New Utrecht High School - Comet Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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Glibe Qlumet This is enough of the intricate plot to show the pasionate intensity of the story, with gypsies and outlaws moving against the strange background of a dark, wild and gloomy country, a tempestuous, bit- ter household, hopelessly entangled in the meshes of their passion. One .feels throughout like a watcher at a play not as a part of a moving fiction, but it is a good play, not easily forgotten. One leaves it with the wild clash of savage, gypsy music ringing in his ears. A CHILD IS BORN If you were to board the Hamilton Avenue Trolley, at some point along Third Avenue, it would take you across a bridge over the Gowanus Canal and you would find yourelf in Red Hook, the scene of Charles Yale Harrison's latest literary ef- fort, A Child Is Born fCape and Smith, S52.00j. If you got off the trolley and looked around you would see the slums of Brooklyn, crowded, dirty streets full of children and over-crowded tenement houses rotting with age. Upon opening the book by Mr. Har- rison you would read a story about the dwellers in these unkept streets and bug ridden tenement houses, of longshorernen striking, of betrayal by union leaders, of street fights with hired thugs and police- men, of death, of juvenile delinquentsf' of hypocritical judges, of tyrannical reform schools and of stark misery. The last is the outstanding characteristic of the book, stark misery. Each page adds a list to the drawn out sufferings of the Roberts family. But the Roberts family is only a type and throughout Red Hook there is nothing but suffering. Charles Yale Harrison weaves the tale in a style which resembles Ernest Heming- way's and is therefore very effective. Har- rison presents a series of contrasts and leaves the reader to draw conclusions. Per- haps the sufferings are exaggerated? If you think so close the book and look at the bedlam about you. Enter one of the tene- ments and walk up the dark stairway. Look at the shabby clothes of the tenants. Enter an apartment and look around and notice the old furniture, rickety beds, crowded quarters, small dimly lighted rooms and then judge the book. You would agree that the book is all realism, frank and morbid, but still a truthful realism which cannot fail to make you an ardent supporter of the cause for social justice-at least for a while. COLD BLUE MOON Mr. Edwin created a Black Ulysses in the character of Left Wing Gordon whose reminiscences of his own adventures as he traipsed around the world, filled two pre- vious books - Rainbow Round My Shoulder, and Wings On My Feet, Al- though those first tales related the adven- tures of the Black Ulysses himself, in Cold Blue Moon, fBobbs-Merrill, 352.501 he tells of a vanished South in his delight- ful negro dialect. He repeats the histories that he has heard, and each character be- comes a symbol of the post-war southern life We get a broad view of the old planta- tion, the sweet music of the chase, fox by day and 'coon by night, all told in the rhythmic phrasing of Black Ulysses. The story itself is of a stern old colonel, his sweet upright wife and their four children. Inevitably of course the beloved daughter attracts a young northerner to the scene. The story is filled with gay fes- tivity, fox hunts, disappointed love, and tragedy. The plot is not too important. There is a good deal of philosophy, and Eleven V-ff ' 4 1 l l l i 4 i i .......d

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L- 672 I Ruth Q. ' Goldberg S- Editor Q la of ' Pri . M V11-zr ' X si W I - Lirfef-am X . some new books . F LAMENCO Lady Eleanor Smith came to us last year with a vivid story of circus called the 'iRed Wagon.'l Now she brings us Flamenco a somewhat sympathetic theme. She writes of the gypsies with genuine authenticity, insight and under- standing. She does not paint them in the glorious gay colors of fantastic romance. The Romanies are a wild folk, dirty, dis- reputable, and dishonest, and as such she paints them. Lobo, the gypsy, and Richard Lavell, the gentleman, are both exiles. The one for violating the stern, Romany law of leis prala by killing a fellow gypsy, the other cheating at cards. He shelters the gypsy for a night, and buys the gypsy baby, Camila, who grows up as one of the Lavell children. Mrs. Lavell, who is quite insane and drinking herself deeper into insanity as a flight from bitter reality, hates Camila from the beginning. Richard makes ad- vances to the grown-up Camila and is repulsed. For revenge he sends her off to the gypsies. She returns, ragged and worn, with a tale of horribly brutal treatment, She marries the younger son, Evelvn only to discover that she really loves the elder, Harry. Finally she goes to him, and has a son, Robin. TlflHAiIS

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wiht Qlnmet a deeper significance for those who wish to think about it, but what makes it en- joyable is the vivid picturization of the south, with all the fine anecdotes in which it abounds, told in a style of poetical prose. THE GRASS ROOF For those of us who find their fancy straying beyond the bounds of the west to the magic eastern lands will find in The Grass Roofw by Younghill Kang fCharles Scnbner's Sons, SS3.00j, a new source of delight. Here is a tale of Korea, the Land of Morning Calm of peach bloom, and vivid beauty. The very sound of Korea brings with it the faint aroma of the east with all its subtle charm. Mr. Younghill Kang, a devout patriot of Korea, educated in japan and in Korea, living at the present time in America, describes his beloved country, and its people with a frankness and reality that is all endearing. We receive a charming picture of its civilization, its exquisite pottery, and the individual beauty of its religion. The story itself which is the life of the author takes place in the village of Pine trees, a gathering place of a single clan. The members of this clan are drawn in- dividually, and so finely that they are each living, separate characters, which in them- selves characterize the t'Hermit Kingdom. Each member, from the enchanting old grandmother to the crazy poet uncle are typical, the things they do and the things they believe and say are strangely typical. The life they lead, with all its simplicity, peace, and closely drawn lines, put forth an obviously true and sincere picturization of Korean life. Mr. Kang writes with charm and pre- cision, drawing his typical portraits care- fully and cleverly. He transports his read- Twelve er to his grandmotherls quiet garden in Korea: One of those Oriental Gardens where little streams entwined their way through green grass and moss, and every flower and fruit bloomed in season and made the a hundred years. only change there for Now here could life be found gentler, fair- er, more exquisite than an oriental garden like my grandmotherls beyond our grass roof. just a few steps PRO VIRIS LITTERATIS ADVISES: FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT 1. Grand Hotel,'l by Vicki Baum, a melodrama of one day in a luxurious con- tinental hotel. 2. Reader, I Married Him, by Anne Green, a comedy of love and marriage. 5. A jew in Love, by Ben Hecht, a study of egotism and hysteria. 4.- The Education of a Princess, by the Grand Duchess Marie, reminiscences of a Romanoff who survived the Russian revolu- tion. 5. The Pure in Heart, by Franz Wer- fel, a story of the potency of a womanls simple faith and goodness in the life of a man. 6. Flamenco, by Lady Eleanor Smith, a story filled with the wildly glorious music of the gypsies, a drama of untamed emotions. 7. The Limestone Treeu by Joseph Her- gesheimer, a chronicle of a Southern fam- ily through more than a hundred years. 8. 'lLittle Americaf' by Admiral Byrd, a record of the gallant men who matched their strength against the ice clad con- tinent and won. 9. Alison's House by Susan Glaspell, the Pulitzer Prize play which deals with the belated recognition of Emily Dickin- son.