World Affairs Institute

The Woman of Andros by Thornton WilderAdvocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 92, No. 3 (August, 1930), p. 199Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20681477 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 07:27

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to Advocate of Peace through Justice.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 07:27:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Advocate of Peace, August, 1930 199

some manufacturers of tennis goods in this coun

try busy all the year round. Dr. Klein feels that

all this international commerce adds great strength to international amity.

The Geneva School of International Studies announces a four-week course for the summer of

1930 in which an interesting group of lecturers

will conduct courses. This is under the direction

of Professor Alfred Zimmern, Deputy Director of

the League of Nations International Institute of

Intellectual Co-operation. Professor Zimmern's

very popular special course, in which he inter

prets each day's session of the Assembly of the

League, will be carried on again this summer.

Under the auspices of the Committee on Cul

tural Relations with Latin America, the fourth

annual session of the seminar in Mexico will be

held this year in Mexico City, July 13 to Augusts. The course will be a comprehensive study of

Mexican life and culture and will conclude with

a reception given by Ambassador and Mrs.

Morrow.

Magallanes, formerly known as Punta

Arenas, is the world's southernmost city, approxi

mately a thousand miles further south than the

southern point of Africa. It is situated about

midway in the Straits of Magellan, and has been

reached only by steamboat service hitherto.

Soon, however, it will be regularly served by air

plane service from Chile. A commander in the

Chilean Navy made the air trip in January and

plans were made for regular air service soon to be

installed.

Miss Agnes McPhail, progressive member of

the Canadian. House of Commons, introduced

there on March 6 a resolution providing that for

every $100 spent by the government for war pur

poses $1 should be used to promote peace by

setting up a chair of international relations, and

by granting international scholarships at each

Canadian university.

In honor of the hundred years of Belgian in

dependence, the Belgian Ambassador of Belgium to the United States, Prince Albert de Ligne, has

offered a gold medal to the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University, to be awarded

for the best essay on Belgian history. That his

tory extends over 3,000 years, though only 100

years mark the complete independence of the

country.

Book Reviews

FICTION FOR SUMMER READING

The Woman of Andros, by Thornton Wilder,

Pp. 162. Albert & Charles Boni, . Y., 1930.

Price, $2.50.

Taking his theme from a comedy of Terence, Mr. Wilder uses it in his own manner, building thereon a human story of life, hope, disappoint

ment, and death. But death in Wilder's books

is not the violent frustration it is to many writ ers. It is melancholy, to be sure, but a natural

element of the moral episode. This story of the

Greek Island of Byrnos and a few of its inhabi tants is like a cameo in its delicacy of delinea

tion. The philosophy underlying the few epi sides is as universal as are the principles of

beauty to the cameo-cutter. Perhaps the theme

may be summarized as the demand life makes

upon us for a great love that looks for no re

ward. It suggests the power that such a love

would have upon those who come after. In

deed, the theme is subtly indicated in a part of the opening paragraph, repeated in the final

sentence. "Triumph," says the first page, "had

passed from Greece, and wisdom from Egypt; but with the coming on of night, they seemed to regain their lost honors, and the land, that

was soon to be called Holy, prepared in the dark its wonderful burden." And the last sentence

closes thus: "And in the East the star shone

tranquilly down upon the land that was soon to

be called Holy and that even then was prepar

ing its precious burden."

Uncle Sam in the Eyes of His Family, by John Erskine. Pp. 351. Bobbs, Merrill Co.,

Indianapolis, 1930. Price, $2.50.

Uncle Sam of the cartoon has become the hero of a realistic novel! John Erskine, always un

usual, has seen in the well-known figure a per

sonality both vital and appealing. The story traces that personality through its development, and, without too close adherence to historical de

tail, Uncle Sam becomes a recognizable portrait of

the American character. The older brothers and sister in the family of nations stand in the back

ground of the picture, distinctly sketched with Mr. Erskine's light, ironic touch. Each would be

likable in spite of foibles, one thinks, if one only

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 07:27:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions