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BOOKS

Aldridge enhances reputation

with brilliant second novel

A MAJOR new novel by the

“author of The Diplomat is an
outstanding event, for Australian-
born James Aldridge is one of the
most important novelists now at
work in Britain.

Heroes of the Empty View con-
firms and extends Aldridge’s rep-
utation. :

*Its setting is the Arabian lands
of desert, oilfields, poor peasantry
and imperial strategy. Its cen-
tral figure is Gordon, a latter-day
Lawrence of Arabia who identi-
fies himself with the cause of
Arab independence. ~

The tribes of nomads in the
Arabian desert are in revolt

against the rule of the State of

Bahraz, a British puppet state on
the Persian or Iraq model.

' At the same time the workers
and peasants of Bahraz, led by
Marxists, are struggling to throw
off the puppet government

‘through which foreigners rule

their land.

The third party in the strug-
gle for power is British imperial-

‘ism, trying to put down the tribal

revolt and to maintain its pup-
pet government in Bahraz.
Wty et ;
- Gordon, a romantic individual-
ist who sees the tribal Arabs as
“the last pure men on earth,”
unsullied by what he regards as
the taint of industrialization,
helps to lead the tribal revolt.
~ After an initial success, it comes
up against the British strength
hidden behind the Bahraz gov-
ernment and is crushed.
Gordon is sent home to Eng-
land. Here he is confused and

_ unhappy, and, despite his excep-

tional intelligence and_ talents,
ineffective.

He returns later to Arabia to
find another tribal revolt is un-
der way. But this time the
desert prince who is leading the
nomads in their fight for inde-
pendence has made common cause
with the workers of Bahraz, who

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are also in revolt against their
government. .

Previously the tribesmen had
regarded all Bahrazis as their
enemies. Now the prince, Hamid,
has joined with Zein, the Marx-
ist leader of the Bahraz city and
peasant revolt, to lead a common
struggle against their joint
enemy, the Bahraz puppet goy-
ernment. :

Gordon again helps to organ-
ize the tribesmen, and a force
under his command captures an
important oilfield. He wants to
destroy it because for him the
tribal revolt is simply a means of
keeping the nomad tribes as ‘they
are and the oilfield represents
the encroachment of an alien
industrialization which he finds
squalid.

But Zein and Prince Hamid, the
Marxist and the nomad prince,
have other views. The oilfield
now belongs to the people. Since

ic is located in tribal territory,

tribesmen will be trained to run

at.

Carried away by his romantic
mysticism, Gordon tries to blow
up the oilfield on his own, and
his friends, mistaking him for
an enemy, shoot him.

j % 503 * :

As Gordon lays dying, Hamid
and Zein tell him of the future
they see for their people, a fu-
ture he has helped to win for
them. ?

They realize that they will have
to fight the British as well as
their Bahraz puppet, but they are
sustained by the vision of inde-
pendence and’ prosperity which
control of their own natural re-
sources would give to the people
of Arabia. : i

Gordon can see the future, too,
but recoils from it.

Though he has contributed to
the success of the revolt, he dies
in despair, unable to face the
future he has helped to win.

Aldridge’s characters personify
the forces at work in a great his-
torical development, but they are
not in puppets—they have a ro-
bust life and individuality of
their own, :

Gordon is brilliantly drawn—

_ Testless, shrewd, yet sometimes

childishly naive and incapable,
because of his class background,
of finding a point of sympathy
with British workers,’ as he has

with the illiterate, ragged tribes-
men.

Zein, the Marxist leader, is a
subtle, human and penetrating
study, and all the Arab charac-
ters come vividly to life.

It is in his English scenes that
Aldridge is least happy. It is an
England seen by an outsider, and
Tess, ‘the Communist girl who
plays a part in Gordon’s life,
seems to lack the depth of some
of the other characters.

While there is violent action in
plenty, the novel’s main drama
lies in the clash of ideas, and it
is here that Aldridge excels.

The tremendous theme of the
struggle of colonial people against
imperialism is exceptionally time-
ly today, and Aldridge’s great
novel can help ‘greatly to give
us an imaginative insight into
one of the tremendous historical
forces 6f our time. — PATRICK
GOLDRING.

owth of Vancouver over the past half century is illustrated by this watercolor painting in 1901 by Edgar Bloomfield. Fifty years ago when Bloomfield painted
of what is now Ash Street this was the end of the trail from New Westminster.

iB you want a true picture of

the morals, manners and meth- .

ods of the big business press, see
Front Page Story.

Seldom before has the film in-
dustry so mercilessly shown up
the inner workings of the “popu-
lar” newspaper.

Front Page Story, a British pic-
ture, is woven around the theme
of one day’s news gatherings, seen
through the eyes of the men on
the job. The chief character is
Grant, the news editor, who won’t
even take a holiday because he
can’t trust anyone else to get the
news.

What sort of news does he get?

On this particular day there is
happening: a strike in London; a
woman on trial for her life; an
atomic scientist coming to Eng-
land; a court case following a raid
on a night club; and a threatened
eviction of five children from

Cultural heritage is
New Frontiers theme.

ANADA’S cultural and demo-
cratic heritage is the featured
theme in the Summer issue of
New Frontiers magazine. A
leading editorial raises some
sharp questions on distortions in
the writing of Canadian history.
A highlight of theissue is a
chapter from the new novel by
the noted French-Canadian novel-
ist Jean-Jules Richard, Asbestos
on Fire. A second powerful story
is by E. W. Thompson, a Canadian
who fought in the American Civil
War at the age of 15.

The moving letter sent by Eliza-
beth Lount to Upper Canada au-
thorities following the execution
of her martyred husband, Samuel
Lount, hero of the 1837: Rebel-
lion, is reproduced in full.

There is a story about and
poetry by Pauline Johnson; repro-
ductions. of the work of Charles
W. Jefferys, famed Canadian
artist-historian; a new epic poem
to Dr. Norman Bethune by J. S.
Wallace; and a short statement

on the H-bomb from the poet Wil-.

son Macdonald. — 5
Articles on the theatre in earl
Quebec, an autobiographical ac-
count of work in a construction
gang, a poem by Edna Laxer in
memory of Ethel and Julius Ro-

‘senberg, and

reproduction of
some recent paintings and
sketches of outstanding Canadian
figures, round out an issue that
the editors are confident sur-
Passes the best issue of New
Frontiers yet published.

New Frontiers is on sale here at
the People’s Co-operative Book-
store, 337 West Pender, price 40
cents a copy. By subscription it
is $1.50 and the address is New

Frontiers, 153 Dunn Avenue,
Toronto, Ont.

Candid camera picture
of big business press -

their slum home by local cout
ceil.

“ All these stories are interest
ing; but what lifts this film f
ahead of most is the way in whi
it deals with the stories.

Each story shows a particulat
facet of modern news gatherings: -

In the nightclub raid bi
glimpse the hidden hand of th
press lord. “You can print ;
names of the men. arrested,” an
the editor to his staff. “His Lor
ship doesn’t know any of them.

But the real horror emerges
the other two stories.

First, the woman on trial fF
her life. She has killed her b¥S
band, a dying man, out of 1o¥
and mercy. She is acquitted, a2
the press hounds pounce.
want her exclusive story.

The poor girl is tracked dow?
by reporters. Startled and afralt)
she runs from them and is kille
—hounded to death. eae

Second, the atomic scientis”
He is an honest man, who believ™
that the peace of the world st
be made secure only by a ee,
exchange of scientific knowleds'
between the nations.

He expounds his philosophy:
with deep sincerity, to the De”
editor and recording machint”
What does the newspaper
Why, it hands him over to ™,
(British Intelligence) and does?”
print his article. fl

Jack Hawkins turns in a 8907
performance as the news editor j
Eva Bartok, without saying
word, leaves an indelible impress
shion of a tormented wife on
Jenny Jones is delightful as oe
“little mother”? of four, small’
children—DONALD DOUGLA

LPP program published —

JHE new program adopted by

the 5th national convention of
the Labor-Progressive party in
March is now off the press. Its
title reads: Canadian Independ-
ence and a People’s Parliament,
with the sub-title Canada’s Path
to Socialism. :

Progress Books, distributors, re-

_ Ported last week — that 30,000

copies of the program in the
English language—finalized and
approved after two years of pub-
lic discussion across Canada —
have been printed. The French-
language edition will be available

soon. Progress also reported
that the LPP program will s0%

be available in the Ukrainia
Hungarian, Jewish, Russian,

ish and ‘Finnish languages—*
“may be translated into Italia!

The pamphlet, which also i
ciudes the LPP’s legislative P¥
gram and a 10-point progra™ |,
action on immediate issues
beat the threat of depressio™ or
available at the People’s Coot ‘i
_ative Bookstore, 337 West Pes
der Street, Vancouver, price
cents.

8
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 25, 1954 — pAGE ©