct result of eyestrain.
Remove the strain and the scowl disappears. Other evi
dence of eyestrain and oecular muscular unbalance are
pain in or over tho eyes, on the top or back of the head,
in the neck and between the shoulders, dizzy spells, in
digestion, insomnia inability to concentrate the mind;
also, a tendency to develop goitre.
Save Your Eyes and Save Trouble
‘Dt. S&smcmW
OPTOMETRIST < EYESIGHT SP
881 WILLAMETTE ST.
EUGENE. OREGON
iiihHiunii!!
EYESIGHT SPECIALIST
IIIMIIIIII
K'MIlUMIIWMINin'i'W1""1*
BAKER-BUTTON
, For Snappy
Prints or Enlargements
of Those
Snow Pictures
New Home 7ts and Willamette
E. L. Zimmerman, M. D., Surgeon
0. W. Robbins, M. D., Director
Western Clinical Laboratories
L. S. Kent, M. D., Women and
Children
304 M. & W. Bldg. Phone 619
II. Y. SPENCE, M. D.
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
M. & W. Bldg. Phone 228
DR. WRIGHT B. LEE
Dentistry
404 M. & C. Building
Phone 42 Eugene, Ore.
DR. B. F. SCAIEFE
Physician and Surgeon
203 I. O. 0. F. Bldg.
Eugene, Ore.
Office 70-J; Residence 70
F. M. DAY, M. D.
Surgeon
119 East 9th Ave.
DR. M. L. IIANDSIIUII
Foot Specialist
Chiropodist
Corns, callouses removed with
out pain. No needles or acids
used. Just scientifically re
moved without pain. Bunions,
fallen arches, all other foot
ailments positively cured.
Ground floor.
013 Willamette St. Phone 303
OLIVE C. WALLER
Osteopathic Physician
ORVILLE WALLER
Physician and Surgeon
M. & W. Bldg. Phone 175
DR. J. E. RICHMOND
Dentistry
Room 207 I. O. O. F. Building
Phone 237 Eugene, Ore.
DR. W. E. MOXLEY
Dentist
Castle Theatre Bldg.
Phone 73 Eugene, Oregon
DR. L. E. GEORGE
Dentist
First National Bank Bldg., Boom 7
Phone 1186 Eugene, Ore.
W. E. BUCHANAN
Dentist
Office Phone 390, Res. 1403-L
Suite 211, I. 0. 0. F. Temple
Eugene, Ore.
DR. L. L. BAKER
Eugene, Ore.
Demonstrators diploma Northwestern
Univorsity Dental School, Chicago.
Gold inlay and bridge work a
specialty.
DR. IRVIN R. FOX
Physician and Surgeon
Phones: Office 627, Res. 1507
310 M. & W. Bldg., Eugene, Ore.
.T. F. TITUS, M. D.
Homeopathic Physician and Surgeon
Office, Brown Bldg., 119 9th Ave. E.
Phone 629
Residence, Osburn Hotel, Phone 891
Phone 629
DR. LOR AN BOGAN
Practice limited to extraction
Dental Radiography
Diagnosis Oral Surgery
938 Willamette Phono 302
DR. A. ,T. ATWATER
Dentist
M. & W. Bldg. Phone 627
DR. M. M. BULL
Reasonable Prices for Good
Dentistry
M. & W. Bldg.
Phono 827