Books

No one who has any interest in or knowledge of Palestine and Zionism should fail to read Arnold Zweig’s new novel, “De Vriendt Goes Home”, just issued in translation by the Viking Press. I don’t believe that Mr. Zweig’s book has an appeal which transcends Jewish interest, but within that limitation it is interesting. The mere statement, on the first page, that the setting is Jerusalem in the summer of 1929 immediately keys the interest for what follows: naturally, the riots of September, 1929.

What happened during those riots ###n the chief towns of Palestine is ###dequately enough described, but ###hose events are not woven into the ###xture of the novel, most of which ### concerned with one Isaac Josef ###e Vriendt, a Dutch Jew, a poet of #stinction, a member of the Ortho###x wing of Zionism, a leader in the ###gudah movement, whose ways of ###ife and whose views and expression provide both Jews and Arabs with motives of hostility.

To men and women who are better informed in the story and personalities of Zionism and in its party divisions this novel of Mr. Zweig’s will mean more than it does to me, for in its use of actual incident and personalities “De Vriendt Goes Home” is what is called roman ### clef in the classrooms. From ###he purely dramatic point of view, the best passages in the book deal with the manner in which Irmin, the Englishman, tracks down the small group of Chalutzim who were responsible for De Vriendt’s death—but without exacting retribution. I rather think that Irmin is Zweig’s ideal of an Englishman in Palestine. ###rmin understands both Jews and Arabs, he is informed, he is almost an intellectual and yet he does his duty with fair-mindedness and good###umor.

Incidentally, the murder of the chief character plays but a slight ###art in the motivation of the riots, which are reported by Zweig without the taking of any poetic license, so to speak. The description of the death of the old pioneer Nachmann, apparently the projection of a real Palestinian person, is beautifully ###endered. We obtain a rough approximation of the diverse motivations that agitate various schools of Zionists, from the Rabbis of Ortho###doxy, to the scientists and the ex###treme radicals. It is a pity, in a way, that the complete enjoyment of this novel depends in part upon previous knowledge of Palestinian personalities, but even so it is a book well-worth reading—and this ###hrase is not to be taken as a reviewer’s cliche.

H.S.

THE S. FISCHER VERLAG

S. Fischer, the publishing house in Berlin which formerly brought out books by Alfred Kerr, Bruckner, {SPAN}###assermann{/SPAN} and Thomas Mann, has been co-ordinated, a glance at the company’s latest catalogue {SPAN}re###eals{/SPAN}. Kerr is no longer mentioned {SPAN}###n{/SPAN} the announcement, nor are the {SPAN}###ecent{/SPAN} novels by Wassermann or Mann’s book about Richard {SPAN}Wag###er{/SPAN}. The editorial section of the catalogue quotes Moritz Heimanns {SPAN}###n{/SPAN} such a manner as to give the impression that he advocated autarchy and opposed industrialization and liberalism as long ago as 1910. Richard Dehmel is equivocally referred {SPAN}###o{/SPAN} as “a manly soul.” Ironically enough, the publisher’s introduction to the catalogue says, among other things, that “A publishing house as {SPAN}###{/SPAN} whole steadily . . . develops into a {SPAN}###ide-spreading{/SPAN} tree, yet every year {SPAN}###arks{/SPAN} a new beginning.”

“PALESTINE”; NEW EDITION

A second edition of Dr. Albert Bonne’s book, “Palestine: The Country and Its Economics” (Palestina: Land und Wirtschaft) has been published in Leipzig by the Deutsche Wissenschaftliche {SPAN}Buch###andlung.{/SPAN} Dr. Bonne is head of the Economic Archives for the Near East and his book, brought up to {SPAN}###ate{/SPAN} in this edition, is a thorough {SPAN}###ssertation{/SPAN}, based upon many years {SPAN}###{/SPAN} study, of Palestine west of the {SPAN}###rdan{/SPAN}. The text is supplemented by statistics, diagrams, a bibliography and an index.

CHILDREN’S PLAYS

Three children’s plays by Margaret K. Soifer have just been released in a pocket series edition by the Furrow Press, which is headed by Israel and Margaret K. Soifer. Of the plays, “David the Giant Killer” and “Revolt in the Ark” were written for the children of the Central Jewish Institute camps and produced there. The third, “Pandora and the Box”, is a one-act play “for children or marionettes”. The Furrow Press are also the publishers of Margaret Soifer’s “Judas the Strong Armed.”

“MUNTERGANG” COMING

The Signal Publishing Company announces “Muntergang”, described as “a humorous Jewish book with songs, music, stories, drawings and paintings, all by Yosel Cutler. A book for children of 8 to 88”. The book will be ready in a few weeks.

A CORRECTION

Dr. Samuel Dinin, instructor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, author of “Judaism in a Changing Civilization”, whose book was reviewed in The Bulletin of October 1, writes to offer the following corrections:

“The reviewer cites in my name the view that religion is losing its power as a national solidifier, and cultural bonds must be substituted. ‘Yiddish must assume the role once held by religion.’ I personally do not hold this view, as a careful reading of my book would have disclosed. It is this point of view held by some labor Zionists.

“May I suggest that the reason for these errors lies in the fact that the reviewer never got beyond the introduction.”

It is regrettable that this error was made.