Salt Lake Telegram | 1930-07-06 | Page 11 | 'Armageddon' Accomplishes Enormous Task

V. V I Armageddon Accomplishes Enormous Ta Task Tasi k L Twelve years have passed since the armistice but It has hus only b been n for tor the past two that the force furce and richness rIchness- of oC tho war literature has become apparent This force torce and richness Is demonstrated In Armageddon Armageddon Arma Arma- Armage ge geddon don tho the World War In LItora Litora- turc ture edited by Eugene Lohrke Surprising as It may seem seem- much of the material In Lohrke's volume volum which consists of sele selections from novels autobiographies phles and mo- mo was published prior to 1928 1929 the tho year Elar wh when n the general reader first became became- war ar conscious It Is excellent material for tor the most part but it Is not that a a. great t deal of It went comparatively unnotIced unnoticed unnoticed un un- un- un noticed at the time the public then was vi not Interested In war literature literature litera litera- ture as many a n publisher will t tes tes- tes thy Excellent books were issued but they found only a limited field ld and it it was as not until the passage or ot time had wrought a a change In the public attitude until attitude un until lI the effects of ot government go propaganda h had d worn off that off that war literature came camo Into its Its' own in America and such books as Case Cazo of Sergeant and All Quiet Lohrke Uses Wide Variety of Material in It II Well Edited Anthology j L By Ted Long On On tho the Western Front won widespread widespread widespread wide wide- spread approval Lohrke however Is not primarily interested In literature What he he- has attempted to do has be been n to build from the material at hand a picture of ot the great war In as man many of ot its phases and to as wide an extent extent ex ex- tent as 33 possible The task tuk which he be set himself was an enormous one one but he heno no accomplished c com pi it remarkably well ell It was as Impossible for him to arrange arrango his material in chronological cal sequence and there Is necessarily ily fly some overlapping but his anthology anthology anthology an an- I is BO so well edited that ItIs it itIs itis Is possible to read it from beginning to end with the sense of ot a continuous ous narrative Tao uniqueness ss of his achievement is evident when the I great variety of ot the materials he heI 1 I used is 11 considered the considered the news dIspatch dispatch dis dIs- patch in the New Now York Times de- de the assassination of ot Francis Ferdinand Hemingway's 8 account of or I the he retreat from the Isonzo bonzo and a i chapter from Ford J. J 01 Madox Fords Ford's I No 0 More otoro Parades to mention but buta a few Lohrke's success as an editor does not carry carryover over to tho the field fJeld of or criticism cism however His Introduction to Armage Armageddon is remarkable chiefly chien for some rather amazing Judgments He looks upon Mary Leos Leo's Its a Great War Var as one of ot the best realistic realistic real real- nov novels ls and upon ways Hem l Farewell are to Arms Arnis as thin pointless pointless point point- less and weak two judgments which are to say the least amazing I 1 That be he has compiled complied his anthology o l perfectly erCe and yet tt i Is unable to tomake tomake tomake make accurate estimates is strange But his hia literary beliefs do not make or or- ruin tho volume they have I but little to do with it it Ho ha has followed his plan well and has hns done dono what ho set Bet setout out to do do- do to doo to o produce a a. panoramic history of the World I I war His selections are arc drawn from many sources en enemy my arid ally aily and present a a. complete picture of the I I effect of ot the war upon the minds of men There Thoro will of ot course be many quarrels with his editing Some readers i will find tint material for tor which the they can see no reason rens-on for tor inclusion others will question the omission omis omis- Ion sion of selections they con- con Mer ider vital Anthologies can not be Impersonal but there can be no quarrel with Armageddon as a 0 whole It is fine excellent and all tho superlatives it has recaptured In a a single volume a picture of a great historical happening before It has been blurred blurTed In the th-e minds of its witnesses and upon that achievement achievement achievement achieve achieve- ment Its claim lalm to consideration rests Jonathan rests Jonathan Cape Harrison Smith Inc New York I