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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 6, 1963
Twain, Cooper Are Favored
MARK TWAIN ON THE DAMNED HUMAN RACE, edited by Janet Smith (American Century. $2.25).
With the new attention given Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth," it's interesting to note the appearance of this paperback volume. Readers who have got past "Tom Sawyer" and "The Prince and the Pauper" know that Mark Twain's view of mankind was a pretty sultied one. This book offers the evidence.
Miss Smith has taken a number of Twain's writings, from famed and lesser-known books, from newspaper articles and the like. She has broken them down into his observations on the damned race in general, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, the Jews, the Belgian Congo, Russia, England, and the white race.
His times gave him plenty of material—the white man forcing his way into China, the Moro uprising in the Philippines and the role of Gen. Funston of Kansas, King Leopold in the Congo. Lynchers get their lumps, and so do American tourists abroad (many of these excerpts are from the several travel volumes).
In fact, as one reads in this book he is more and more drawn to agreement with the misanthropic observations. Viewed from the perspective of a Mark Twain, it is a damned human race.
ROUGHING IT, by Mark Twain
(Signet Classics, 75 cents).
As well as it may be classified under any heading, "Roughing It" may be called an autobiography. It is actually a loose collection of events in Twain's life between July of 1861 and the spring of 1867. This paperback is the same text as that of the first edition of the book, published by the American Publishing Company at Hartford, Conn., in 1872, except that the spelling and punctuation have been brought into conformity with modern American usage.
OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck (Bantam Classics, 40 cents).
In the wake of Steinbeck's receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature comes a reprint of this famous short novel of the thirties, a decade much more concerned with "proletarian" questions than the sixties, and a book that helped establish Steinbeck's reputation.
Most readers know the story, that of George and Lennie, bindle-stiffs who follow the crops through the West and Midwest, dreaming of the little farm they will never have, seeing their dream shattered through a wanton, unhappy farm wife.
HOME AS FOUND, by James Fenimore Cooper (Carnicer, $1.65).
Cooper wrote this novel in great bitterness, and in the sections where his bitterness comes through he has an impressive piece of writing. In the sections where he has to provide a plot—and a pretty simple-minded one, at that—to keep things going, he has an excessively ordinary work.
The New York aristocrat returned from abroad in the 1830s to find that his townpeople had taken over part of his land and were determined to keep it, because they were "the people." So he wrote this book in defense of the aristocratic principle, and in doing so he helped to establish the principle of fair comment and criticism in American libel law, for many critics attacked Cooper as an individual instead of attacking his writing.
"Home as Found" deals with the Effingham family of "The Pioneers," and describes the return of members of the family to their New York state home, and what happened to them upon coming into contact with the rough, crude and grasping civilization that was conquering America.
Cooper seemed somehow unaware that one of his heroes, President Jackson, had something to do with the democratic revolution Cooper was coming to deplore. But the author's social criticism is frequently powerful, and his observations are much like those being made about the same time by De Tocqueville. They are not unlike many being made by Americans of today who are troubled about the excesses of the democratic system.
MEN AND WOMEN, by Erskine Caldwell (Sirnet. 50 cents).
Though some critics are considerably behind the public in appreciating the novels of Erskine Caldwell, many of them have recognized for some time that this man who depicts our earthy folks is an excellent writer of short stories.
of 22 short stories by Caldwell, edited by Carvel Collins of MIT. The stories are arranged by age groups depicting childhood, youth, courtship, marriage, and middle and old age. They include "Kneel to the Rising Sun" and "Country Full of Swedes."
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, by Nathanael West (Bantam Classics, 35 cents).
This new volume is a collection
A few years ago there was quite a cult of Nathanael West, based on the rediscovery of this writer known only to a few in the thirties and forties. The book is possibly the best yet written about Hollywood manners and morals. It is savage in its commentaries about the half-world of the film colony, and like Evelyn Waugh's "The Loved One" it makes its comments in a literate and always entertaining manner.
WASHINGTON SQUARE, by Henry James (Bantam Classics, 40 cents).
Here is a hardy perennial, back in a newly designed edition. Though the novel is not in that select circle of recommended novels by Henry James, it is a book that will register with almost all readers.
This is a simple, tightly written story, dealing with Catherine Sloper, unattractive daughter of a wealthy New York aristocrat, and Morris Townsend, man about town who plans to marry Catherine for her money, and who is foiled by the father, in the foiling also destroys Catherine's chances for happiness. The novel is a perceptive portrait of mid-19th century American society.
THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF JACK LONDON, with introduction by Eugene Burdick (Premier, 50 cents).
Jack London is best known for his novels, but the same elementary style and philosophy can be found in his short stories. He combines Darwinism, Marxism, Nietzschism and idealism in these tales, which largely are of the far North.
The collection includes "To the Man on Trail," "Love of Life," "Lost Face," "The Law of Life," "The Wit of Porportuk," "The Pearls of Parlay," "To Build a Fire" (probably his best story), "The Heaven," "A Piece of Steak" and "An Odyssey of the North."
WORTH LOOKING INTO Riverside Editions
Paperbacks you can count on for consistent textual and critical excellence
RE A36 Dreiser: SISTER CARRIE, edited by Claude Simpson ... $1.05
RE A68 James: THE AMERICAN, Intro. by Roy Harvey Pearce;
text established by Matthew J. BrUCCli ... $ .95
RE A33 Norris: THE OCTOPUS, edited by Kenneth S. Lynn ... $1.25
RE A65 Simms: THE YEMASSEE, edited by C. Hugh Holman ... $1.25
RE A58 Twain: SELECTED SHORTER WRITINGS OF MARK TWAIN,
edited by Walter Blair ... $1.15
RE B40 Byron: DON LUAN, edited by Leslie A. Marchand ... $1.35
RE B31 Defoe: MOLL FLANDERS, edited by James-Sutherland ... $1.15
RE B54 Eliot: THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, edited by Gordon S. Height ... $1.35
RE B 8 Malory: KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS,
edited by Eugene Vinaver ... $ .95
RE B69 Richardson: CLARISSA, abridged and
edited by George Sherburn ... $1.60
Landmarks in the development of literature and thought
SE 5 Coit: JOHN C. CALHOUN ... $2.45
SE10 Galbraith: THE GREAT CRASH, 1929 ... $1.35
SE12 Baker: YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN ... $1.45
SE13 Hitler: MEIN KAMPF ... $2.85
SE17 Mattingly: THE ARMADA ... $2.35
Sentry Editions
★ AND DON'T OVERLOOK
Pauk: HOW TO STUDY IN COLLEGE ___ $1.95
FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS
Many Works of History Emerging in Paperbacks
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Midwestern Division, Geneva, Illinois
The paperback presses have been pouring out many excellent books of history and public affairs in recent years. Here are a few of the available titles that deserve a special look:
Henry Adams, "Mont-St. Michel and Chartres," with photographs, an enduring picture of the Middle Ages; Frederick Lewis Allen, "Only Yesterday," "Since Yesterday" and "The Big Change," vivid social histories of the twenties, thirties and the century in general; Catherine Drinker Bowen, "Yankee from Olympus," biography of Justice Holmes.
Richard Hofstadter, "The Age of Reform," "The American Political Tradition" and "Social Darwinism in American Thought"; Matthew Josephson, "The Robber Barons," entertaining indictment of the buccaneers of the Gilded Age; V. O. Key Jr., "Southern Politics," a definitive work on men and institutions in the South.
WALTER LIPPMANN, "PUBLIC Opinion," after 40 years still the best yet; Samuel Lubell, "The Future of American Politics"; Alfred T. Mahan, "The Influence of Sea Power upon History," a book of history that helped to make history; Perry Miller, "The American Puritans" and "The American Transcendentalists."
"Roosevelt in Retrospect," a thoughtful history, and "Death Be Not Proud," the story of the life and death of Gunther's son; Max Lerner, "America as a Civilization," two impressive volumes on our culture; Louis Snyder and Richard B. Morris, "A Treasury of Great Reporting," some of the finest examples in journalistic history.
Alan Bullock, "Hitler: A Study in Tyranny"; W. J. Cash, "The Mind of the South"; superlative social examination; Bruce Catton, "Mr. Lincoln's Army," "Glory Road" and "A Stillness at Appomattox," histories of the Army of the Potomac; Burton J. Hendrick, "Lincoln's War Cabinet."
Richard B. Morris, "Great Presidential Decisions"; Francis Parkman, "The Oregon Trail," memorable first-person narrative; David Potter, "People of Plenty," an analysis of this nation of abundance; Henry Pringle, "Theodore Roosevelt," good history; Richard Rovere, "Senator Joe McCarthy."
WINSTON CHURCHILL, THE celebrated history of World War II, in six volumes; Margaret L. Coit, "John C. Calhoun" Pulitzer prizewinning biography; Bernard DeVoto, "The Course of Empire" and "The Year of Decision: 1846," panoramic histories of the opening of the West; Herbert L. Feis, "The Road to Pearl Harbor," a penetrating history.
John Gunther, the "inside books" on Europe today and Russia today.
William Shakespeare
A Reader's Guide by Alfred Harbage
"After a work has been discussed by many men through many generations, there exists in addition to the work, a lengthening shadow of it. This we may call its Criticism, with a capital C," Professor Alfred Harbage, one of the most distinguished Shakespearean scholars alive, remarks in his preface to this guide to Shakespeare.
In this book Professor Harbage, combining rare insight and scholarship, deals with the difficulties confronting modern readers of Shakespeare and then passes on to a discussion of the diction, the metrical and nonmetrical media, and the dramatic design as it emerges from a script.
A Noonday Press Publication $2.75