Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Daily Bulletin/Reveille. (College Station, Tex.) 1916-1938 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1931)
The | Library Page QUIET STREET new way, in their own way. Then having tried and failed and though it over, they will reaize that no- thing new can endure without old formations . . . profit from the war and the revo- lution, The simple-minded Andrey Kolchagin blunders through the war, returns to Moscow, and en- their part in the affairs of the [ideal but the German and English Soviet regime. Astafiov, whose [universities are far ahead of the {property has been confiscated by | American in the order named. the new government, is hostile to-| The major flaws found in pre- They will realize too that they cannot do without the culture of past ages... And they will take up again the old books and learn what been learned before them and seek the results of former experience. (By Michael Ossorgin) Reviewed by W. B. Dobson Quiet Street is a novel of some merit which treats of life in Russia during the recent years of war, revolution, and turmoil. The author tells an interesting story | about people of the middle and | lower strata of society, and reveals | ( has | At the beginning of the story 1916) Tanyusha, the granddaugh= the powerful influence of political | ter of the professor is sixteen and disturbances in shaping their lives. |is fast maturing. “Rapid strokes The story centers about the home | crossed out the writing on the deli- of Ivan Alexandrovitch, an elderly | cate brain-childish thoughts and ornithologist living in Moscow. The |simple beliefs; the untidy scrawl professor, his granddaughter, and |of a child's diary disappeared bes their acquaintances are the chief [neath the shorthand of new words characters, though numerous other | and the gall of thoughts dropped people struggling to ive amid the in to the honey of the heart.” She chaotic economic and political con- | develops into a woman of fine ditions of the time enter the story. character and intelligence; and The interplay of their lives de- | though she suffers much as a res velops the thesis that in the pass- | sult of the war and the hard timesy ing of the centuries wars, civil |emains kind, friendly, patient in strife, governments may come and her dealings with others, brave and go, and being but human creations, resourceful in providing food and amount to little; but they play a { clothing for herself and her grands “tremendous and decisive part . { father, and cheerful in her attitud@ in the lives of all who plough and | toward life. The development of write, sow and love, lived yester- her character in the story is ond day and will live tomorrow”. An of the greatest charms of the books examination of the principal char- | acters of the book shows how this theme is developed. One of Tanyusha’s admirers, thd | clever and ambitious Ehrberg, ent ists i in the army and calculates td win fame. But in the face of wag human ingenuity matters littlej Ehrberg's calculations hin} his life. Stolnikov, the handsomd “quiet street” in Muscow. He finds {officer whose dancing happiness in living a simple life of wins Tanyusha’s admiration, pays devotion to his family and his sci- [a still greater price for his adven$ ence. There is poetry in his birds; |ture In the war. Death-at firs§ there is joy in the realization that |not of the body - but of the he has been successful in life. But|— is the cost to him. in the course of years much comes ed by a bursting to disturb his happiness, his wife lives, to be pronounced a dies; the World War comes on; the |acle”. October Revolution interferes with [a mere trunk bereft of his teaching; the subsequent econ- omic disorder reduces his financial security; the new social and politi- cal regime upsets the nation's | scale of values, considerably less- ening the prestige once given his science. While out of sympathy with the new order of things, he | patiently attempts to adjust him- | the author, who regards political self to existing conditions, but is | strife as being human folly, tha forced to make many sacrifices. | the rewards meted to characters Finally he dies, prophesying with {by the war and revolution are tres his last words the future of Russia. The professor is a peace-loving | gentleman who with his wife and granddaughter has long been a resident in Sivtzen Vrazhek, a Cost graceful Spirig Wound# shell, he mir Fa iracle arms and He is indeed a m legs, chagrined by his helpnesss {ness, embittered toward li tined to bemoan his fate ing able to endure his tind existence headlong from an upperstory w dow to his death. fe, des unt tl , be 1 no longer, he plunges they Stolnikov mendously unjust. Thus while capable Ehrberg meet disaster, others less worthy “People will come, new, people, | ¢ and who will try to do everything in a | jocular expression of his proposal: \-fcrowded, disease-infested railway It is in keeping with the viewds gages blindly in the revolution. In the disorder following the over- throw of the czar he creates for himself the position of comman- dant in one of the soviet organiza- | Vassya introduced him, is a pro-| tions, and prospers even through | ficient pianist; Together they per- | the period of economic distress. [form before the Bolsheviks and | Borya, the uncle of Tanyusha, like- | receive provisions in payment. wise profiteers. Unsuccessful as | an engineer, he manufactures |tafiey induces a neighbor, Caval- munitions during the war, and|ghin, to take a position with part in entertaining them at the workmen's clubs. He can act fair- the new government. | chicken-hearted, Zavalishin acks will power to secure the place un- | Upon Edward Tvovitch, Tany- ? ° |til Astafiev brings him under the | usha’s music teacher and life-long friend, the Russian revoution weighs heavily. Though a very queer individual, he is an excellent musician with many fine composi- | tions to his credit. His life cen- ters in his music, and when the Bolsheviks confiscate his piano and | thus put an end to the practice of | his art, his life is turned topsy- | turvy. Tanyusha and others man. | €xecut tes human beings with no age to have his piano returned. | difficulty, Then he composes what he con- Astafiev is found to be an enemy siders his masterpiece. It proves lof his government and is ordered to be a jumble of harsh sounds— [to be executed. Confronted by the the creation of a disordered brain. fone who has driven him to his position, Zavalishin is powerless to carry out his orders until once more Astafiev with jibes restores the coward’s courage, and the task is porformed. executioner for the government, to those in power. At the home while he is sober, Zavalishin lacks {the nerve to stab a pig for his| I mistress, but at work stupefied by | liquor he stands a “Civil strife has less” perceptible effect upon the character of the eager student Vassyo Boltanorsky. To ‘Tanyusha he maintains that the world has gone a little off its Ea fi . stafiev’s supreme sacrifices head, but that far from being a| A Sulreme Loe : ea i {will mean little to future genera- misfortune, it is highly inter-| Phd : ; .» (tions. They will forget him and esting. He has a real zest for life SRG i the folly for which he and thous- and is one of the best-known char- J he: ; ands have died. Subsequent ages acters in the book. He comes to |". : Th will have their own miseries to en- love Tanyusha, but she can never regard him as being seriously in love with her. This fact is not surprising when we consider the and to destroy those institutions | which can be erected only at the | cost of suffering and bloodshed. “Tanyusa, I love you, like a hog.” (She remains his friend and the two aid each other in securing provisions during the hard times. Once Vassya makes a long trip in- to the country to barter for feed, and upon returning in a dirty, UNIVERSITIES — AMERICAN, ENGLISH, GERMAN 3y Dr. Abraham Flexner (Reviewed by E. P. Fortson, '32) [versity is vastly larger than that of the “medieval institute expound- ing Aristotle, the Fathers, and the | classic philosophers!” It is this growth of the university, in which the trivial and insignificant have not been distinguished from the serious and significant, that is the basis of Doctor Flexner's search- coach, he falls ill with a fever. During his illness Tanyusha visits him often. She meets and falls in love with his physician and later accepts the physician's proposal of marriage. Vassya remains a friend. Of the numerous other chara- cters of the book, Astafiev and |ing criticisms in his “Universities”, ly well, and Tanyusha, to whom | With his art of persuasion As-| afterwards too is given a place in the Soviet government. naturally power of drink. Then he becomes | which is now slaughtering every- | one suspected of being an enemy | at ‘his post and | dure for men will continue to build | N «| The realm of the modern uni- | ward the Bolsheviks, yet he takes | sent day American education are | the secondary school system, the Imanner of selling a degree for so (many counts and credits, the pre- 'ponderance of rubbish that is | counted toward a degree, the ever {increasing number of professions lin which the degree is conferred, and the university extension ser- |vice. There is obviously some- thing wrong when the great Columbia and Chicago offer such ‘courses as “principles of home |[aendering’, “Juvenile story writ- ing” , elementary stenography”, and gymnastics and dancing for (men, including clog dancing” to win their degrees. In the Doctor's estimation, such schools and departments as jour- nalism, business, library science, and hotel management have no place in the university. In the discussion of this subject a perti- nent question is asked. “Does any- one really suppose that Yale and Princeton, having no schools of business, will for that reason in the future be less conspicuous in business and banking than Hay- vard and Columbia which have?” Although there is much fault found, the Doctor finds much to commend in the American univer- sity. In closing this part of his discussion, he states that “it is un- fortunate that the American uni- versity, so open to innovation, is the victim of the quack, the tech- nician, and the clever salesman.” The University of London is the {only institution the Engish have supporting schools of household [science, etc, but it in no way ap- | proaches Columbia and Chicago in | €XCesses. | The two center of learning in | England are Oxford and Cam- |bridge, and even in the critical eye (of Doctor Flexner, they are above reproach. He finds fault from the administrative standpoint, but [none whatever from the scholastic. “Oxford and Cambridge train the men that rule the Empire and the results show the job is done well. The discussion of German uni- versities is confused and one fol- lows it with difficulty. Neverthe- less, one is deeply impressed with the thoroughness, the exactness, and the depth of German educa- Zavalishin deserve mention for In his estimation none approach the tion.
