;
q

Sculptures by Henry Moore recently on exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery form the basis
of a film to be shown on Channel 2 this coming Monday, July 16 at 9 p.m. Shown are
(left to right): “Internal and External Forms,” carved in plaster in 1937; two of three standing
figures done in bronze in 1953-4; and a figure made of wherry wood and. string.

*

Indian Pow-wow criticized for
failure to adhere to tradition

ATIVE Indian folk dancing,

track and field events and
entertainers were featured at
the Ninth Annual Indian Pow
Wow held last weekend at the
Capilano Reserve in North
Vancouver. The site was his-
torically-named Humiltschen
Park, now a five and a half

&

Vancouver 4, B.C.

TRIBUNE.

Name __....

Clip and Mail—

‘Circulation Department
Tribune Publishing Company, Ltd.
Suite 6 - 426 Main Street, —

Please enter my subscription to the PACIFIC

Addrassisssees, So 2.

acre sports field with grand-
stands, constructed as a com-
munity enterprise with fin-
ances from previous Pow
Wows. 4
The most stirring dance was
a lengthy extract from the Co-
ywichan Indian opera, Tzin-
quaw; performed at the Geor-

$4 for one year []

$2.25 for 6 months []

gia Auditorium here several
years ago. It depicted the suf-
fering of the people from the
Killer Whale, culminating in

his destruction with the help
of the Thunderbird.

Next came a wedding dance,
with elaborately masked Sha-
mans. The evil spirit, who-had
to be charmed away, brilliant-
ly introduced comic relief
within the framework of the
tradition. :

Other folk dancing included
contributions from the Nootka,
Yakima (Washington),  Co-

quitlam and Capilano groups.

Notable were the many young
children who participated, pro-
viding the avenue for preser-
vation of this valuable Cana-
dian folk expression.

Unfortunately, showmanship
tvok liberties with the North-
west Coast Indian traditions,
quite out of keeping with the
general integrity of the Pow
Wow. Most annoying and ob-
vious were feather head dress-
es and tipis, never part. of
Coast culture. Surely such a
vital sports and cultural pro-
ject can attract attention in
a manner less likely to distort
Coast traditions.

N. E, STORY

BOOKS

Fast is prolific but
quality sacrificed

HE Story of Lila Gregg is

Howard Fast’s 15th novel
in 21 years of writing, and his
27th volume of creative work.
The mere numbers are an in-
dex of his prolific talent and
his facility, if not of his quali-
ty.

Like Clarkton, The Passion
of Sacco and Vanzetti and Silas
Timberman the new _ novel
deals with relatively contem-
perary events; and like these
modern books it does not
achieve the reality — or rather
the appearance of reality —
that was so notable in Fast’s
earlier historical novels.

Yet The Story of Lila Gregg
is closer than anything he has
written to coming to grips with
the world in which we live,
and if its people are no more
memorable than the — other
“modern” characters he has
created, its story is far more
exciting.

For Fast’s forte is narra-
tion: he can spin a yarn with
the best of them and he has
mastered the craft of fiction
as narrative. There is excite-
ment in this novel and there is
suspense; there is also under-
standing of the cold war hys-
teria and its effect on simple
and ordinary human beings.
There is drama, too, if there
is little depth.

* * *

The story is simplicity itself:
it involves 24 hours in the life
of the protagonist, a young
woman with two small child-
ren, married to a worker who
is indicted under the Smith
Act,, and who “disappears”
before he is arrested.

What happens to Lola in
those 24 hours is the substance
of the story and it would be
unfair to the reader to give
a summary of these events.
But they involve her rela-
tionships with her neighbors
and the local trades people;
with her father and her child-
ren; with Gregg’s lawyer and
the FBI.

It is not unfair, however, to
complain about the gratuitous
ending of the novel, which
brings the death of Gregg
himself — a man one rarely
sees and with whom the au-

thor is not primarily concern- ~

ed.
® For his ‘death in prison
within_hours after Lola has

induced him to give - himself
up and fight the indictment
through to possible victory,
seems entirely unwarranted,
if not hopelessly contrived.
There was no organic need
for Gregg to die and by kill-
ing him in the manner in which
he is killed Fast bilks the read-
er of the very gratification
he has himself created in pro-
jecting the courage of his
heroine and her correct under-
standing that it was _ ill-ad-
vised” to run; that there was
considerable support for her
husband and herself and that

July 13, 1956 —

it was his role as a Commun-
ist to stand and fight, what-
ever the outcome.

Lola, herself, is more read-
ily understandable, more near-
ly an actual woman than any
feminine character Fast has
set on paper. Yet like most
of the women he has created

she is scarcely three-dimen-
sional.
There is little exploration

of her personality; little illu-
mination of her motivations.
We see her act; we admire her
actions; we suffer with her
when the man she loves van-
ishes, reappears and then is
murdered; but we do not get
inside her skin (because her
ereator did not get inside her
skin) and she is no more likely
to remain in our memories as
a human being that Silas Tim-
berman’s wife or the women of
Clarkton:

Too many of Fast’s charac-
tres — in those novels deal-
ing with our own time — tend
to be representative of points
of view rather than human
beings. They are radicals, lib-
erals, conservatives and out-
right reactionaries; but they
are rarely people with all the
complexities and _  contradic-
tions of the breed.

It was much easier for Fast
to create characters in his
historical novels — and even
in The Passion of Sacco and
Vanzetti — for we all have
preconceived images which
we have carried for decades,
of what Tom Paine must have
been like, or Washington and
the ancient Romans; and Sacco
and Vanzetti, of course, in
their actual flesh and blood,
still live in our minds and
heaitts. And these images are
carried over onto the pages
Fast has written.

It is quite another thing for
an author to create character
“out of whole cloth’ — the
web of introspection and ob-
servation of numerous individ-
uals, the involvement in their
lives which is the grist of the
writer’s mill.

The influence Fast’s writ-
ing has had, both here and
abroad, is not denigrated by an
understanding of his weak-
nesses. For he deals with sit-
uations, ideas and characters.
central to the U.S. and world
democratic struggle; his stories
spring fresh from the battle
in which the decent people of
the world are endlessly en-
gaged and they reflect that
struggle in positive terms and
hearten the reader. And this
would be enough even if he
did not possess the great gift
of story-telling that has bless-
ed the finest writers of all
times.

N. A. DANIELS

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 13