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El infierno verde by Gonzalo de ReparazReview by: J. A. B.Books Abroad, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jul., 1932), p. 358Published by: Board of Regents of the University of OklahomaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40069498 .

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358 Spanish Fiction BOOKS ABROAD Spanish Fiction

tells of the pitiable Frenchwoman Renee, who there use deshace en sus componentes" and another, towards the end, Algunos paseos epilogales savors of the best "ramonesco" manner "de ce sensualiste mystique pour qui Tobjet et le son qu'il rend en nous sont tout; pour qui Timportant, c'est la 'triviality que tout le monde veut voir et qui passe inarper- '*ue." - The characterisation is Valery Lar- baud's. - Erasmo Buceta. University of Cali- fornia.

• Pedro Prado. Alsino. Santiago de Chile. Nascimento. 193 1. - An event in Chilean

literary history was the sudden appearance on the literary horizon, in the rugged land of the Araucanos, of this writer, who among his contemporaries, is the greatest artist of them all.

Alsino is the history of the spiritual ascent of "el hombre inculto" who is strangely trans- figured by contact with adjacent beauty and purity, but who must constantly struggle with the hostile reality of external life. A little village waif, he is obsessed with the desire to fly and dreams that he possesses the secret of its realization. The attempt proves fatal. But, oh, miracle of the Almighty, lover of dreamers! From out the very scars of mis- fortune and sorrow burst forth angelic wings which are the means of the realization of his dream. But Alsino, who flies in the ethereal beauty and purity of celestial heights, must struggle with terrestrial mortals who torment him pitilessly, and who finally succeed in cutting his wings. Alsino, the human soul, the moral hero, comes into contact with more powerful wills and falls, as fall the illusions of the good. - Frances Benge. Berkeley, California.

• Pedro Prado. Un juez rural. Santiago de Chile. Nascimento. 193 1. - Pedro Prado

finds interest in studying and defining the con- flicts of the soul. Un juez rural is more than a novel; it is a series of episodes which constitute a spiritual biography. The reflections of the judge who is a judge with a heart, a poet and a philosopher, illuminate the journey of life along the way of human passions.

El juez rural, obsessed with the desire to understand, uses all his faculties to discover truth but finds that supreme knowledge is denied him. The quest for wisdom terminates in the strange tragi-comic scene which con- cludes the biography: the crazed judge in front of the mirror seeks to discover by touch that which has been denied to vision.

Un juez rural is a work of amazing suggestion. The genius of Prado has created a rare form of drama-novel whose merit is its universal truth. - Frances Benge. Berkeley, California.

• Gonzalo de Reparaz. El infierno verde. Barcelona. Mentora. 193 1. 5 pesetas. -

Here is the converse of the usual war novel. There are in this novel no trenches, filled with war-wearied buddies, wondering what it's all about, shrinking from shrapnel and waiting word for the next charge. Instead, we find four eminently sensible men - a Russian, a Span- iard, a German and an Englishman - who decide that they will retain their friendship and go to the Amazon country, far removed from the noise of war. Of course, they cannot escape from all the inconveniences of war. Highly interesting as their discussions - scientific and philosophical - are, they never- theless interfere with the movement of the novel, which sometimes is hard to distinguish from a work of science. This is part one: in the second to follow we presume the mystery of the disappearance of one of the principal char- acters will be solved. - J. A. B.

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