Suggestions

PROFESSOR RAMON GUTHRIE, of the department of French, writes as follows: "Residential Quarter by Louis Aragon strikes me as the best novel that has come out of France since Proust. It is to appear in America in a translation by H. M. Chevalier this fall, and I urge any one interested either in excellent narrative or world events to read it. Aragon, who first achieved fame as co-founder of Dada and Surrealism, has renounced experimentation and turned brilliant talents to being what the publisher's notice describes as "the Dos Passos of France." To my mind, his present novel surpasses Dos Passos and all the other "American scene" writers, not only because of his more vivid and interesting characters and his keener sense of construction, but also because, in dealing with individuals in specific situations, he always manages to keep the whole picture of the society that he is trying to paint always in view."

"Too fair and too serious to be classed as satire, Residential Quarter has never-theless much of the gusto and racy humor that belongs to good satire. But quite aside from its excellence as fast-moving fiction, the amazing amount of accurate documentation that Aragon has utilized and his rare critical acumen in evaluating the events and trends of French national life makes it a book for the "must" list. No other book that I know succeeds in passing on to its readers as fair and profound an understanding of the political, social and ideological foundations of modern France."