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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 6. 1963
Contemporary World Problems Are Reflected in Several Paperbacks
DIARY OF A_SIMPLE MAN, by Peter Cohen (American Century, $1.50)—Here is an original paperback edition, also available in cloth for $3.50, of a novel by a young man in his twenties. Cohen describes a man who becomes lost in the world of today, and goes from one city to another, one girl to another, in his effort to find meaning in life. The novel has a fine feeling for American colloquialisms, for life in America today. The coeditor of New Campus Writing commented: "Mr. Cohen has a very quiet voice, but his own voice, and it has authority . . . It is an unusual first novel."
THE SAVAGE LAND, by Ann Abweche (Ballantine, 50 cents).
"The Savage Land" is a novel of the West, the American desert, the violence of the elements and the violence of man.
It is hard at times to determine whether the novel was written to show the vastness and emptiness of the American desert or whether man's struggle against the odds and his search for some symbol or purpose in life is the dominant theme. The language in the novel is certainly descriptive and graphic—to the point of being overdone. It is filled with elficé, especially at the end when the author describes the trial and execution of an innocent man.
The story moves along rapidly until the question-and-answer report of the trial, when the reader gets slowed down by the ridiculous account and handling of the situation.
In this contemporary novel we have a distinguished Washington columnist attempting a story of international intrigue—and he does well. The setting is Geneva, and the complications are those of statesmen engaged in modern-day diplomacy.
THE PEACEMAKERS, by Marquis Childs (Dell. 60 cents).
Though far from being a book of epic stature, "The Peacemakers" is quick and readable in the manner of "Advise and Consent," "Fail-Safe," and other recent novels capitalizing on the world scene.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCK-OO'S NEST, by Ken Kesey (Signet, 75 cents).
This novel, first published only last year, tells how one Randle Patrick McMurphy feigns insanity, goes into a mental institution, and takes over in his ward—or tries to, till he comes up against Big Nurse, who has run the place like an autocrat for lo these many years.
It is a savage and wild tale, frequently funny, too, if one cannot discount the essential subject matter. Let's just say that here is sick writing of the sixties that is a little better than most of what floods the paperback stands.
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN DROWNING, by Charles Perry (Signet, 75 cents).
Here is another story of contemporary America, about Harry Odum, who runs errands and roughs people up and kills when necessary for big city racketeers. His home is a slum, his heroes are criminals, his parents are the worst possible models.
It is a violent tale, which shows how a young man can be twisted into a vicious psychopath, a monster, and finally a murderer. This is not for the squeamish.
TWILIGHT OF HONOR, by Al Devleyn (Signet. 75 cents).
Al Dewlen won the $10,000 McGraw-Hill Fiction Award for this absorbing courtroom story, dealing with the trial of a vicious murderer, and set in Texas. It is one more novel that will mark the sixties as a decade of violence in American literature.
On trial is a hitchhiker who has confessed to murdering the richest, most generous, best-loved man in the Texas Panhandle. The court-appointed lawyer has the assignment of dealing with the emotions already running wild in the room.
ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES, by Angus Wilson (Signet Classics, 75 cents).
Newly published, in an attractive paperback volume, is this 1956 novel of present-day English life, written by a man who was for years the deputy superintendent of the Reading Room at the British Museum.
It is the story of Gerald Middleton, who as a young man had been near the scene of a discovery unique in English archaeology—the unearthing of a heathen idol in the coffin of a bishop of the ancient church. Middleton doubted the authenticity of the find. But he said nothing, and in middle age he finds that his life has become a series of pretenses built on this early pretense. The novel shows how Middleton deals with his weaknesses. It is a book in the grand tradition of English literature.
STRANGERS AND BROTHERS,
by C. P. Snow (Scribner Library,
$1.45).
In his usual low-keyed way, C. P. Snow details here the story of George Passant, idealistic lawyer
and leader of men who gets himself involved in a nasty scandal in the England of the late twenties.
This is the first, chronologically, of Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" sequence of novels in which Lewis Eliot is both narrator and character. It is an always absorbing story, one which demonstrates how a man of good will can lose out because of his unwillingness to conform to the demands of society.
Passant, Jack Cotery, and Olive Calvert find themselves defendants in a fraud action, one that would not have materialized had not the three been so free and gusty about declaring their independence from the norms of their world. Their cause is not a world-shaking one; it resembles, in fact, the tempests in teapots that have come to characterize such Snow novels as "The Affair" and "The Masters."
As usual, the interplay of forces, and the characterizations themselves, are convincing.
Readers who would like their own five-foot shelf of the classics (reduced in size, of course) will find that paperbacks provide almost every title they might want.
A World of Classics
The great philosophers — Plato, Aristotle, the writers of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment — are in paperback. Most of the Greek plays — Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles — are available in several editions. So are "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey."
Students who have been through the Western Civilization program are well acquainted with the diversity of great books available in inexpensive editions, and students of literature know that almost all of Shakespeare's plays are available. Bulfinch's "Age of Fable" and Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" also recently came out.
Though the early novels of the 18th century prove difficult for many readers, they still are there for the discerning student, and they are likely to prove lasting favorites —Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders," Fielding's "Tom Jones" and "Joséph Andrews,"
Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," Smollett's "Roderick Random," Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" and Voltaire's "Candide."
AS ONE GETS INTO THE 19TH century he will find almost every likely title available in paperback, many of them in attractive, lasting, quality editions. Jane Austen's novels, the Gothic romances of the Bronte sisters, Chekhov's plays and stories, practically all of Dickens' novels, most of Hardy's, almost all of Dostoevsky's and Tolstoy's (though abridgements of "War and Peace" are all that one can find)—these are in paperback.
So are the writings of Emerson, Flaubert, Hawthorne, some of Hugo, Ibsen, Melville, Stendhal, Thackeray, Thoreau, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.
There are a few titles missing from the 20th century lists — Wolfe's "Of Time and the River," several of Willa Cather's novels, "The Magic Mountain" and "Remembrance of Things Past." Otherwise, one can find most of the writers who have made their mark in recent years.
Every reading pleasure ... every learning joy now available in POCKET BOOKS!
Whatever the reading interests or needs of the student or faculty, whether for classroom or personal satisfaction, you can supply them. Through a monumental effort by Pocket Books, Inc. and its affiliates listed here, the horizons of the paperback world have been pushed to the very frontiers of knowledge, the remotest outposts of art. And, for the first time, it's all available at a price any student can afford! Look at this listing which only begins to suggest the vast range of subject coverage . . . then send for the complete catalog giving every author and title worth having in the fields of history, science, literature, politics, philosophy, religion, art and many others!
THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960 by Theodore H. White. Highly absorbing and informative Pulitzer Prize winner and run away best seller - provides a brilliant insight into John F. Kennedy's rise along with a hard look at the politics of our age, its pitfalls, successes and the methods employed by those who reach for the top fruits of power.
(GC953)95p
MIDCENTURY by John Dos Passos. Called his best novel since his magnificent U.S.A. Trilogy, Dos Passos in "Midcentury" records the voice of America—the headlines, the leaders, television, advertising, radio—and gives their true and often terrifying meaning in a living, breathing story of unforgettable people. The New York Times Best Seller list for many months.
(GC773)75 $ \phi $
IN PLACE OF FOLLY by Norman Cousins. Sanely discusses the most urgent issue of our time—nuclear power—and shows where hope lies. An incisive book. Cousins meets head on with the prevailing thoughts and politics of today and asks with answers that have caught the ear of organizations like the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, the National Council of Churches and others. (W 826) 60¢
TARAS BULBA and Other Stories by Nikolai Gagol. The great classic of love, war and independence set in the Ukraine over a century ago, told by a superb artist and patriot. Taras Bulba, slated for release as a movie in November of this year, is accompanied by three other masterfully drawn Russian tales. (W 572) 60¢
Also these exciting new releases in paperback:
INSIDE EUROPE TODAY by John Gunther (GC 605) 60¢
SIX CRISES by Richard M. Nixon (GC 608) 60¢ (available in California only)
FATHERS AND SONS by Ivan Turgenev, foreword by Neal Burroughs (W 280) 45¢
GREAT INVENTIONS by Jerome S. Meyer (M 603) 60¢
RICHARD II by William Shakespeare in Folder Library Series (W 119) 45¢
REVOLUTION 1776: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by John Hyde Preston (W 609) 60¢
DISCRIMINATION – U.S.A. by Senator Jacob K. Javits (W 825) 60¢
CHAIRMAN OF THE BORED by Edward Streeter (GC 152) 50¢
CADDY and ZADIG by Voltaire, edited and with introduction by Lester G. Crocker (W 153) 45¢
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW AND OTHER SELECTIONS FROM WASHINGTON IRVING, edited and with introduction by Austin Mc. Cox (W 581) 60¢
THREE PLAYS ABOUT MARRIAGE edited by Joseph Marsand in the American National Theatre and Academy Series (W 659) 60¢ including:
“Craig's Wife” by George Kelly
“Holiday” by Philip Barry
“They Knew What They Wanted” by Sidney Howard
Also 7 distinguished WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS educational series of vital interest to the student and instructor.
THE FOLGER LIBRARY SHAKESPEARE SERIES
THE ANTA SERIES OF DISTINGUISHED PLAYS
WORKS OF FOREMEST AMERICAN AUTHORS
WORKS OF FOREMEST BISHIVISH AUTHORS
THE WSP POETRY SERIES
FAMOUS WORKS IN TRANSALATION
WSP FORGEIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY SERIES
For our new catalog of educational paperbacks write to:
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