Show New First Novels Have HaveS S Signs of Unusual W Worth Spring List of Authors Shows Many Newcomers Newcom- Newcom ers to Literary W Wol-id Wol o old ld By GENE COHN The for tOr first noveta which betray signs of unusual abIlIty Is Isa isa a seasonal occupation among the critics ps Its It's the only real exercise they get But just why the public should be asked to spend 2 or more per volume to participate participate pate in this literary game I dont don't pretend to know To be sure there are ro millions who will spend a liar amount to see a worthless In ox per talkIng pictures or a so-so so theatrical theat- theat a neal per performance perform perform- form form- 7 ance And they'll como right back for more withIn a week more thelI sit Leonard Leonardt t through h r 0 ugh tile the worthless performance where where- a SUley can toss a book in the corner if they Uley dont don't like It and go goback goback back to their bridge First novels like Uke first loves Joves are generally the sincere if clumsy and inexpert efforts of 01 tile the young toward toward to- to i ward And as such most of 01 them are likely to be fresher and more interesting than tile the tired manu of many an liaIsed literary hack On the other hand han r I often wonder how sonic some of them get pUblished at all I There are however on this springs spring's lIt list a number of newcomers newcom- newcom ers almost certain to bold their own with anything produced Those which I 1 have en encountered to date are Rome Haul Little Brown by Walter D. D Edmonds This is a novel novel nov nov- el in which the Erie Eric canal is perhaps perhaps per per- haps the hero The time is about 1850 when the canal reached the height of 01 its fame and business im- im Edmonds has done a thorough job of research recapturing ing types and scenes and lore of 01 the period Russell Neale Is a discovery of Harpers His first novel is Hob by House and concerns the plc- plc picturesque house those gypsies of tile the p p i I. I A youth of 01 23 Neale comes from Du DuBois Bois Pa He spent his boyhood boyhood boy boy- hood in Glenfield Glenfield Glen Glen- field Pa where was but buta a stones atones throw from his door door- wa way He Is a product of Columbia's Co- Co lumbia's class in writing I 1 am told that he wrote seven books all Duranty o ot which he destroyed destroyed de- de before bringing bs out this one Neale seemed to me to handle han Ilan- die dle his people with that particular Jar lar flavor and sensitivity which the leaders of tile the Irish school of 01 writing writing writ writ- ing have Ilave used So 0 well Back to Stay Press by Jonathan Leonard is a definite and interesting contribution The Theauthor Theauthor author wrote this his first work at atthe atthe the age of 50 and because he could not find a publisher personally printed copies on his own hand press It is a finely wrought ht story of the people who live just back bacI from flom the sea in the Cape Cod countr coun- coun tr try ills Ilis New England Is tile the New Kew England of tile the post Civil was war period pe- pe nod and his people carry carryon on those superstitions and which marled marked their particular time One of the books book's crucial situations situations situa- situa concerns a father ready to tomake snake make the human sacrifice of isis his hisson son after the fashion or of tile the Old Testament Heres Here's a wont worl that will attract attEntion Walter Valter Duranty Is not new v to writing A foreign correspondent for the New York Times for a number num- num number ber of 01 years ears he has written endless columns ot of newspaper COP copy While in in- Russia he wrote several short stories dories centering around experience and peoples encountered One of 01 won the 1928 1921 O. O Henry prize award Now lIe is out with Tile The Curious Lottery Coward Coward- Coward McCann a splendid collection of fact stories out of soviet Russia And there Is A A Great ran iIan Green by Waiter alter a former San Francisco newspaper man This isa is a tale of the California gold rush approached from a new angle goes oes deeper than most wrIters who hac handled this period pe- pe nod dealing with considerable more than the mEre mere melodrama of the time Other f Irs t v books we recommend recommend rec- rec are Agnes Agnes Ag- Ag nes S m medleys medley's e dley's D au Mer of Earth Coward Coward- McCann Tile The Theauthor author Is a Product product prod prod- of the westen western west west- n ern mining camps vho ho literally Neale fought her way to knowledge and this is her own particular saga saga-a book of which I 1 will have more to sa say SO |