Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 December 1951 — Page 41

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Reviewer A Prizewi

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BARABBAS. A novel. By Par Lagerkvist. New York, Random House,

$3.

By CARL VICTOR LITTLE

"Most of the newspaper and magazine reviewerskof the

country, including the anonymously-composite,

phrase-

coining, gun-jumping, ‘Graham Greene-conscious, arsenic-in-the-cake reviewer of Time Magazine, got caught with

their library shelves this mumber. The reason most of the reviewers are redfaced, if they are at all sensitive which they probably aren't, is that Random House sent out BARABBAS in mid-September with a release date of Oct, 5. Probably because the book arrived in the big middle of the so-called fall book rush, and because the title BARABBAS cannoted nothing but a story that had been told several times in past years, the reviewers tossed the book in a corner and did with it whatever they do with unreviewed books. Several weeks. ago, after BARABBAS was gone and for-| gotten, it was announced in the newspapers that Par Lagerkvist, the Swedish man of letters and

down on,

author of BARABBAS had been awarded the Nobel Prize for lit-| erature. Which was another way |

of indicating most reviewers in America of stupidity. They didn't} know a book when they held one in their hands!

But Bennett Cerf, Random House president and teller of stories, some of which are clean, arose to the occasion. In a diplo-matically-worded letter to reviewers Mr. Cerf told about Brother Lagerkvist winning the Nobel Prize. In view of this, Mr. Cerf added, perhaps you'd like to devote some more space to BARABBAS and so another review - ‘copy is going forward. “More space” indeed. What Mr. Cerf meant, of course, was, “You stupid so-and-50s missed the boat the first time on this book. Here is your chance to retrieve.” So retrieve I do and, fulfilling a pledge in a letter I sent to Mr. Cerf, I read BARABBAS while wearing a dunce cap. The crime of passing up the Nobel Prize winner of the year (but Lagerkvist was honored for

the whole body of his work and {not just this one) is enhanced by the fact that BARABBAS is a powerful, dramatic, stirring and inspirational little book that any reviewer, had he read as much as three pages, would have recognized as one likely to appeal to the straw-grasping public in these uneasy times. Barabbas, as you all know, was the condemned thief who was turned loose, at the demand of the mob, at the-time Jesus was crucified. Since nothing historically is known of the fate of

‘{Barabbas the novel is an imagi-

native work in which an intel{lectual, Lagerkvist, himself an agnostic, does some soul-search-ing about God, Jesus and Christianity. In the novel, Barabbas stays on and watches the crucifixion of Jesus, the One who literally was | dying for him as He was symbol-

| Prag.

trated with Kridel movie,

| wood

Harry N.

THE INDIANAPORIS TIMES an aR i

Books You Can Give For Christmas .

DON QUIXOTE,

THE LIFE OF HENRY V, by|, ART TREASURES | William Shakespeare ($5), I

based on the

IVANHOE, | ($5), illustrated with water colors | by Edward A. Wilson,

we | KIDNAPED, by Robert Louis Daniel Catton Rich. {Stevenson ($5), illustrated with [the art lover, you can not go engravings in Hans Alexander Mueller. FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRA-~| | PHY, printed from the original criminating reader is THE COM- | manuscript ($4.65), introduction by Carl Van Doren; AUSTIN, with an introduction by illustrated by William Sharp.

. PAGE a

(Random House, hosed, tive order, is every scrap of ey $6.50). -_ {dence which Ledya could find in THE MELVILLE LOG, by Jay|a long search concerning the Leyda (Harcourt, Brace, 2 vol.|of a complex literary figure, boxed, $12.50). Here, in consecu-| man Melville. YS mg

| — a _ - ~ Stine

| lll GILLMAN’S FO

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2 vol.

By EMERSON PRICE e

| Here are some Christmas gift suggestions, some of (them late arrivals; all of them thoroughly beautiful examples of the publisher's art. The first six are from the

* | Heritage Press, egchr volume boxed: ®

| TALES OF HOFFMAN, by E, ry | T. Hoffman ($5) with lithograph- Year publishes two more magniflic illustrations by Hugo Steiner- icent art books, one to take its

WHILE THEY LAST Our Regular $6.95 FUR TRIMMED

place in “The Library of Great

by Miguelde Museums"; the other added to the

| OUVRE, which includes a com-; prehensive outline of European] paintings ®Y oa at history and a critical analysis VIeT| of each plate included. There are 1100 full-color paintings from the Scott| greatest museum in the world. DEGAS, with 50 reproductions {in full color, and with a text’ by As a gift for

Illus-

by Walter

CARRIAGE BOOTS

Regular $7.95 BROWN OR BLACK

color by astray on these startlingly beau-

[tiul volumes. Another bargain for the dis-

and with an. PLETE NOVELS OF. JANE Amy Loveman and beautifully

Abrams Inc. Pt by Warren Chappell

Issued for

ically dying for humanity. Barabbas makes ‘a career of inquiry| {among the primitive Christians] {about Jesus, his early life, and ithe doctrine of his followers. Ironically, Barabbas, who can t | believe and who still can’t dis|believe, is crucified in Rome with| a group of primitive Christian martyrs. & At the end, while on the cross, | Barabbas looks into the darkness “as though he were speaking to it,” and says, “To thee I deliver up my ghost,” hinting, but not definitely affirming, that Barabbas embraced Christianity in the end.

This is reading at all levels. The dramatic story is sufficient for the general or busy reader.

long.

Those who take it leisurel;’ may|/THE END OF THE AFFAIR, work out the symbolism. All in|published by Viking last Oct. 26, all a beautiful and remarkable has sold nearly 30,000 to date job. This reviewer apologizes for|“and continues keeping BARABBAS a secret so briskly, ” ‘Weekly.

OLD HOUSE—Baron James Ensor, Belgium's most famous modern artist [260.1945 drew this picture of an old French’house early in his career while he still was influenced by the Corot manner. It is one of two drawings by the artist recently presented to Herron Art Museum by Mrs. William H. Thompson from the col- | lection of her late husband.

Ben Gurion Writes About Reformation

A new baok by David Ben- In April, 1952, Random ‘House Gurion, prime minister of Israel,! will publish GREAT VOICES OF

THE JEWISH REVOLUTION: THE-REFORMATION. - MEMOIRS, TALKS AND NOTES; ananthol ogy of the writings of the great

Las been scheduled for publication figures of the Protestant Reforspring by the Philo- v early next spring by mation, edited and with commen-

hical Library. 0p ez y i taries by Dr. Harry Emerson ; | Fosdick, The Religious Book Club has selected it as” both a bonus

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