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GUIDE TO GOOD READING

Australian war novel
goes astray on realism

THE NEWLY-FORMED _ Aust-
ralasian Book Society has just
chosen Peter Pinney’s Road in
the Wilderness as its third
choice (first two books publish-
-ed were Crown Jewel by R. de
Boissiere and Journey Into the
Future by Frank Hardy) and
Australian readers are sharply
divided in their reaction to the
new novel.

Road in the Wilderness is
Pinney’s first published work of
fiction. “Here is war, stripped
of all glamor, war in the green,
sweaty hell of Bougainville,” says
the jacket blurb. “We enter into
the lives of a small company of
Australians operating behind the
enemy lines. We _ experience
their stark fears, their hopes,
their laughter. We come to
know them as living men, hating
the war, longing for the normal,
fruitful days of peace. Here are
true Australians, strongly im-
bued with the tradition of mate-
ship, irreverent towards pomp-
ous authority . . . tough men, re-
sourceful, good - humored, re-
specters of human dignity.”

And-the author, the blurb con-
tinues, is well qualified to tell.
this story. In the last war he
fought in the Wau and Salamaua.
campaigns with the Australian
Third Independent Company,
and later was awarded a Mili-

’ tary Medal for his leadership of

a series of operations:in the Jaba
River district of Bougainville.
“In the writing of this book,”
the blurb concludes, “he reveals
a deep understanding of the
aspirations of common humanity
and shows in one clear, ruthless
picture after another, the sav-
agery, the wanton waste, the
tragic inconclusiveness of war.”

ae * *

UNFORTUNATELY, the story
doesn’t live up to the jacket
blurb. Pinney displays a photo-
graphic memory for the horrors
of war and mistakes this for
realism. His characters are not
developed beyond a photographic
level; and the brutalities describ-
ed in vivid and somewhat sick-

ening detail are presented as the

typical. :

True, soldiers are brutal at
times. Without question, the
acts of violence described by
Pinney are authentic. (I can re-
eall similar scenes which hap-

_ pened during the invasion of

Europe.) But to show only this
side of soldiers’ character in war,
without showing any other, is to.
distort reality and substitute the
exceptional for the typical.

In a literary discussion on
“typicalness” which took place
in the Soviet Union in October
last year, G. M. Malenkov had

_ this to say:

“In creating artistic images,
our artists and writers must al-
ways bear in mind that the
typical is not only what is most
often met with. Typical is that
which most fully and vividly
expresses -the essence of the
given social force. In the Marx-
ist-Leninist conception of the
term, typical does not mean the
statistical average. Typicalness
corresponds to the essence of
the given social-historical phen-
omenon and is not simply what
is most widespread, often met
with, the ordinary. A deliber-
ately magnified image, brought
out in salient relief, does not
exclude typicalness, it reveals
the typical more fully and
emphasises it.” 1=

« * *
IN ITS one-sided, superficial

treatment of the soldiers who
fought the dirty, stinking, vicious

war in the jungle, Pinney’s book
is in the tradition of numerous
American authors — most of
whom write with an eye on Hol-
lywood, Certainly it is a far cry
from the fine novel Twenty Thou-
sand Thieves by another Aust-
ralian author, Eric Lambert.

It must be said that within
the limits of photographic art
Pinney has done a fine job. Had
he probed deeper he might have
produced an outstanding war
novel. Technical brilliance at
surface level, however, cannot
replace true realism; the cramp-
ing formula demanded by Hol-
lywood makes the production of
genuine art impossible.’And Pin-
ney, with his “photographic real-
ism,” has fallen into this trap
and written a book which only
succeeds in hiding reality.

* * *

SOME OF THE lighter pas-
sages in Pinney’s novel are sheer
delight, such as his description
of the panic at base headquar-
ters on the coast when word
seeped through that a small
patrol of Japanese had penetrat-
ed forward lines and were -head-
ing that way, bent on deeds of
violence. Canadian soldiers
who can recall somewhat similar
situations on the Western Front
will enjoy and understand the
script thoroughly:

“Torokina was in the grip of

_ a mild panic. .

“Men who had not met the
enemy lay wide-eyed in their
bunks, hearkening to the noises
of the jungle, or crouching in
waterlogged foxholes, perspir-
ing, while unit guards shot each
other up. ‘

“Out of this
came stories. ...

“Of the 45-minute battle which
raged across Piva Strip when
two camps of Americans shot it
out with each other, using mach-
ine guns and light mortars, car-
bines and grenades and anything
else they could lay their hands
on. They used over 3,000 rounds
of ammunition, but fortunately,
no one was hurt: ...

“Japanese Were reported here,
there, everywhere. They were
seen. attending cinema _ shows,

tragi-comedy

raiding cookhouses, surfing on.

the main beach, thumbing rides,
raping a signals officer and gen-
erally carrying on in a soldierly
manner in various improbable
places. But no attack of a seri-
ous nature was ever made on a
military establishment.”

* * *

PINNEY. CAN write, and he
could ‘write a better book than
this. Perhaps the criticism which
his first novel is generating in
Australia will help him do it.

Road in the Wilderness ($2.25)

is available here at the People’s

Cooperative Bookstore, 337 West =

Pender.—BERT WHYTE.

Native Indian opera comes to Vancouver

Vancouver citizens will have the o
when the Cowichan Indian Players prese

Killer Whale legend, at Georgia
tional song by Frank Morrison,

pportunity this weekend of seeing an outstanding production

nt Tzinquaw, the operatic version of the Thunderbird and the —
Auditorium. Thé opera, adapted from Native Indian legend and tradi-
Vancouver Island school teacher, will be staged this Thursday, Friday —
and Saturday, March 26-28, with a matinee at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday.

MINE-MILL RECORDING OF FIRST RALLY NOW READY 3
Paul Robeson fo sing again at —
Peace Arch international rally —

PAUL ROBESON is going to
sing for Canadians at the Peace
Arch this summer, Mine-Mill
regional director Harvey Murphy
announced this week. Last May
18 some 40,000 Canadians and
Americans heard the world re-
nowned artist at a border rally
arranged by the union. This year
the international event will prob-
ably take place in August.

‘ “I Came to Sing” is the title of
a new album of. records (LP and
standard) now on sale at the
Mine-Mill office, 111 Dunsmuir,
‘made at the Peace Arch rally in
1952. Robeson was never in bet-
ter voice, and the records will

probably be snapped up in the
next few weeks by music lovers.

The new album of records
opens with a few bars from
Water Boy and then a comment-

ator describes the scene in_the
park, and the listener hears the
cheers from thousands of throats

as Robeson greets them. ‘The?
come the songs—Love will Find
Out a Way, Joe Hill, No, John
No, Loch Lomond, No More —
Auction Biock For Me, Lullaby&
/Four Rivers, and many more.

LP records sell for $5 and res
ular at $6 a set.

CLASSIFIED _

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MAR. 9 _KITSILANO PRESS

CLUB SOCIAL, 3430
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USED CLOTHING
MARCH 21 SALE. Saturday,
2-5 p.m. 138 E. Cordova. Coffee,

and Doughnuts served. Sponsored
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Fishermen and Allied Workers.

‘Union,

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EVENTS CONTINUED

APR. 18 AST END SECTION

SLAV PRESS COM:

MITTEE is sponsoring a banquet

and dance, at Russian People’s —

Home, 600 Campbell Avenue, Good —

food and refreshments. $1.50 ad:
mission. Dance only, 50 cents.

faba

HELP WANTED

WOMAN TO help look after child-
ren so that Mother can work:
Nice room, etc. Mother with
child alright..Phone HA, 4409M-

ee :

BUSINESS PERSONALS _
: Loe

FOR A FULL VARIETY OF LUG —
GAGE, LEATHER GOODS
ENGLISH BONE CHINA AND

' CUSTOM JEWELERY. Reas0l
able prices. See DUNSMUIR
VARIETIES, 519 Dunsmuir §
PA. 6746. ce

ae

HASTINGS. BAKERIES. LTD. —
716 East Hastings St., Phone —
HA. 3244. Scandinavian 4
ucts a Specialty.

O.K. RADIO SERVICE, ates’
factory precision equipmes!
used. MARINE SERVICE, 14
Pender St. West. TA. 1012.
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PT.” At Kucher’s Barber Sho?
611 Smythe St. Proceeds press

Drive. - :
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HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME ~
Available for meetings, :
dings, and banquets at rease |
able rates. 600 Campbell AY
HA. 6900.

CLINTON HALL, 2605 B. Pender
Available for Banquets, ‘Hh

dings, Meetings, Etc. Phone
3277. Pe

\ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 20, 1953 — PAGE