The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 7

TURDAY NOVEMBER 4 1961 THE KANSAS CITY STAR SA Four Generations of Something About Life Book Day BOOKS of the day bf Thorp Mann HHHHHI ne or th Wealthiest things to appear in our town this Upek is the autumn number of the University of Kansas City Review healthiest in the sense of robust acuity The Review is a tiny part of the University It's a byproduct really somewhat as the TV how Way of is a Sunday night byproduct of City National Rani That television program has captured the attention of tens of thousands of thinking persons The Review on the other hand probably is seen by only hundreds It is hardly available Only the University bookstore offers it for sale So to talk about one of the "Crook-of-the-MontH Squad porting" Belioz Puccini Debussy Hindemith depending upon his mood and the stage his story has reached He reads the Chinese philosophers as he wait for the editors to deal with hxs copy From fine white heavy copypaper he makes airplanes inscribes messages on them and sails them from the upper floors of the Vital building into the void below One of the fine episodes in Fun is a description of a Saturday in Gaskin's working life a nerve racking period that extends for almost 24 hours as he wrestles with copy for a Vital feature on American agriculture experiences on a presidential campaign train also make the point that when you work at Vital you work hard and the auxiliary point that at Vital the aristocrats are the photographers This is at once a funny and instructive book No one interested in publishing can afford to miss it Neither can anyone interested in laughing To those interested Ln both it is indispensable the book of the year And it is one book of which it can truly be said that most of its characters are Life size THE FUN HOUSE by William Brinkley (373 pages Random House 6595) their demands some of them deliberately determined to humiliate those below them One other rather unexpected counter melody runs through the comedy of Fun Despite all the terrors of our time Brinkley conveys through one of his characters Jason Hightower an occasional exaltation at being alive in so momentous an age when so much will be decided And Jason has faith What can one man do? he asks himself and back comes the message was but one Fun is not conventional in form Its plot lines are deliberately indistinct There is considerable straight exposition Much of the book is in the form of separate episodes Characters appear and then depart for good Two are around most of the time Hightower and Hank Gaskin are iconoclastic intelligent good at their jobs committed against sexual repression amazingly furnished office includes a hi-fi set and he works to THIS IS JERI ARCHER as Momma (Lulubelle) Little Me (Maybelle) Baby-dear (Isabelle) and tiny Presh (Christabelle) Miss Archer was the one professional model (she was paid anyway) in an uncounted cast of friends who appear in some 150 illustrations for by Patrick Dennis (of fame) and Chris Alexander (who played Patrick Dennis in the film) (Dutton $595) is subtitled Intimate Memoirs of That Great Star of Stage Screen and Television Belle Who dat? Doesn't she seem somehow familiar in the photo at the right? She is a composite of all the stars have let down their hair and told ALL for their panting public is dedicated to Agnes Arlene Bette Billie Billie Bridgitt Cobina Diana Diana Elsie Ethel Ethel Ethel Eva Fanny Francis Gertrude Gertrude Grace Grade Gypsy Hedda Helen Ilka Ingrid and 32 others As a parody it is so-so but the photographs make it fun And this thing is going to appear on Broadway As a movie it could be wonderful Hugh view of censorship in LouisvUle a shown In the Courier Journal Young Readers By Jean A Merrill HANDSOME illustrations and fresh imaginative writing distinguish three recent books that will give young children new insight into the changing seasons the vast reaches of outer space and the world beneath the sea: DOWN COME THE LEAVES hv Henrietta Bancroft (Crowell $195) captures in words and pictures the feeling of autumn its falling leaves with children raking them into piles playing in them and enjoying bonfires The author explains very simply that leaves fall when their work of making food is done hut that even as they fall buds have formed from which new leaves will emerge in the spring Nonny Hogrog-ian soft line drawings of familiar leaves will encourage youngsters to identify leaves they find themselves One of the new titles in the useful series of primary science books WHEN GO TO THE MOON by Claudia Lewis 'Macmillan $3) is a refreshing departure from the usual theme found in space stones Upon his arrival this young space traveler looks back upon his own planet the earth instead of explonng the moon He notes how large the earth is times larger than the moon we know and eighty times more bright'' how' its colors may be seen through a telescope Deserts dusty red Green fields and dark green patches that are forest how much more water there is than land He imagines what is happening back on earth as night falls and forth wee'll stare across the cosmic Leonard striking blue and w'hife pictures drawn to scale match the text perfectly WHAT A WONDERFUL MACHINE IS THE SUBMARINE by Norman Bate (Scribner $2 75) will delight mechanically minded small boys Essentially the picture story of an atomic submarine it also pictures other inhabitants of the underwater world a sea turtle porpoise shark and seal Interspersed with the description of the atomic submarine are flashbacks that trace the development of underwater craft from the time of Alexander the Great Mr Bate's earlier books include Built the and Built the said that the only good reprehensible or just unprintable true but there are exceptions classic: lady of Niger rode on a tiger from the ride inside the face of the tiger expurgated versions of the unprintable by Taylor (sample attached) book Oh yes Edward father of the limericks although given birth to some But gave this form of nonsense a healthiest things jn our town is to point an almost hidden flown a healthy thing if not a wealthy thing My enthusiasm for this literary quarterly Is awakened by its publication of Censorship in a Fre by Richard licht-man who himself is oie- of the healthiest things at the university again in the sense of robust activity He Is a keen young intellectial Increasingly in demand as a speaker to groups who find gusto in lively discission of pertinent issues Mr article 4s one of the best reasoned attacks curt clear and com- ilete on laws against obscene books He makes an affirmative case for freedom He examines the notion that such literature is in any way responsible for delinquent behavior He analyzes the increase of violent crimes and concludes: There are no easy solutions to this problem But it is clear that the solution does not lie in the destruction of freedom and critical discernment To treat men as intelligent and responsible is to encourage them to become so to place the control of a life in the will of another is to shut up those critical faculties whose exercise is our only hope in the solution of this malady In recognizing the need of some restraint on individuals he declares that restraint is ultimately justified by the amount of freedom it He finds nothing liberating for others In restraining the creative work of individuals He says in fact that debase sex in the obvious sense that it saturates it with a sense of filth and Mr Lichtman writes about an absolute freedom that does not exist We do have obscenity laws How far should we go in resisting these? We do have obscene books however difficult it is to define Does freedom belong to an individual who refuses to acknowledge his own work? Most obscenity is written under pseudonyms Its publishers rarely appear in its defense Do we defend them? reviewers have almost unanimously defended the publication of Chatterley's and of to name two recent cases of alleged obscenity because the authors of these two books stood with heads high and proudly proclaimed their work as honest expressions of their own critical evaluation of the culture in which they lived Should we defend also the work of hack writers and photogra- Reviewed j)y Theodore WHILE William Brinkley recognizes that the primary function of a great organization may be of some importance he views such an organization primarily in terms of a by-product its comic aspects So it was with the United States Navy in Go Near the and so it is with the greatest picture magazine Vital in Fun Sometimes he writes satire sometimes he descends to burlesque but in either case he is consistently funny He is also at times something else No business organization is more dedicated to the principal that its employees should be pampered and have lots of fun than is Vital Office parties occur on the flimsiest pretext at Christmas on Guy Fawkes day Florence birthday the anniversary of victory on Lake Erie Up goes the office party flag bearing as an emblem a martini glass and the fun starts Three-hour five-Martini lunches are the rule Everybody gets a vacation in the summer and what is known as a winter week Free medical and dental services is on a lavish scale and until it was abused there was virtually free psychiatry On Saturday nights when the week reaches its working peak the company serves everybody a free $6 dinner provided by one of New best caterers and breaks out ample liquor to see Vital to press Petty thievery is not only not forbidden it is encouraged and just before school starts the purchasing department thoughtfully lays in an extra large supply of pencils So Vital is a place to have fun up to a point It also gives free rein to the up to a point It is after that point is reached that Brinkley's novel takes on some rather chilling qualities Then Vital is revealed as a cruel de-vourer of men's brains and vitality a wrecker of their nerves its top men often petty and unreasonable in I BOOKS REVIEWED BRIEFLY (Condensed reports by The Star's reviewers) It's about a wily entrepreneur who conceives the idea of a cruise on a royal yacht long in dry dock and badly worn for the creme de la creme of the semi-aristocracv of Europe offering them the exclusiveness so flattering to their egos and little else The characters who come on this trip as well as the crew and a mysterious prince who knew more about prisons than palaces are even as you and I people beset with their own private demons ambition devotion to the past a little overdeveloped case of ancestor worship and revenge The author whips this fascinating cast on this most improbable voyage into a bouillabaisse of gaiety and wit with a dash of piracy added to give strength to the novel appeal of this novel BRIDGE TO BROTHERHOOD: Judaism's Dialogue With Christianity bv Stuart Rosenberg (Abelard-Schuman $395) This book derives from lectures given by the rabbi of Canada largest Jewish congregation to his Christian neighbors on Judaism and its practices It is a literate survey covering ceremonials and ideas but is not exactly a dialogue since many of the points discussed could be and have been challenged by sincere Christians Wp are in need of such dialogues today and if books like Dr are read they should be preparations for the real discussions that have yet to come men are ready for a new vision of God I Arnold Bennett once limericks were eitner That may be usually as in this old There was a young Who smiled as she They returned With the lady And the smile on In fact some of the ones become distinctly unfunny in print Anyway Ijiuis Untermever has edited a collection and written commentaries in of (Doubleday $275) under various headings Old Classics Tricks and Puzzles Rollicking and Rowdy etc etc Illustrations brighten this little Lear is considered the Mother Goose had at least Edward Lear name SLUMS SUBURBS by James Conant (147 pages McGraw-Hill $395) One of the nation's most articulate commentators on education compares secondary schools in dilapidated city neighborhoods with those in well-to-do suburbs and concludes to a considerable degree what a school should do and can do is determined by the status and ambitions of the families being He notes also tremendous variance in colleges and collegiate standards and ventures the guess: is a college somewhere in the United States for any student who graduates from high He urges other areas to study the California system of state-wide junior colleges The prestige colleges and universities should be reserved as institutions for very bright students he says But it is the slum area that concerns him most There educators must struggle to prepare students for getting and keeping a job w'hile at the same time encouraging bright youngsters to seek higher education However too often the school people labor alone Parental concern for children to succeed academically is lacking and pupils are exposed to the vicious depraved influences of the slum street often finds a vicious circle of lack of jobs and lack of Dr Conant says circle must be His suggestions as to how this may be done expounded in a tightly written little I Boohs of the Day I phers who are ashamed to identify themselves with the trash they produce? I raise the question only out of soul-searching about specific cases growing out of Mr Lichtman's generalities In general I am on his side because he speaks in defense of Americanism which is freedom His article may attract attention to one of America's better literary quarterlies which usually are obscure publications of limited interest The same issue contains poems by James Rosenberg of Kansas State and by May Ward of Wellington Other contributors include Geoffrey Johnson of England known to readers of The editorial page poems and James Binney and George Loveridge whose previous work there appeared later in Martha Foley's annual American Short Dickensians incidentally will be intrigued by Sister Corona Sharp's Study of the Archetypal an analysis of Charles use of the river in the symbolism of Mutual Amateur poets (and professionals too) who want to understand their craft better should look into a Purdue University Poet Critic program This publishing venture intended to give both poet and critic an audience is not just another little magazine It is a monthly mailing of mimeographed poems submitted for criticism Subsequent issues contain volunteer criticism of the poems and criticisms of criticism (Warren Kliewer of Bethany college for example takes Issue with Alan Swallow's sharp comments about one poem) The whole thing is in short a kind of round-robin conversation but it consists of vigorous discussion No poet learns anything about his work from either band the late Dr Warren Grafton former pastor of the Country Club Christian church here And in the Introduction to Saturday Night Talk With (Bethany Press $295) Ralph Sockman pays tribute to the personal themes on which Dr Grafton wrote he adds author had an eye to the large horizons of civic and international concern He also says writer has to plumb the deeps of human nature to pen little gems like these Eddie Guest could do it Warren Grafton could do Henry a kissinger will givp the second of the Rockhurst College Visiting Scholar lectures next Sunday November 12 at 8 o'clock in the Fieldhouse His subject will be of American Foreign Dr Kissinger at age 38 is director of the Harvard International Seminar and a special consultant to President Kennedy He is the author of Weapons and Foreign and Necessity for He was director of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund when that group published its famous report on national defense three years ago editorial rejection or acceptance many conditions govern the acceptance of manuscripts that rejection does not necessarily imply lack of That from The rejection slip is a true statement in general but what in the world does it mean in your particular case?) Poet Critic offers an opportunity to learn what is wrong and what is right about your work Or if you don't want to expose your work to vigorous discussion Poet Critic lets you sit in on a discussion of other work from which you may learn self-criticism need not subscribe in order to submit nor need you submit if you says William Till-son the editor This is an exciting idea It seems so good that there must he something wrong with it or it would have been an established thing long ago But until we find what if anything is wrong go ahead and send a dollar bill to Poet Critic 420 Heavilon Hall Purdue University Lafayette Indiana and get on the mailing list for the mimeographed sheets of poems and criticisms IN HOPE these editorials may he of help to other ministers who are faced with the challenge of writing for a weekly church Elizabeth Grafton has assembled a collection of editorials by her hus- PAPERBACKS THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA by Alan Barker (Anchor 95ct is a gracefully written and highly informative short account of the war and of post-war reconstruction The author a British historian analyzes the background of the war in the American Constitution political parties the westward movement and slavery Barker's genius for synthesis and for showing the significance of events makes this one of the best books available on the war at any price A I N-TRAVELED ROADS by Hamlin Garland (Premier 50c) These six brooding stories about Midwestern farm life in the late 19th century are considered by many critics as the best work of the late great for Mankind Quietly for the Lord book present an important challenge MH PRIVATE DEMONS by MacDonald Harris (Houghton Mifflin $450) Connoisseurs of the decadent and also of the delectable will find both to please them in this first novel written by an American short story writer whose wit seems subtly Gallic whose knowledge of aristocracy sounds like Almanac Gotha but whose perversion of this information suggests Mark "Innocents Have you read THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE 0rew Testament treasure to be discovered and which read again and again each time savoring anew its beauty clarity and meaning $495 at booksellers CAMBRIDGE OXFORD Christ iern Cttfry SELLS BOOKS EVERYDAY FOR 60 BELOW Manufacturer's List Price! Best Seilers Modern Library a Cook Books Paperbacks Many More Hara ert 3 fw examples: Franny and Salinger list 495 319 Agony and Store list 595 449 Robbins List 595 448 Mila 18-Uris List 495 376 Edge of O'Connor List $5 1 399 New English Bible List 495 376 Notion of Lederer List 395 284 Rise and Fall of the Third Reich list $10 7S9 Ring of Bright Water-Maxwell list $5 379 Inside Europe Gunther list 495 376 IOOKS 1st Near Sorry No Mail or Phone Orders KIDS MU SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS In this oll-nw fait of timeless and rlcalass itrvtd up by ART LINKLITTIR Effeetivelv Reviewed by Gertrude Field Oliver Lfe was meant to be and curiosity must kept alive One must tever for whatever rea sm turn one's back on life T1AT final statement in the preface to her autobiography indicates the prevailing winds in the life of great and wise Eleanor Roosevelt a woman noted as a liberal but with a message for youth that modern conservatives would endorse however they might interpret its application? not stop thinking of life as an adventure You have no security unless you can Iivp bravely excitingly imaginatively unless you can choose a challenge instead of a Never one to idle she brushed up on her French German and Italian when her live children were small At 36 she took courses in cooking shorthand and typing At 41 While her husband was governor of New York she taught school three days a week courses in American history and American and THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (439 pages Harper $695) English literature She has raised funds for countless organizations edited news sheets reported on national legislation for the League of Women Voters has been active in the workings of her political party and tireless in behalf of the United Nations Her sizable income from radio TV and her writings has been turned over to various charities and organizations I remember hearing her described once as an phenomenon comparable to Niagara Why read her autobiography? The chances are that all of us will live out our lives in a troubled world At times we become discouraged about building a better one It is immensely helpful to read and study the life of this woman a citizen of the world whose criteria of success is usefulness and excellence Every scrap of information every insight every description of self and others is related with a fine sense of objectivity Between the lines written with such re people and discovering that everyone had something interesting to contribute to my It is interesting to note her awareness of the many people who have exerted and continue to exert profound influence on her These three stand out: The headmistress of her secondary' school who challenged her to work hard and to think on current world problems Louis Howe who encouraged her to speak in public and her husband who the windows of the for her Why read her autobiography? Because of the personality which quietly emerges from the record of her remembrances and thoughts Wherever forgotten people are remembered wherever new light and power are infused into the problems and solutions of our world whenever we move closer to our constitutional ideals and our religious ideals of brotherhood Eleanor Roosevelts spirit be there She works effectively for mankind and quietly for the Lord are they who receive My name which no one knoweth except they who receive markable detachment the sensitive compassionate core of this woman breaks through The reader is inspired because here is a person who has achieved maturity She appreciates beauty and has confidence in truth She reflects the powers of growth of honesty and of self-discipline Her inner life and outer life fit She is a great one for recognizing her mistakes and referring to herself at times as a or idiot Never does she direct disparaging remarks to others There is not a trace of bitterness or self pity in this book But then she learned early to ignore relentless and unmerciful criticism of her numerous activities for men women and children struggling to find their place in the sun She learned early that to accept slander was a part of working for ideals a part of being in the public eye As her and she crisscrossed the country and the world inspecting dedicating speaking lecturing listening writing and all of this sandwiched between official White House functions She was always learning constantly meeting all lands of Illustrated by Charla "Raamitx" Schalx $2 73 new at your book tor IRNARD Ollt ASSOCIATES Dllt by Random Hou McGUFFEY'S READERS After Inn and costly scorch reprint of the wriqlnol 179 revised editions of the famous McGuffoy't Readers have been completed and yee eon now purchase exact capias at the following lew 18: prices ROSTRA 1st Reader $250 2nd Reader S27S 3rd Reader $325 4th leader S3 SO Sth leader $375 th leader $425 OLD AUTMOIS Dept K-U Iowan In Join tn uterarx Guild lid our ouok sellers books ip oi tne best lux trr ree department and ei lor only sr on toinln Uv $2 oO oach ol BOOKS 20 off! Popular titles classics fiction non-fiction books sixth downtown only STH FL WALNUT YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED we think your manuscript bat on osnat possibilities we will offer you a straight royalty or reasonable snh tidy Send manuscript tor free edl tonal report or write for Brochure Pateant Press 101 Fifth Are New Vorfc 3 DAVID BEATTY STEREO HI-FI 1616 WESTPORT ROAD.