Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 March 1947 — Page 14

¢ ag in Callcting nerican Ballads Told by Song Hunters

“ADVENTURES OF A BALLAD HUNTER." By John A. Lomax

New York, Macmillan, $3.75

POPULAR SONGS come from two sources—from Tin

Pan Alley, which is commercial, and from humble people

who have no musical education and no commercial aim.

The first are the catéhy tunes that win popular applause; | the second are the ballads of cow hands, farmers, work gangs, |

Negro field hands, lumberjacks. John A. Lomax, Dallas, * Tex., who will be 80 next Sep- |.

| from university. heads. But at the

“big, gloomy "tember, has put in many years col- South Carolina they met with |

state prison” of

lecting the latter, and some of his trouble.

have been fun. He tells, about them in “Adventures of ala Ballad Hunter. ”

The convicts had heard through |

trusty that a man was comifig |

from Washington and immediate |

Today, thanks to John A. Lomax;iyy decided to voice thet complaints. © his son-Alan Lomax, Carl Sandburg The warden was cold.

and a number of other troubadours, | you can buy books with folk songs) at properly written out. ® » = BUT WHEN Mr. Lomax began

ly ou are,’

AND THEN he adeed: scou for them they were passed that in your damned letter you | oe one singer to another asked us to send in to the library | and so varied in tunes and words. of congress all the ‘vulgar’ songs | More recently, with the help of these men know. What in hell do /

“You get away from this place

once and don't tell anybody who * he Sommmnded.

“I notice

a portable recording machine, the|you want with dirty songs?

‘Lomaxes have provided the library)

“And did you think we would

of congress with 10,000 records of violate. the postal laws to send

folk songs.

lindecent stuff through the mails?”

ER Ya Ny oR SARE AN A

Shop." extreme right.

And if you want to know what |The word vulgar, used for common, | 10000 records look like pick outly.; gjiengted the warden.

the biggest record store you can find and start counting. ‘

An»

interested in Negro ballads. He believes they are more likely to be because Negro field hands “slough off the white

8 5

Reading Mr. Lomax's adventures |while hunting folk songs Is like visiting a hidden part of the United MRE. LOMAX has been especially | States. The simple folk who sang these songs with all their enthusi- |

asm loved to perform.

THEIR LIVES were not lived and more according to metropolitan standards. | {The stories that Mr. Lomax heard from canal boat captains, Negro preachers and laborers were as good |

r = ”

THE NOVELIST AS PEN- ANDANK ARTIST Ar early sketch vy Booth h Torkington, showing a rehearsal at Princeton university of . Sheridan's comedy; The late great Hoosier novelist may have drawn himself as the figure at the Together with first editions and inscribed copies of Tarkington's works, the drawing is curren is currently ¢ on exhibition at the Indiana Historical society library.

"The Coffee

Philosopher's Quest’ Is Defense of Subject; Author Deals With Non-Technical Problems

"PHILOSOPHER'S QUEST. " By Irwin Edman. New York, Viking; $3.) shows what might happen if a pub-

By HENRY BUTLER

FOR MORE than 20

years Irwin Edman has contributed to the edu- philosophy professor.

{cation of not only his Columbia students, but also a large section of |

the reading public.

In “Philosopher's Quest,” latest in a series of admirably written | magazines, ete.). i volumes, he deals again with non-technical problems in philosophy. {boom collapses, temporary enthusiTwo excerpts from the book have appeared in recent issues of the |asts turn to “a new form of Yoga,

‘Saturday Review of Literature. One of these: “A Short History of a | Different Philosopher,” discussed in|

whip hi

THE WARDENS were “hospitable to the Lomaxes, especially since they came* with recommendations

Krause Plans New Novel, Plot Is ‘Unpredictable’

“WRITING is organic.” | So says Herbert Krause, author of “The Thresher” (Bobbs-Merrill),! novel about Minnesota wheat farm-|

ers reviewed in The Times Boge

Page for Jan. 11.

In Indianapolis this week to con-| §

fer with his publishers about a new novel, Mr. Krause talked briefly of his writing methods. “I find I can't outline a novel in| advance. Characters are unpredict- | able, just as people you meet are “unpredictable. A book grows or-' ganically, and I don’t think you can make it follow any oprea.ranged plan.”

Following the success of “The, Thresher,” which, Mr. Krause says, | took 18 months to write, he is pre- | paring to write another regional novel. |

® =» » | THE NEW BOOK, as yet unnamed, will deal with the old ox-! cart trails in the north midwest back about 1842 to 1869. With | Winnipeg as northern trading center, those trails were once followed by long caravans of two“wheeled ox-carts, whose half-breed drivers. were a happy-go-lucky, rowdy, sometimes dangerous crew. ~~ Along the Red river valley the ox-carts brought furs, hides, salted buffalo torigues; pemmican ‘and other ~Wriged articles io BENAT 1H St: . Paul, -

» » 2 . MR. KRAUSE aims to show the developing conflict between staid settlers and the half-breeds, various- | ly termed traders, trappers and| “voyageurs.” He hopes to finish | . the new book in 12 to “14 months. | © Meanwhile, he is “saturating” | himself in historical lore in prepara- | tion for the writing, he says. Mr, Krause heads the English | department 2 2 puna college, Sioux Falls,

2 Booke-of Month ‘The’ Book-of-the-Month club se- . lections for May will include “Why They Behave Like Russians,” by John Fischer, and “Aurora Dawn,” & first novel by Herman Wouk,

{They have “a larger body of folk material than any or all others of

the folk music singers. They create {ing and communicating philosophinew songs, new forms of expression | cal insights. It conveys the elusive- | while they cheerfully labor.”

S but they might feel better if they | did.

‘New Long Chromo

| | H {

'Black Boy' Published

|of appearing on the ‘list .of 50 out-

,|ments are “Moonrise,” by Theodore

! ished last spring by Henry Holt & |"

'The Times Book Page for last Jan. |

as the songs. : 18, is, I think, perhaps the most|

Negroes all sig as they work. volume.

Men in factories don’t sing songs,

{the .way they feel towards. it: an idea satisfies the emotions, the! ego, it's true enough. I The study of philosophy upsets | A 50000-copy first printing of assurance, a point Dr. Edman]

| Idwal Jones’ 300,000-word chronicle! ‘makes in his two classroom chap- deemed vague and fruitless. - ‘novel, “Vermilion” has been rushed, (vers, “First Lesson” and “End of | to press for publication by Pren- the Term.” All of us feel uncom- |

tice-Hall in May. fortable and frustrated when our|

who's WHO— State Authors To Be Listed

| CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. March] | 8.—Wabash college has issued an appeal for literary and historical! assistance in compiling a biographical diction- Sans (ary of Indiana ‘authors. ; . | Bdited ‘by f | Richard E. Banta, the “projected dictionary will 4

ca names, biogrnaphies and lists{ of works of

"CHARACTERS GROW — | authors who pub“Herbert Krause, author of * Toe lished books prior {to 1916, the cenThresher" (Bobbs-Merrill), tenary year of starting & new historical ee | Indiana statehood. about the north midwest. To be eligible for inclusion in the! pn volume, an author must have been born or reared in Indiana or must have made the state his home dur- | ing a significant portion of his! life. His work must have been! ‘separately published in book or | list is the “Merrjam- Webster Pocket | pamphlet form. Writers of exclu-. Dictionary,” containing 500 pages sively technical or textbook materiand 25,000 entries. al will not be included. March titles in the 25-cent re-| Information needed for each eliprifit series also include: “Forgive |gible writer includes: Us. Our - Trespasses,” by Lloyd C.| ONE: Full name, date and place Douglas; “The Pocket Book of [of ‘birth’ and death,” and ‘all hiogErskine Catwes,™"7i# “Ihnocent [graphical data’ 3vailable, ‘and Flower,” by Charlotte Armstrong; | TWO: A list of all books and “The Sunday Pigeon Murders,” by pamphlets published, including the | |Craig Rice, and Max Brand's “The [full title and the date and place Fighting Four.” of publication. : Editorial Board This material should be sent to Mrs. Paul J. Husting, Wabash colin Reprint at $1 lege library, Crawfordsville, Ind. Richar¢ Wright's grim and -EXpense of research and publicathought - provoking autobiography, tion is being met by Lee McCan“Black Boy,” is now available in a liss, native of Rockville, and now a $1 reprint put out by Cleveland's New York attorney, chairman of World Publishing Co. Wabash college board of trustees. According - to the publishers, Members of the editorial board, “Black Boy,” a Book-of-the- outh besides Mr. McCanliss and Mr. Banchib’ selection and national la, Include: J. K. Lily Jr., Indiseller, “has the further Sr ‘anapolis, chairman; Ben” Hitz, Indianapolis; Dr. Howard Peckham. standing biographical writings of secretary of the. Indiana Historical all time compiled recently by Prof. society, and Dr. Harold Brigham, William Lamont of Rutgers univer- (State librarian.

sity. NS : Wadelton' s Books arch Book-Reader Put in Single Volume Coridenses Three “My Mother Is a Violent Woman"

Three important current books |and. “My Father Is a Quiet Man,” are abridged in the March issue of | by Indianapolis’ writer

Mr. Banta

Pocket Dictionary Has 25,000 Words

Heading the March Pocket Book

Tommy Book-Reader, companion publicaHOD Of ey p PUbLICA= | Wadelton, will be reprinted in a Current Book-Reader ~ abridge- Single $1.29 volume this month by

Somerset Books. Strauss; “Barabbas,” by Emery| Other reprints Bekessy, and “Lost Men of American History,” by Stewart H. Holbrook.

Pyle’ s ‘Last Chapter’ Near 100,000 Mark

Ernie Pylé's “Last Chapter,” pub-

announced by

Runyon'’s “In Our To “Manhattan Transfer,” by J Passos ($1. 49) and -“The Brass” ($1.49), by Paul I.

ellman

(Lippincott, .$3) was .reviewed in The Times Book Page Feb|8.

~ ANY BOOK Reviewed on

109. has been termed by the mt probably

~ This Page Is Available ail and Phone Orders Given ' Prompt

It concerns the difficulty of grasp- |crying for the moon. Once over, the jordeal has made possible the "beginning of dispassibnate judgment. {ness of that fbstraction called | When a man frees his -thinking {“truth,” which most people test by-| {from the bonds of ego, he is on his| If way to wisdom.

i cellany.

| at least once that some old volume

Somerset for March include Damon|

whose novel, “The Walls of fericho,”|

assumptions are challenged by | {Socratic discussion. That well-nigh unbearable dis-|

comfort is 4 necessary ordeal in the |

valuable chapter in the present attaining of maturity, like the much lawyer who undertook to discover {the absolute in philosophy, only to

earlier heartbreak of an infant's

That's the “use” of philosophy, if lit must have a use. Dr. Edman is one of the clearest and most perisuasive defenders of a study often

“Philosopher's Quest” is a mis-] In. “America’s Own Philosopher A Parable” Dr. Ednian

Book Collector’ Is Beautiful Book [tself

"INVITATION TO BOOK CoOL”, LECTING: ITS PLEASURES AND PRACTICES: WITH KIN- | DRED DISCUSSIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS, “MAPS AND | PRINTS." By Colton Storm and Howard Peckham. New York | R. R. Bowker Co., $5.

BOOK COLLECTING is a complex pursuit. The practice of it quickly dispels the notion many of us have had

discovered" in an attic must cer-

tainly be worth big money. Mere|

age is no criterion.

Between the naive period when|

“1845” on a title page seems sure promise of profit and the sophisticated maturity of the experienced

collector there's an often expensive,

disillusioning gap. » ® ” oa HENCE, the need for books like ‘Invitation to Book Colletting,” by Colton Storm and Howard Peck‘ham. Based on lectures given at the University of Michigan, . -the|

| volume covers a variety of prt

ing fields, with chapters on Americana, ‘manuscripts, prints, old maps —.— and ‘bibliography, togéther with much useful advice on when, where |

13nd how to buy and sell collectors’ {

items. Well ‘ fortified -qwith information, | the book should prove most help- | ful to the beginning collector. ~~ | Like ‘many other current samples| of post-war book manufacture, “Invitation to Book Collecting” is a) first-rate job of printing on high-| grade paper.

Publish Priest's Book Of Verse’ Monday

“When the Wind Blows,” a volume of verse by the Rev. Fr. Thomas Butler Feeney, S. J. is] scheduled by Dodd, Mead for | publication Monday. Latest Catholic Book club selec-. tion, Fr. Feeney's .volume contains | “We Are the American Soldiers,” | described as one of the greatest world war II poems.

lic-relations wizard undertook tol plug a well-loved midwestern

His Prof. Wilkins, publicized by a {former student, has sensational though’ brief success (radio, picture When the Wilkins

| presented by an able young British { novelist.” The fickleness of popu{lar taste is not confined to the

Northumberland there was placed

| ECCENTRIC— Intimate View

Of Edwardian ife Wri Life Written “CURIOUS RELATIONS." By - William D'Arfey, Edited by William Plomer. New York, William Sloane Associates, $3. = THE accent loites of British high life under Edward VII have been often described. But few books give a more intimate and entertaining view of Edwardian society than “Curious Relations,” written by William D'Arfey (pen name, of course) and edited by William Plomer, Well-informed British oldster socialties would “doubtless have no difficulty in identifying the D’Arfey and Montfaucon families, An American needs no such added thrill in reading this charming book.

" =" ¥» D'ARFEY writes of his mother, Susannah,” and her Spartan upbringing: “When mother used to go and spend Christmas as a very small- girl with her grandfather in

every night on her-‘table-de nuit* a hammer with which. to. break the ice which had formed by Moining in the hip-bath that had been filled overnight.”* Wo As George D'Arfey’s second wife,

sometimes dull life at Marsh hall, the elaborate family estate, - Diversions were furnished by characters like Delia Patrick, the maniac cook, who appeared before all the guests at dinner clad only in her hat and shoes. . . » x IN HER later years, when her husband's interest in society declined, Susannah occupied herself with archeol and nature-lore. The unfinished chapter. “The Last Years,” contains touching descriptions of Susannah observing and noting in her diary visits of unfamiliar birds to the garden. By contrast with the willful, fairly healthy D’Arfeys were the Montfaucons, plagued with alcoholism and epilepsy. Both families lived ostentatiously and, for the most part, uselessly, a fact D’Arfey domments upon in the “Epilogue.”

Susannah had’ a luxurious though].

EEN SATURDAY, MARCH i 947

No Words Wasted in Story - Of African Farm Life

“THE UMBRELLA THORN." " A novel, New York, Creative Age Press, $2.75,

ELIZABETH BOWEN, appraising “The Umbrella Thorn” in a review the publishers have used ‘as a jacket blurb; calls the book ‘ong. of the most sheerly efficient novels that I have read for some time.” The word “efficient” is apt, Peter de Polnay wastes no words, When Miles Wace, debt-burdened Kenya farmer, dies while celebrating his son's birth, David McKenna, neighbor and friend, acquires unforeseen responsibilities. As the — ewes gas infant's godfather, David not only % feels obligated, but is driven by the - social pressure of his fellow British. colonists in the upland African community to look out for widowed Gloria and her child, 3 3 = w . WITH inherited money and a! basongley and more money. in pros- | pect, i

By Peter de Polnay.

—— rn Sn cel

d has thus far done- well. | He farms conservatively, makes 8 go of it, has few wants, He likes the country—gebras, lions, pests, alternating” drought and torrents notwithstanding. And his favorite spot for solitary meditation when he is puzzled is under the umbrella thorn, a magnificent tree near his house. P : The umbrella thorn is a symbol of David's solitude and integrity— a symbol, irideed, of hard-won freerdom © after: an. unhappy. shidbood and a disillusioning marriage, Mr. a5 Polnny's vovel isa story of the gradual invasion of David's pri-

NOBEL . WINNER—Herman Hesse, winner of the - Nobel prize for literature, I 46, and author of "Steppenwolf," novel about a neurotic German intellectua) ofthe miad1920’s. First published {a Gedmany | in (927, in the, United States in 1929, it

vacy add loss independence has just been re-issued” by its as Gloria's problems become his. | /\Mericen publishers, Henry . a. Holt & Co. ‘

IN A manner some readers may! liken to the D. H. Lawrence mis- Add Pyle" s Book. ogyny tradition, Mr. de Polnay describes the influence of Gloria's| 10 Tower Reprints friend, Betty Newton, upon Gloria. Ernie Pyle’s “Here Is Your War” Betty persuades Gloria that David complete with the Carol Johnson il. would be a first-rate catch. But it lustrations, is one of five new titles is fear of Betty's ridicule rather added to the World Publishing Co, than love for David that forces 49-cent Tower Books reprint series, Gloria to marry him. | Other titles added include “LaMr. de Polnay, it is true, is psy- ments for the Living,” by Dorothy chologically far less lush than D. H. |r ker; “Innocent Bystander,” by Lawrence in dealing with women Faith Baldwin: “The Lost Range,” characters. by. Frank C..Robertson, and “The In a dry, only slightly cynical [Case of the Rolling Bones,” by Erle manner, he appears to be reporting Stanley Gardner. rather than editorializing. That

effect, which may strike some read-

as offensive, is contrived with great skill. - + IT WILL probably keep “The Umbrella Thorn” off the likely-

ers as penetratingly accurate, others |

Srita———————— Mark Postal Centennial Observing the centenary of U. 8. {postage stamps, MacMillan will issue on March 18 “America’s Stamps: The Complete Story of United States Postage Stamps,” by Maud and Miska Petersham.

| entertainment field.

and

| her next book, tentatively entitled

| current articles in McCall's maga-

=" » n “I HAVE In my nature the same split that was in my mother’s, a division between paganism and: puritanism. With half of my mind I can't see why Father shouldn't

There's a chapter on a successful

wind up in the care of a psychiatrist. There are imaginary dialogs

with men like Plato, St. Paul, py Spinoza, Kant and others. Here I™'" yielded as he did to his

there,” the writing and the ttocratic impulses in a world where

prospect list for movies. For while | movie audiences may tolerate por-! traits of women as fiends, they! would doubtless find Gloria dis-| turbing. Great sin is one thing; it's dra- | matic and glamorous. Petty insincerity and slightly childish behavior | such as Gloria's, plus the excessive- |

111g

ROEBUCK AND CO

isocial justice is the merest abstracfg asinmtion both Silke. Me 8S A ition. and I feel only regret that he rile" precioys. Style can be too refused to extract more pleasure consciously beautiful.

out of life. But as a defense of philosophy, if. th t Phy a “fete the Wi he other and puritan side

of myself it seems to me that hubook has high merit. - It should do much to overcome the communica- man Boclety has paid an inordinate

: price for the existence of countless tion difficulties Dr. Edman himself families like mine, destined at best acknowledges. only to ‘come into’ money and cultivate their sensibilities and their egotism”.

s Manual PAINTERS' PAY—

Shall We Let Artists Starve?

"WORK FOR ARTISTS: WHAT? WHERE? HOW?" A symposium. Edited by Elizabeth McCausland. New York, American Artists Grodp, Inc., $3.

SHALL we \allow our artists to

starve? That is only one question discussed in Elizabeth McCausland's symposium on work for artists. In the symposium men and women eminent in their flelds discuss Aspects of the artist's career In America. The discussion is timely. Despite | increased use of good art material in: high-class advertising, the bulk of commercial art remajns banal.

BOOK EXPERT—Howard Peckham, director of the Indi-

ana State Historical” bureau Artist's Best W and co-author of "Invitation to | There is insufficient market for (| Book Collecting.” Native. of |an artist's best work. Miss McCaus-

land cites. answers. to questionnaire showing, among other depressing items, an average income | jof less than $100 per month for | male,

Michigan. Dr. Peckham now resides i in Indianapolis.

Mrs. Luce. to Tell

‘The - ‘Real’ Reason «A qartists who.smdeavor to Tis Fob ete Former _ CopgressWoman Shake work their traditional channels. | Boothe Luce, author of “The Wo- Contributions from artists, critics, 'men” and “Turope” in thé Spring” business executives and "dealers, 'has signed a contract with Apple- Plus, Sunnie nile i hiss ton-Century for the publication of (Questionnaires should make pd p R book , of considerable value to students and practitioners of

“The ‘Real’ Reason.” 5 Considerably longer than her|PAinting, sculpture and drawing.

zine, the forthcoming book will dis- | cuss Mrs. Luce’s conversion to] Catholicism.

Faces Palestine Riddle

“Palestine: Star or Crescent?” by

PENN-MARK'S the Spot to Find BOOKS Satisfying Heart and Mind

Union Trust Bldg. Fourth Floor, Indianapolis 4, Ind.

Nevill Barbour will. be published FRanklin 7854 - March 26 by the Odyssey Press. Mr. |" I ——— Barbour, a scholar and journalist with 10 years’ experience as resi- FIRST-AID

dent in the Near East, has attempted to present the controversial subject fairly and objectively, according to the pblishers,

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isquabbles, is admirably conceived..

L an artists’ | |

less than $50 for female |

ly “female” quarrelling and conniv‘ing between Gloria and Betty, would seem shocking without being thrilling on the screen. Mr. de Polnay artfully arranges | a ‘symbolic climax for his novel when Gloria has herself photographed for a British fashion- -mag- | azine story. Her choice for the, {background is the umbrella thorn.

" " .

SETTING is a large part of any]

Indiana's Most Popular

BOOK

|IDEPARTMENT

novel. Mr, de Polnay's Kenya, to-| ® FICTION ® TRAVEL gether with its odd assortment of ¢ NON-FICTION © COOK characte drunks, phil he screwball, not to mention the na] ® CHILOREN'S © BIBLES tives with their problems and|| e REFERENCES SHOP

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He has the naturalist's eye for! scenic background, the satirist’s eye for conflicting human egos. “The Umbrella Thorn” is a remarkably satisfying piece of fiction—H. B.

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