Evening star. [volume], November 23, 1958, Page A-35, Image 35

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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New Books
% THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C„ NOVEMBER 23, 1958
Mary McMinnes Novel
Is Major Achievement
By CARTER BROOKE JONES
Star Book Critic
THE VISITORS. By Mary McMinnies (Harcourt. Brace;
$4.95).
Mary McMinnies. India-bom British writer who has
lived in various countries, made something of a reputation
with her first novel, "The Flying Fox.”
Her - new novel, a massive story that deals intimately
with many characters, is set
In a country she calls Slo
vania. It could be, as the
jacket blurb suggests, con
temporary Poland.
It is, at any event, an un
willing Russian satellite, a
Catholic country which suf
fers Communist control in
troubled silence and thwarts
its implacable rules when
ever it safely can and some
times dangerously.
Contraband
Into the ancient city of
Grusev come Larry Purdoe,
a British information officer
* who works for something
corresponding to our Voice
of America; his attractive
and irresponsible wife, Milly,
and their two children. Milly,
who means well enough, as
most people do, gets herself
enmeshed in the designs of
an aging former Princess,
who, of course, is impover
ished, and persuades the
young foreign officer’s wife
to smuggle into the diplo
matic pouch from England
various contraband articles.
These things Milly pretends
to want for herself or the
children medicines, certain
luxuries—though she is not
fooling her husband, who
suspects but keeps a discreet
silence ... up to a point.
Then there is another
family of the old aristocracy,
consisting of an old aunt, her
niece and nephew. The niece,
Sophie, undertakes to teach
Milly the difficult Slavonian
language and becomes her
intimate friend. Then we
have an American corre
spondent named Schulman.
whom Milly thinks for a
while she might prefer to an
indifferent husband, who is
not really indifferent and
whom she finds in the end
that she actually loves. Then
there are Miss Raven, a nan
ny for the children, a young
woman with a strange and
profound imagination: the
Wraggs, who are Larry's
* v
JamesT. Farrell Weighs
The Israeli-Arab Mess
In IT HAS COME TO
PASS <Herzl Press; $4.50),
James T. Farrell, the novelist,
describing a recent trip to
Israel, tries to draw conclu
sions fair both to the new
6tate and its enemies.
"Concerning the question of
Israel’s right to existence.”
he writes, "are we going to
answer this in the affirma
tive and offer as one reason
the fact that Israel is a fait
accompli? Or do we think
that Israel has earned its
right to remain a sovereign
nation? It is a creation of
the U. N. But U. N. resolu
tions are not always uni
versally accepted as binding
international law" (an un
derstatement perhaps!) “and
the policy of Arab nations
has generally been that of
accepting U. N. decisions and
resolutions which the Arabs
consider favorable to them.
India on Kashmir and the
Soviet Union on Hungary
Rexford G. Tugwell
Analyzes Politics
THE ART OK POLITICS.
By Rexford O. Tugwell.
(Doubleday; $5.)
On a balmy night in San
Juan, some time in the 19505,
Gov. Luis Munoz Marin sits
on the roof of his palace
heatedly talking politics with
two ghostly guests—Fiorello
LaOuardla and Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
This mythical encounter
climaxes a fascinating at
tempt by Mr. Tugwell to
analyze the art of politics
through critical biography of
these three men who really
had little more in common
than political greatness.
The components of this
greatness included a lust for
power, instinctive ability in
political techniques.- un
bounded talent for com
promise These were parlayed
time after time into victory
at the polls.
But Mr. Tugwell makes
clear that they were far
more than expert vote
getters. Each used Immense
political power for a histor
ical tour de force. For Roose
velt it was social security
and the United Nations. For
LaGuardia. the New York
City charter. For Munoz, the
Puerto Rican Commonwealth
plan
Mr. Tugwell, an economist
who demonstrated singular
political ineptitude during 15
years of varied public life,
Isjpblc to appreciate political
IF Mm
MART McMINNIES
chief aides, there a long time
and crushed because Wragg
didn’t get Latry’s job; Gisela,
a maid; a porter at the Pur
does’ hotel, who is a secret
agent of the police; others,
quite a few.
At a Lively Pace
Mary McMinnies keeps her
ponderous narrative going
with unflagging enthusiasm.
A good picture of such a
country under the Russian
knout comes through. The
intrigues and contretemps of
the various characters are
well developed, and the writ
ing is vivid enough.
From a literary stance, the
576 large pages which the
author has used are far too
many. Judicious trimming, a
lot of it, would have yielded
a much better novel. Every
thing is greatly detailed;
there is little discrimination
between incidents important
to the narrative and those
merely embellishments.. The
author never uses three
words when six will do. How
ever, the noncntical reader
who gets interested in the
characters and the story
probably wUI not mind.
"The Visitors” is the De
cember selection of the Book
of-the-Month Club.
* *
have flouted U. N. resolu
tions.”
Mr. Farrell says he did not
find sufficient evidence con
cerning the charges of the
Arabs to conclude “that all
the blame, that full responsi
bility, morally and histori
cally, can be laid at the door
of Israel and its national
leaders.”
The novelist adds, later in
his summary; “There is not
and cannot be all right and
justice on one side in the
kind of situation which pre
vails along the Israeli-Arab
borders.”
He concludes that “Israel
has the right to exist as a
nation. The Arab leaders re
fuse to recognize that right
and some of them have
plainly declared that they
want Israel obliterated.”
Mr. Farrell has written a
more temperate and Judicial
book than most of those deal
ing with the subject.
—C.B J.
genius if not always condone
It. He recognizes the ascend
ancy of compromise among
the political arts but com
plains that “the costs of
compromise are not wiped out
by the achievement they may
have made possible.”
This is a delightfully me
andering book with a loose
organization that permits
anecdotes culled by the au
thor from his experiences as
an associate of each of his
three politicians.
It is at its worst when it
lapses Into Interpretation of
history by Tugwell the un
reconstructed New Dealer.
His reliance on something
like Carlyle's "great man"
theory leads him to suggest
tliere would have been no
cold war had Roosevelt
lived.
It is at its best when it
generalizes on political great
ness. Samples: "Each . . .
was sufficiently vague and
obscure so that diverse sup
porters could suppose them to
have the opinions they wished
them to have." "They are pos
sessed. these people. They
have been slezed of a destiny
—and that destiny calls
them to . . . possess power."
But no Nixon or Kennedy
can learn the road to success
by reading of these men. As
Mr. Tugwell says, through
Roosevelt's lips, to end the
ghostly rendezvous in San
Juan: "Ours is an unteach
able and an unlpamahle art."
D NOVAK
A-35
FIELD MARSHAL
MONTGOMERY
V/AR MEMOIRS
By this time THE MEM
OIRS OF FIELD MARSHAL
MONTGOMERY (World $6)
have been quoted so widely,
in advance of the book's pub
lication, that there is little
of its more controversial as
pects which has not been
aired. His detailed study of
his military life and of the
campaigns of World War II
remain, however, of intense
interest to military men and
students of history.
Incidentally, it is unusual,
among public men, to find,
on back of the cover, a holo
graph reproduction signed by
Lord Montgomery of Alamein
to this ecect: "Every word of
the book was written in pen
cil in my own handwriting.”
And Lord Montgomery
writes clearly and vividly.
The most controversial
phases of the book concern
j Field Marshall Montgomery’s
relations with Gen. Eisen
’ hower and other American
commanders. The British
leader contends that he fol
lowed closely the grand strat
egy adopted for the various
armies in the plan to push
ahead after the Normandy
landings.
While “Monty” pulls no
punches, the general impres
sion which the book conveys
l at least to me) is that he
did not write it to attack
anyone or set down lin
gering animosities, but to de
fend his own record and de
scribe the war as he saw it.
! As such, his book is an im
portant contribution to his
tory.
—C. B. J.
Are We Speaking
Better English?
In A NEW WAY TO BET
TER ENGLISH (Harper; s3>
Rudolph Flesch, author of
| the famous ruckus-brewing
; “Why Johnny Can’t Read,”
contends that most people
today speak and write better
English than they did a few
years ago. The old comedy
expressions like "don’t hand
me no bunk” or "look up
them there fellers” have
pretty well disappeared, he
feels. But he can still see
room for a lot of improve
ment, especially in the direc
tion of shortening and sim
plifying.
While Mr. Flesch goes
overboard in the direction of
short sentence—these can.
after all, produce a choppy
style—and perhaps over
simplification, he is, a decid
edly good influence in his
field. —c. B. J.
** * *
Herblock's Best
In Book Form
HERBLOCK’S SPECIAL
FOR TODAY (Simon and
Schuster; $3.95) is the Wash
ington cartoonist's third book
of cartoons and text. It is
concerned with political
events of the last two or
three years. Readers of the
Washington Post and Times-
Herald. accustomed to ob
serving Herblock’s pungent
pictorial comments on the
editorial page with their
breakfast coffee, need no in
troduction to this gifted cari
caturist. Mr. Block <his name
actually is Herbert Block)
writes well, too.
—C. B. J.
CORRECTION: Writing
about "Best Articles and
Stories" on the book page of
October 26, we were wrong
by half about its subscription
rates. Its ten yearly issues
cost only $5. and can still be
obtained by writing to "Best.”
1757 Devon Lane, Blooming
ton, Indiana. —M. McG.
** * *
Forthcoming
William Hines, energetic
. science writer for The Star.
has just signed a contract
I with Public Affairs Press for
1 a pictorial history of man's
attempts to take off into
space. Tentatively titled “Out
of This World,” is is .sched
uled for publication in the
| fall of 1959. —M. McG.
illir £>un&at| star
WEEKLY BOOK SURVEY * |
The Sunday Star has arranged |I I 8 w o *
with some of the leading book* > . !* g J S
sellers ot Washington and subur- iuq 2d" 5>oo«
ban areas to report each week the *$ * * “ z ** w
books which sell best as a guide §« ■* Sisizß“ - «
to uhat Washington is reading 2oz'Cߧi'£ _ *22;;
The numbers represent the rank „ ;2 £ 5 " , «> 2 C 2 “ * *
o/ each book among best sellers afg,*. J 2 C z C * S qjj* S g
the store named «i<-25“<3iW«i>.8o
Report for Mk end.ng Not. 21, 1958 llUlliiiU
FICTION
"Or Zhivago," Faittroak 12 1111111111
"Tht Ugly American," Lerferer and
lurdick 1 4 4 4 5 2 4 2 2 3
"Lolita," Nabokov 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2
"Around the World With Auntie
Maine,’ Oennu ! I 3334 534 S' |
"Women and Thomoi Harrow,"
Morquond 1 4 3 45 4,
"The Mountain li Young," Suym 6 66 4 4 2 5 5
NONFICTION
"Special for Today," Herblock 52111 1242362
Aku Aku," Heyerdahl |1 6612 11 T 1
"Memoirt of Field Marshal Mont
gomery," Montgomery 6 4 2 2 3 2 1 4
"Central Intelligence and Notional
Security," konsom 6 5 4 4 SI 3
'Only in America." Golden 31 5 5 1 5 5 4
The White Howe and If! Thirty-Two I I
FnmiNji," lessen 1 k 3 3 1 ' 3
: - ..."A '
Mr /pFJ
A its
SHEILAH GRAHAM
Sagaof Sheilah Graham
Rivets the Attention
BELOVED INFIDEL. By
Sheilah Graham and Ger
old Frank. Henry Holt and
Company; $3.95.
No one novelist could have
invented the life story of
Sheilah Graham, which the
Hollywood columnist has told
herself with the help of
Gerold Frank. It has too
many incredible elements.
Dickens could have done
justice to the early sequences
of her life in a London or
phanage, where her head was
cropped every two weeks, she
wore long black stockings
and never had quite enough
to eat. Thackeray would
have appropriated the Becky
Sharp phase, when as a
chorus girl, married to a
complaisant older man, she
flirted with the young bloods
and carefully picked her way
through the small talk of
late-supper parties. But not
even F. Scott Fitzgerald, who
was pre-eminently the chron
icler of young love, could
have chronicled her affair
with him. She was his last
love. It was a romance in
which passion and pedagogy
were curiously mingled. Be
fore he died in her arms, he
had given her a university
education.
Admitted Adventuress
“Ai'e you an adventuress?”
asked an English lady of
Sheilah as they skated arm in
arm at St. Moritz in the ’3os.
"Yes. I am,” Sheilah re
plied at length.
From the time she Was 17
and absolutely on her own,
Sheilah Graham, born Lily
Shell, lived by her wits. The
daughter of a washerwoman,
herself a housemaid, she
clawed her'way up from the
gutter to acceptance in many
worlds.
The leggy waif blossomed
into an English rose. Still in
her teens, she hooked her
first millionaire, threw 'him
back to marry her patron,
Ma.i. John Gillam Graham, a
hapless businessman who saw
in Lily Shell his best chance
of solvency. She invented
some ancestors; he invented
a name. She enrolled in the
Royal Dramatic Academy of
Dramatic Art. but when her
cockney accent unlike Eliza
Dolittles refused to yield she
joined the chorus line in
stead. The third girl from the
right turned the heads of the
men about town. But life on
the stage was too strenuous,
and young Sheilah gave it
up, soon to take a role as the
Other Books of the Week in Brief
FICTION
GIBELLE. By Brian Cooper.
The Vanguard Pres*. $3 50.
Cambridge University be
comes the center of mys
terious backgrounds of peo
ple at the outbreak of
World War 11.
THE HIDING PLACE. By
Lane Johnstone. Sagamore
Press, Inc. $3.95. A doctor,
filled with indecisions,
faces the most momentous
• choice of all—a wife who
pet of the Cliveden set and
make herself at home in the
stately homes of England.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Parted from her husband
and armed with a sharp pen,
she stormed New York. The
citadel fell without a strug
gle, and Sheilah pressed on
to Hollywood, where the
cinema moguls learned to
fear her sharp bite. There,
on the brink of becoming the
Marchioness of Donegall, she
met F. Scott Fitzgerald.
He was in the last distress
ful years of his decline. The
fabulous Zelda was in an
institution. Scott was merely
tolerated as a screen-writer.
But the old charm remained.
He was witty, wry, and gal
lant when not drunk. Miss
Graham recounts those shat
tering scenes when Scott, in
an alcoholic rage slapped
her, kicked the nurse, in
sulted strangers. The last
year of his life he stopped
drinking, and together they
scaled the heights of litera
ture, he the professor, she
the apt pupil. It is a vivid
portrait of a gifted man try
ing to hold his own in a
world that had long since
dismissed him. and for the
most part thought him dead.
Miss Graham’s saga rivets
the attention throughout.
There is no pause for senti
mentalizing or rationalizing.
It is told with matter-of
factness that is imperative
considering the material. It
is a fascinating autobiogra
phy of a resourceful blond,
whose very life depended on
taking on the color of the
people around her.—M. McG.
American Folklore
In a Fine Edition
THE AMERICAN FOLK
LORE READER. Edited by
John T. Flanagan and Ar
thur Palmer Hudson. (A.
S. Barnes & Co.; $10.)
The editors have done a
pleasantly helpful service by
gathering in one fat book the
folklore stories that have be
come part of American life.
Tales about the devil and
the trouble he had with New
Englanders, stories of the
noble Red Man and the
crafty frontiersman—they’re
all here. Authors range from
Longfellow and Franklin to
Faulkner and Sandburg.
As a Christmas gift for a
lover of Americana this is a
natural. —R. F.
despises him or a girl who
adores him.
THE VANISHING ISLAND:
AN JRISH ENTERTAIN
MENT. By Charles C.
O'Connell. The Devin-
Adair Company. $3.50. A
new kind of book to come
out of Ireland—the story
of a violent storm which
sweeps away an island's
Inhabitants.
VERONICA. By Constance
Loveland The Vanguard
Press. $3.50. A salty so
phisticated young girl in
the psychiatrist's chair and
elsewhere.
BIOGRAPHY
I SAILED WITH RASMUS
SEN. By Peter Freuchen.
Julian Messner. Inc. $3.95.
A story of a rare friend
ship between the author
and the renowned Danish
explorer.
THE LOVE OF A PHYSI
CIAN. By Muriel B Pfah
ler. Dorrance Si Company.
Inc. $3.75. Pioneering in
X-ray dominated the life
of Dr. Oeorge E. Pfahler.
HISTORY
CHICAGO: A PICTORIAL
HISTORY. By Herman Ko
gan and Lloyd Wendt. E.
P. Dutton & Co.. Inc. $6 95.
The great and the small
momenta of a city, told in
400 illustrations.
TRAVEL
THE VOYAGES OF JOSHUA
SLOCUM. Ed. by Walter
Magnes Teller. Rutgers
University Press: $6 Trav
els of a seaman, the first to
enciylr the world—alone.
THE ALSOPS
Veracity
In News
Coverage
THE REPORTER'S TRADE.
By Joseph and Stewart Al
sop. (Reynal & Co.; $5.)
“Tell the people the truth
about their situation,” say
the Alsop brothers, “and peo
ple will respond to any chal
lenge that the truth offers.
That is the fundamental rule
of democratic society. If you
do not believe it, you do not
believe in democracy. And it
is the reporter's job to see
that the truth is told.”
In this monument to the
12-year career of Washing
ton's most distinguished re
porting partnership (the
brothers have now gone their
separate ways), Joseph and
Stewart Alsop tell how they
followed that creed and pro
vide case histories in the
form of selected columns.
The Recent Past
The result is rewarding for
any American interested in a
perceptive, if disturbing, view
of the recent past. And* it is
must reading for any report
er who wants to rise above
the handout and the press
conference.
The Reporter’s Trade is not
an enjoyable book. It is not
pleasant to have cast up be
fore one again the ugliness
of McCarthy ism and the of
ficial cowardice and public
gullability that, permitted it
to flourish so long. Nor is it
pleasant to go back over the
successive “hard - headed”
cutbacks in the maintenance
and improvements of our
defenses that have at least
contributed to our uncom
fortable position in the tech
nological race with Russia.
And even those who disagree
with the Alsops’ point of
view are likely to be dis
turbed by their examples of
indifference, shortsightedness
and sweep-it-under-the-rug
complex in official circles.
But just as the things the
Alsops said needed saying at
the time, they bear repeating
now'.
Dim Picture
There are few in the news
business who will not agree,
regretfully, that "year by
year, the picture of the
American government trans
mitted to the American peo
ple, who are supposed to be
the real masters of the gov
ernment. becomes more dim,
unreal and incomplete.’’
The Alsops attribute this
sorry fact to the growing
complexity of the governmen
tal organism and the com
panion development of an
equally complex system of
secrecy designed to limit pub
lic knowledge. And here they
offer their formula for fight
ing back by properly plying
the reporter’s trade.
—CHARLES B. SEIB.
Scenario
THE FALCON’S SHADOW.
By William Dußois. <G. P
Putnam's: $3 75.)
A readable, workmanlike,
rather heartless novel about
a group of people making a
play out of a preposterous
script. For the director, the
enterprise represents a
chance to even the score with
his dead father-in-law. for
the producer, a chance to be
the man his father was; for
a falling star, crowding 40,
a last chance to play an in
genue, and for a dewy under
study. the big break. Hover
over all is the sinister figure
of the angel, in the case of
gross, nymphomaniacal Pat
Malone, strictly a courtesy
title. How they struggle
and strain is the burden
of Mr. Dußois’ knowledgeable
scenario. —M. McG.
PAPERBACK
BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE.
By John Van Druten.
Bantam Books. Inc. 35c.
A reprint of the witty
Broadway play of a mod
ern-day witch.
BERTRAM) RUSSELL’S
BEST. Ed. by Robert E.
Egner. A Mentor Book.
50c. Ideas on psychology,
religion, sex and marriage,
education, politics and
ethics.
THE DISAPPEARANCE. By
Philip Wylie. Pocket Books.
Inc. 35c. A sensational
thought—what would hap
pen if suddenly there were
no women.
THE EXPLODING ME
TROPOLIS. By the editors
of Fortune Magazine. Dou
bleday St Co. 95c. A study
of the assault on urbanism
and how our cities can re
m t it. By William H.
Whyte. Jr., and others.
THE INN OF THE SIXTH
HAPPINESS. By Alan
Burgeas Bantam Books,
Inc. 35c. The true story
of a courageous English
girl who defied the Japa
nese Army.
AN INTRODUCTION TO
HAIKU. Transl. and com
mentary by Harold O Hen
derson. Doubleday Sc Co.
$1.25. An anthology of
poems and poets from
Basho to Shlkl.
LETTER FROM PEKING.
By Pearl S. Buck. Pocket
Books. Inc. 35c. An oriental
marriage of an American
woman and a man who it
half-Cfctnese.
ill
'UI jm
’ | M Hr d}
j§
jMHMp ww|
JUT AmbF
i
ALL ABOUT DOGS—This bashful bassett
introduces the National Geographic Society’s
new “Book of Dogs.” The unique voluriie,
packed with full-color illustrations, contains
an authoritative chapter by an American
Kennel Club official on how to select, care for,
and train a dog.
National Geographic
Offers New Dog Book
THE NATIONAL GEO
GRAPHIC BOOK OF
DOGS. I $9.85).
The wonderful world of
dogdom comes vividly to life
in this superb 432-page en
cyclopedia of fact and anec
dote, abundantly illustrated
with full-color paintings and
photographs.
The book traces the origins
of various breeds back 1
million years to a small, tree
climbing Creature called
Miacis. Thus same undog
like creature was the pro
genitor also of the bear and
the raccoon. And from Mia
cis evolved the Eurasian wolf
and in turn came Cams
Familiaris today's house
hold dogs.
Ever since that day on the
dawn of history w’hen a dog
first fawned on a man in
stead of biting him. the rela
tionship between the canine
and his best friend has been
close. The ancient Romans
called their pets “Fido.”
which means "faithful.” The
Egyptians carved tablets
READING AND WRITING
Pasternak Writings
In Worldwide Demand
By MARY McGRORY
Star Staff Writer
Last week brought the re
issues of an earlier work of
Boris Pasternak, the greatest
author in the world today. Its
title. SAFE CONDUCT, is,
in the light of current events,
ironic Pasternak has been
offered a safe conduct out of
Russia to collect his Nobel
Prise and to stay out. While
an apprehensive and admir
ing world looks on. Pasternak
refuses to be uprooted from
the soil of his genius.
A book of youthful rem
iniscenses. "Safe Conduct”
was first published, with im
punity, in Russia, in 1931;
first issued here in 19*9. A
paperback reissue by New Di
rections was planned when
publication of the fateful
Dr. Zhivago" was an
nounced. A modest printing
of 8.000 copies was ordered,
and immediately exhausted
in the furore that broke upon
Pasternak's acceptance and
subsequent refusal of the No
bel Prize. The book is now
back on the presses.
Orders Pour In
As for “Dr. Zhivago.” its
proud publishers. Pantheon
Press, announce it cannot be
kept in stock. Orders have
come in at a daily rate of
as high as 20.000. In the
near future, there will be
half a million copies in print.
All over the world it is the
same story. In Oermany.
where since the war no novel
has had any sale to speak
of. 160.000 copies are in cir
culation.
In the spring, Pantheon
will bring out another nook
by Pasternak. Like "Dr.
Zhivago.” it was smuggled
out to the Italian pub
lisher, Olan-Oiacomo Feltri
nelli. and has never been
published in Russia. Entitled
"Autobiographical Sketch.”
it was completed in 1954 and
is explicit, where the novel
was not. about the author's
views of the Soviet system.
In it. this uncompromising
Individual writes of the sui
cides of fellow-writers who
could not withstand the
pressures of the State.
The Kremlin View
We asked Mrs. Helen Wolff
of Pantheon if publication
abroad of "Autobiographical
Sketch” might not further
imperil the beleaguered poet.
She said she thought not.
since "Dr. Zhivago” which
treats the Russian Revolu
tion as an ugly backdrop for
the development of the soul
of one man. has damned him
6,000 years ago to show that
dogs were pets, hunters and
objects of reverence to them.
If a dog died in ancient
Egypt, the whole family went
into mourning.
The fascinating history of
virtually verey breed is here
from the mighty Irish wolf-,
hound, king of all dogs,
to the tiny Chihuahuas of
Mexico.
Dr. Melville Bell Grosvenor,
president and editor of the
National Geographic Society,
writes in the foreword that
the book began as a labor
of love with Franklin L,
Fisher, for many years illus
trations editor of the maga
zine. In preparing the hand
some volume, the Geographic
worked with the cooperation
of the American Kennel Club.
The dog’s life has not
always been easy, the book
says, but right now he is
enjoying a golden age. In
this country alone, 14 mil
lion families have dogs in
their homes. This book also
should be in the home of any
dog lover.
—JERRY O LEARY, Jr.
utterly in the eyes of the
Kremlin.
"Safe Conduct" implicitly
shows how impossible was
the Sovietizatien of Paster
nak.” The cult of collective
ness could have no message
for this son of a painter
father and musician-mother,
whose boyhood idol was the
composer Scriabin, whose
boyhood ambition was the
writing of music. Lacking
absolute pitch. Pasternak
went on to study law, still
later set out for Marburg,
the great German philosoph
ical center, to study phi
losophy.
Notebook of Humanity
In Soviet eyes, he was
hopelessly "contaminated" by
a summer in Italy, where he
was struck with “the tangi
ble unity of our culture"—
surely a dangerous discovery
for the citizen of a country
which holds that life began
in October 1918.
"I came to understand, for
instance." he writes, "that
the Bible is not so much a
book with a hard and fast
text, as the notebook of hu
manity, and also what is the
nature of everything eternal.”
"Safe Conduct.' like Dr.
Zhivago, "is indifferently
constructed, and erratically
paced. Pasternak sets out
tough problems on meta
physical heights, suddenly
swoops down for h moment
of the simplest human event,
told with poetic precision and
loving exactness. Its interest
lies not in the recital of out
ward events, but in the his
tory of a mind and soul It
is like a lorest with sudden
beautiful clearings.
"Pasternak." says Mrs.
Wolff, "has row escaped into
immortality. Those who can
not admire his genius can
admire him as a man. He
has exemplified in the face
of unspeakable risks, the two
great needs of the writer: to
write and to be heard.
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