ON THE SHELF

The Freshman Issue of the Advocate seems finally to have cut all ties with past Advocate tradition, and, in presenting the works of a group of promising new writers, to give much promise for the magazine's future. No longer separating themselves from the problems of the nation, the editors devote much space to stories on the war. In technique and spirit the issue has a pertinence and immediacy that should gain the interest of a wide student audience.

Heading the group of stories is Cecil Schneer's "Two Episodes," a pair of sharply drawn sketches of individuals in crisis. The first, dealing with the bombing of an Hawaiian volcano, has a more unique interest than its commoner companion piece, but both display mature style and original talent of which the reader may hope to see more. Norman Mailer's "Maybe Next Year" is in the nature of an experiment in objective subjectivity. Told through the mouth of a small child, this tale of a split home remains brutally objective and its technique is never really in keeping with the personality of the narrator. The good and the bad in the story are the strengths and weaknesses of Mailer's former efforts, for there are strong emotional content and a sharp realism which careful reading shows to be but a shell. Bruce Barton's ". . . And We'll Do It Again . . ." is a skillfully handled sketch of the mixed emotions of a group of selectees on their way to camp. While Andrew Glaze has contributed an unusual short short which suffers only from unnecessary foreshadowing of the conclusion during the development.

The English A-1 prize short story is something of a shock. Mature in its technique, Robert Ogden's "Sandy" still seems somewhat out of place, for it adds too little to the usual in horse stories to be truly worthwhile. Wallace Stegner's article, "A Credo for the Unconvinced," is an interesting revaluation of the basis of contemporary criticism which, while it may prove too personal for universal approval, should convince many of the sympathy with which this English A-1 section man will regard their work. The abbreviated version of the Advocate's usual guide to the night life of the environs of Cambridge, is, as always, helpful.

Only in its poetry does the issue really seem lacking. Harry Feltenstein's "Class Poem" retains in the reading much of the superficial obscurity which bewildered '42 when they heard its recital and the discouraged bitterness which fills it would be a poor commentary on Harvard's first war class if it could honestly be thought to represent them. Walter Eberlein's translations seem distinctly clumsy, while it is almost impossible to find appropriate surroundings for the misplaced commuter of Jack Crockett's "Seven: forty-five."