Life, 1921-08-25 · page 26 of 34
Life — August 25, 1921 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents literary reviews in verse and prose, centered on Fannie Hurst's novel *Star-Dust*. The main cartoon depicts a domestic scene where a housewife frantically seeks help from a neighbor (identified as "a medical student") to kill a chicken for an unexpected dinner party, after the butcher failed to deliver. The satire targets middle-class social anxiety and the absurdity of relying on unqualified help during domestic crises. The "medical student" neighbor—presumably educated but impractical—represents the gap between book-learning and practical life skills. The review of *Star-Dust* humorously critiques Hurst's novel about a woman (Lilly) who abandons her husband to pursue a singing career in New York, reflecting early 20th-century anxieties about women rejecting traditional roles. The reviewer notes the book's melodramatic plot while acknowledging Hurst's popularity, a backhanded compliment typical of Life's satirical tone toward popular commercial fiction.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rhymed Reviews Star-Dust By Fannie Hurst. Harper & Bros. HILE rolling west at lightning So, leaving both her wedding ring And Lilly, far from cutting loose speed, And brand-new bridegroom, Albert With pistol, tomahawk, or bowie, Immersed in clouds of smoke and car- Penny, Is glad because her suitor, Bruce, dust, She hurried Gothamward to sing; Has lost his fickle heart to Zoe. The book I settled down to read She felt she could as well as any. oe: . Lo. Was “Fannie Hurst’s First Novel,” . This grayish book by Fannie Hurst SiaicDiist The means by which she got her start With hardly weight enough to sink it, . Were some that Mrs. Grundy censures; While not the best, is not the worst . . . But you that read these Tales of Art And may be finer than I think it. Miss Lilly thought St. Louis crass; Will guess our heroine’s adventures. She loathed the fate that loomed to The author’s style is often marred claim her; Alas! her songs were nothing choice; (I'd say by what, but rhyme’s a fetter), She hated being middle-class ; But years and love bring compensations; And if she didn’t strive so hard She wanted Life!—you’d hardly blame Her daughter Zoe’s perfect voice For brilliancy, she’d write much be: her. Fulfills the mother’s aspirations. Arthur Guiterman Best Novels ; ; Other Books Clerambault, by Romain Rol- a au The Salvaging of Civiliza land. An _— autobiographic by H. G. Wells. Advice novel by the author of the \ how to construct a Jean-Christophe books. \ Bible: this however is inc on . \ lental to the creation Tie Borough, Treasurer by I: as i new world by Mr. Wells books that you cannot put aN Val | l, Our Social Heritage, by down until you have fin- . Ye ham W Interesting ished, \ ee yy: peactis Informat 7 ighly sugg 4 When Egypt Went Broke, by : : Holman Day. This story \ \ Must We Fight Japan? \y aaaybe deienibed a \ \ f Walter B. Pitkin. Bristling pep.” It has action without " vi \ ‘ vty facts. The author any great literary merit. F > l\Y i Z \ peeve, te his the Torchlight, by Leonie. Aminoff. \ The Senate of the Novel of Napoleonic period. . A. : Sane ey tact Ute The Wreck, by Rabindranath Lodge. In this book 1! Tagore. This strikes us as f S an attempt to interest the i fi x , subj American public in some- 2 thing that the American public is not interested in. tor writes well upor ject he well knows. Balkanized Europe, by Pi Scott Mowrer. If thi & = a story we y Pan, by Knut Hamsun. A § d : yo too much description and Norwegian novel, by a great 7? : not enough plot and char- Norwegian novelist. , j . acter. Nevertheless it The Brimming Cup, by Dor- NOS /9 Me luable ook for othy Canfield. A best seller \ \ * Af q ing inf jormation. by one of the best-seller ya WS . The Evolution of Sinn F. manufacturers, s ty Robert Mccall Hen Sight Unseen and The Only fag ‘ Wess uate cauneuiat Confession, by Mary Roberts : book /on' a subject we wat Rinehart. Two stories by . touiknow: ac Ys i smiths ccurately abc pop’ vent it from being diffu A 7 Points of Friction, by A hy : “By the way, Henry, the Smiths are coming to r 1 DY M te High te Henty, C. Row dinner and the butcher has forgotten to send. So Repplier. The chief of our according to modern speci- we've got to kill a chicken somehow or other.” taal Gi egies rors het fications. Geared rather “Couldn’t we get that fellow next door to help us work. This last book is her high, but fairly absorbing. out? He’s a medical student.” finest achievement. ists, comicbooks.com