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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1958)
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 1958 HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON PAGE 11 C BOOK REVIEWS Flapper Age BroughtTo Life THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED, $4.50; THE GREAT C.ATSBY, $2.95; THE LAST TY COON, $2.95; AFTERNOON OF AN AUTHOR, $4.50; By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Scribner. Porch swing, bobbed hair, nem butal, Stutz Bearcat, rumble seat, "Yes we have no bananas" it is the Flapper Age to which we return with Fitzgerald, who identified that glittering era, lived in and as a part of it, and made it his inalienable fictional domain Of these four books, the last is a collection of short stories and articles not in hard covers before, ranging from the well known "How to Uve on $36,000 a Year" to the little known "News of Paris Fifteen Years Ago." The other three are reissues of novels you surely have read: Anthony Patch, the eager play boy, squanders his substance, both the cash and the character, in the years of his marriage to Gloria (' The Beautiful and the Damned"). Jay the "great" Gatsby dies f o r his too faithful love for Daisy Buchanan, or his too ruthless ca reer: Stahr battles fiercely for filmland power in the unfinished "The Last Tycoon." And we must not forget, just for lack of new issues, "This Side of Paradise," fame and fortune, and "Tender Is the Night," a subject at which he evidently made his first stab in "One Trip Abroad," from the new collection of short pieces. "Haven't any money," says the young husband unconcernedly to his wife, who repeats the remark and adds, "let's go to the movies." They all drink themselves under all the tables. They conclude they know too many people; if they could have Been left alone, if their classmates, well-to-do friends, pret ty girls and handsome fellows had left them alone, they might have survived the '20s and prospered morally. Ihals what they were like in these novels,, never blaming Ihem- elves, young, witly, brash, not un principled and not principled, grasping at quick, ephemeral pleas ures, victimized by unquenchable thirsts and insatiable appetites, never petty and never heroic. They were middle-class from head to toe, in clothes, income, man ners, brains, aspirations. And of all writers. Fitzgerald alone got down in dramatic black and white Iheir tinselly, variegated, hot-hued existences. Arthur Mizner in an introduc- Kansas Gity Drive Licks Delinquency By MARY KAY FLYNN NEA Staff Correspondent fact and fiction run neck and neck Fitzgerald. It was this sub servience lo tact wnicn couia make him pedestrian. There are many early pages you find some in The Beautiful ana tne Damned" which have no lift, they aren't even journalism, but ele mentary reporting. But in his best work, only the lift is left. Ed mund Wilson in a foreword to "Tycoon" calls it Fitzgerald's "most mature" and "far and away our best novel" about Hollywood. It is written with superb assur ance; here is a artistic mastery. Fragmentary though it is, it oc cupies, along with "Tender Is the Night," an unchallengeable place tion to "Afternoon" points out how in our literature. Tales Of Torture Beyond Censorship By W. O. ROGERS at last to another prison where he I'llE QUESTION. By Henri A 'managed to write this short book. leg. Introduction by Jean-Pauj It was not Nazi Germany or So- Civil War Outlined THE OFFICIAL .ATLAS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Yoseloff. $40 "Monumental" is probably the best word to describe this publi cation of the official battle and campaign maps of the Civil War. It's a handsome king sized vol ume, reproducing 175 plates that originally were printed with the 128 volumes of the Official Rec ords of the war. The publishers, Thomas Yosel loff, previously issued new edi tions of the "Photographic His tory of the Civl War," and the "Battles and Leaders.' The prob lems involved in those publica tions were immense; they were dwarfed by the obstacles encoun tered in this project. The work is not perfect, but the flaws are trivi alities, in comparison with the overwhelming merit and impor tance of the project. These maps have never before been accessible to the-public. Making them , avail able for browsing, for research, or for just plain pride of possession is a service of incalculable value. A forward by Henry Steele Com- mager recounts dramatically the background of tne original Alias. A publisher's introduction outlines some of the aitticuities accom panying the publication. Sartre. Translated from French bj John Calder. George Braziller. z.95. . - ' Perhaps you thought you d read nough books about the torture o' a man by emissaries ot an all- powerful modern state, a hitler oi Stalin, lor instance. But neres one more horrible account: Alleg was a newspaper editor whose ideas of politics, society and nationalism ran counter to those of the military in the city where he published. A detachment of paratroopers picked him up and sped him to prison. ' They wanted to know the name of the person with whom he spent night in his attempt lo escape cap lure, but he refused to talk. So they put the "question:" . The began by strapping him to a filthy plank, fixing electrodes to various parts of his body and sub jecting him to electric shocks that grew so violent they set him to screaming. They beat and kicked him, burned off some body hair, almost drowned him, tossed him at last on a bed but the mattress cover concealed a nest of barbed wire They tried truth serum, threat ened him with death, swore to tor ture his wife, too, but they were still unable to break him. His ears ringing unforgettably, he says, with the anguished cries of many others put to the same brutal tortures, he was shipped off The Cover THIS YOUNG lady isn't a rodeo queen candidate this year but she has a sharp eye on the years of Hie immediate future. She is Susan Williams, the 14-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Horild Williams of Bonanza. That's right) Susie is pictured with her pride and joy, a 5-year-old mare named Kitty. Photo by Kettler viet Russia that presided at this barbaric ordeal, but the trench government in Algeria. Alleg was editor of Alger Republican from 1950 to 11155 when the paper was banned. It advocated independ ence, opposed unequivocally by the French army of occupation and the colonists. Alleg himself was apparently a Communist,' white. and French born. News of his arrest and torture published in a Paris paper kept that paper out of North Africa The original book was proscribed the first time that has hap pened in Fiance for two centuries, it is said. French surveillance was so strict as to make French copies scarce here, but at least one French bookstore in New York will stock this translation. Pirated or under-the-counter editions and translations abroad have sold about 200,000. Of this American edition, 10,000 copies are already in print. Sartre writes a ringing defense, and asks where France is head ing. With Andrew Malraux, Roger Martin du Gard and Francois Mauriac, he signed a petition to the president of France asking for an outright condemnation of tor ture- and begging that this book he allowed to circulate. I hate to hove you read this book: I'd hate it more if you didn't. If I could ever wish a book was bogus, this is it. Harsh Opinion Fairly Stated In Appraisal Of Stein Works ART BY SUBTRACTION: A Dissenting Opinion of Gertrude Stein. By B. L. Reid. University of Oklahoma. $4. When Reid, a Mount Holyoke teacher, calls his study a "dissent ing opinion," I can't at first guess whether he's on my side, which is for her, or on the other. He is un happily against. But this is a welcome book. To begin with, it is fair. Reid re frains from quoting people who have made scurrilously personal criticisms. He specifically exoner ates her of the charge of trying to fool the public. On the positive side, he finds her theories usually arrived at intelligently. However, he doesnt agree with them and can't abide her writing, with one exception. "Three Lives." He calls her prose style flat, labels her writing the denial of the only real purpose of writing, scores her egotism, condemns her famed rep etitionsbut doesn't mind repeat ing himself. An inaccuracy like putting the Picasso portrait in the Museum of Modern Art, where to be sure it once was for a brief stay, instead of the Metropolitan does not detract at all from the credit due his painstaking research and his astuteness, however, misdi rected. It made sense to like Stein in person, he agrees: her work is something else, and he say's she must "hang" for her "failure to communicate. All details aside, here is pre cisely the point. For a mass of people who knew her and a mass who did not, mere was a magm ficent communication not only in Three Lives and The Autobi ography" but also in "The Mak ing of Americans, Four Saints, "Tender Buttons," and salty po ems. The fact that Reid is im mune to the Stein magic does not prove it is not there. 1 his is a welcome book really because if this is the strongest case against her, her major works, exhilarating and unforgettable, would seem se cure against any assault. SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS PULASKI, Ind. Wl Farmer Bob Thomas found out the hard way what the expression "bullheaded" means. Angry because his bull re lused to move, he threw a wrench at the animal. The tool struck the bull's head, bounced back and smacked Thomas squarely between the eyes, knocking him cold. KANSAS CITY. Kan. While schools of its sister city across the river in Missouri struggle with a serious delinquency prob lem, this city virtually is free of a scourge that usually respects no boundaries. 'There is no magic formula or sheer luck behind this Kansas City's enviable student behavior record. It was planned that way. Outstanding features of the all- out anti-delinquency program m this city of 130,000 include: Hard hitting preventive and cor rective measures within the school system. Kmphasis on religious training and parent-school relations. Strong city-wide recreation pro grams. Close cooperation between schools, police youth bureau and juvenile court. Intense public interest and sup porting laws. The Board of hducalion has giv en school administrators authority to act vigorously in any misbe havior situation. Any school prin cipal has the authority to deal immediately and decisively witn student violators without first con sulting the superintendent of schools or school board members. Any student caught with a con cealed weapon is automatically suspended for the remainder of the school year. Gangs and rowdyism are non existent. School officials and po lice prevent formation of trouble groups by attacking any symptom of budding organization, whether on school premises or outside. Sororities and fraternities in jun ior high schools and high schools are forbidden by slate low. Mem bership draws automatic suspension. In cases of vandalism, the school deals out its own sentence alter any police action. The delin quent" parent has the choice of paying for damaged properly seeing his child expelled from school, school officials contending that Dad takes better notice of the violation and of his responsi bilities if he has to dig into his pocketbook." A parent or guardian is sum inoncd to the school office after every act of misbehavior on the part of his student charge. Sixty per cent oi junior nign school and high school teachers iire men. salaries having been set to attract male as well as female teachers and administrators. Authoritative high school student councils are encouraged. Regular meetings between school staffs and parent-teacher organizations are held. Because school officials feel that idleness breeds trouble and edu cational responsibilily goes beyond the classroom, extensive extra curricular activities arc scheduled. Gyms are open regularly for un scheduled sports, dancing and oth er supervised activity. Special in terest cluhs are organized, par ties with "glamour" and dignity are held regularly after school hours and "lots of boys are carried on sports squads who never will make the team." The veteran principal of a newly integrated high school with 2.040 enrollment observed that the school's students are "better be haved than at any other time in the school's history." He noted. however that today's youth of pros perity "seem a little more inclined to be destructive than in my day when it was sinful to destroy." Superintendent of schools F. L. Schlagle sums up the school stand this way: "This town isn't going to stand for hoodlums making trouble (or the schools. The school doors are open to law-abiding citizens who want to learn and this right is not to be denied or disturbed by a few. He added that school officials have found that students can and do not only respect but also ad mire order and discipline. Approximately one half of t h e public school pupils in the first lo sixth grades are enrolled in the weekday church school released time program. The system here is one of the few in vthe country which includes all 12 grades. According to the Rev. Norman E. Berry, who heads the religious training program, the total enroll ment would be considerably high er if additional volunteer teaching facilities were available. Enroll- ment averages IK) per cent in dis tricts with adequate church school accommodations. In addition to a city - financed, city-wide recreation program, su pervised sports programs are pro vided by civic clubs, and the YMCA in conjunction with church es. Referring to the juvenile delin quency threat. Police Chief John Theroff said his department "tries to stay on top of it." His course includes working closely with school officials, clergy and the public; quick followup of nny in dication of trouble and widespread patrolling. Robert E. Lee Under Study THE DEATH OF A NATION. By Clifford Dowdey. Knopf. $5. As .the Civil War centennial draws ever nearer, we can antici pate that the war's campaigns and battles will undergo searching re-examination. By common con sent it seems, Gettysburg is get ting the initial scrutiny. A half dozen books dealing with that criti cal battle have been issued in the last two years. Now comes Death of a Nation" to set a high standard for centennial scholarship. Dowdey's book is a study of Robert E. Lee and the Confed erate army at Gettysburg. The ti tle, in itself, is indicative of the importance of the battle in the au thor's view. There, he feels, was the Confederacy's last opportunity, not for military victory but lor military stalemate that would have won independence for the Sotith. The reasons for Confederate fail ure at Gettysburg were complex. They began in Richmond with Jef ferson Davis' policy of defense by dispersed forces, as opposed to the concentration which Lee desired. Jeb Stuart's absence on a raid which Dowdey says he undertook to win vindication for the brawl at Brandy Station added another handicap. The reorganization of command, necessitated by the death of Stonewall Jackson, proved costly in terms of inter-corps liai son and coordination. The battle itsrlf was a tragedy of Southern errors. From Dick Ewoll's costly indecision in the twi light of the first day, nothing went right. Lee himself was not with out fault: He fought the battle as he had fought in the days when Jackson was his assault arm and Jackson was dead. The importance of Dowdey's book, however, lies in his study of James Longstrect, the "old war horse" of Confederate corps com manders. Longslrect's behavior at Gettysburg long has been a topic ot controversy. In recent years, there has been a tendency to make out that Longstrect did not be have as badly as had been paint ed. Dowdey will have none of that. Dowdey has gone back lo the original records and based his ap praisal on confirmed accounts of what was said and done on the battlefield. The process discounts much of whut Longstrect wrote in later years. Dowdey finds that Longstrect was in a sullen and stubborn mood that made him in capable of command; that, will fully or not, he shirked his duties and responsibilities. Why? He was irked because Lee did not rely on him as Lee had relied on Jack son; because Lee had shrugged off his strategic concept of the cam paign; because, as he saw it, Lee was blind to the Longstreet genius. This probably will revive the Longstreet debate in all its fever.
