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THE BATTALION
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST 11, 1944
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SOMETHING TO READ
Edna B. Woods
Ass’t Circulation Librarian
Great Story-Tellers of France
The gradual emergence of France
from the Nazi darkness reminds
us of the great part she played
for so long in the civilizing, more
especially in the civilized enter
taining of the world. The French
have always excelled everybody
else in the arts of intelligent
amusement. And of course, since
good fiction is the greatest source
of intelligent amusement, the
French have produced some of the
best of all noveltists.
Not the least amusing, and cer
tainly not the least intelligent of
French novels is Candide, written
in the 18th Century by Voltaire.
Candide is a witty and somewhat
wicked attack on that exasperating
type (whom we have with us to
day, in large numbers) the beam
ing optimist. The young hero of
this little tale is conducted through
Europe by his cheery tutor, Dr.
Pangloss, who has undertaken to
prove to his pupil fhat “everything
is for the best in the best of all
worlds. M Slaughter, earthquakes,
and pestilences are mere grist to
the Doctor’s optimistic mill. He
interprets them all as blessings in
diguise. (By the way, haven’t you
met Dr. Pangloss a good many
times ?)
Balzac wrote the first “hard-
boiled” modern novels. At a time
when the English-speaking world
was devouring the plumed romances
of Scott and the sentimentality of
Dickens, the French were watch
ing Balzac take apart human na
ture and human society and show
what makes them tick. And how
dramatically he does it! Old Goriot
contains some of the meanest
women since the wicked daughters
of King Lear. Eugenie Grandet,
on the other hand, depicts the im-
destructibly beautiful elements of
woman’s nature. The Wild Ass’s
Skin is the grimly fantastic tale of
the inevitable progi^ess of self-in
dulgence. If you want to understand
human nature, you can’t afford to
read less than three of Balzac’s
novels.
Everybody knows ^jpout Victor
Hugo’s vast romance; Les Miser-
ables, probably one of the three
best-loved stories in world litera-
Exes Are Awarded
Military Honors
Three Ex-Students of A. and M.
have recently won honors in mil
itary efforts.
First Lieutenant Wilson B. Bus
ter ’40, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.
B. Buster, Junction, Texas, has
completed his bombardier training
at the Army Air Forces Training
Command’s school at Carlsbad
Army Air Field, New Mexico. Lt.
Buster now becomes one of the
Army Air Forces new “triple
threat men”—air men who have
completed instruction in dead-reck
oning navigation and aerial gun
ner^ in addition to the regular
bombardiering course.
Jack G. Morgan, ’45, son of Mrs.
Standlee D. Roberts, Denton, Texas,
was given a commission in the
same class at Carlsbad.
At Matagorda Peninsula, Texas,
in the class studying the science
of deflection gunnery, was First
Lt. Delphon C. Kenney ’44, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord Kenney of
Harlingen, Texas. The class in
cludes fighter pilots gathered
largely from the world’s battle-
fronts, and are men who are now
being trained to become instruc
tors. Lt. Kenney has flown 42 mis
sions in Tunisia and Italy and was
once shot down by enemy fire. He
holds the Purple Heart with one
Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Med
al with seven clusters.
ture. But perhaps you haven’t read
his Toilers of the Sea, the most
thrilling of all man-versus-nature
dramas, or Ninety-Three, which in
my opinion beats even A Tale of
Two Cities as a novel of the
French Revolution.
Of course, also, everybody knows
The Three Musketeers of Dumas,
and nearly everybody has read (or
seen) his Count of Monte Cristo.
But have you followed Dartagnan,
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis
through their other stories. The
Queen’s Necklace, for example, and
LOUPOT’S
Trade With Lou —
He’s Right With You!
Pocket Slide Rules — Stationery
Wrico Lettering Sets, Pens, Lettering Guides
Professional Grade Drawing Equipment
Scales, Rules, Triangles, Bow Pens, and Ruling Pens
WANTED TO BUY
Books — Slide Rules — T-Squares
I. E. S: Lamps — Drawing Boards
Drawing Sets
COLLEGE BOOK STORE
At North Gate
Twenty Years After? These are
wonderful yarns too.
Paul Muni introduced thousands
of movie-goers to Emile Zola, who
spent his life in catching smug
novel-readers by the scruff of
their necks and rubbing their noses
in the grim realities of the lives
of the great miserable majority
of human beings. Germinal, The
Abyss, Nana, forced respectable
people like ourselves to admit that
their respectibility existed at the
price of the degrdaation of mil
lions. (It still does, look, and not
only east of the Atlantic!)
These are a few of the classics
among French story-tellers. I have
no room even to mention the short
stories of maupassant and Mer-
imee or the novels of Fleubert,
Marcel Proust, Remain Rolland,
Andre Malraux, Antonie de Saint,
Exupery and their modern asso
ciates.
Try French fiction, if you don’t
know it already. The Library has
a fair collection of translations in
the Browsing Room including those
just mentioned.
HELP BRING VICTORY * • *
BUY WAR BONDS TODAY
—AIRCRAFT—
(Continued Trom page 1)
vised. Smith, a former student of
Sam Houston State Teachers Col
lege and a graduate of the Curtiss-
Wright Technical Institute of
Aeronautics, has had wide experi
ence as supervisor of mechanics
and maintenance at several Army
and civilian airfields.
There will be no tuition fee, but
students will be required to furn
ish their own books. Board and
lodging can be furnished by the
College at a nominal charge.
Early phases of the course will
be given in A. & M.’s well-equipped
Aeronautical Engineering labora
tory. There will be practical but
highly skilled work on engines
and aircraft, using new type en
gines running from 65 horsepower
to twin-row 2,000 horsepower, In
structor Smith said. Some of the
later courses will be given at the
College Airport.
While work ‘in any of the 12 sub
jects included will be valuable to
the student, it was explained that
satisfactory completion of the
entire course will be necessary to
qualify for a CAA license exam
ination.
Trainees must be American
citizens, 16 years of age or older,
and preferably have had at least
three years of high school educa
tion, Dean Barlow concluded.
Registrants will report to Room
106, Mechanical Engineering Shops
Building for assignment.
DO YOUR PART—BUY BONDS
COMMERCIAL WORK A SPECIALTY
Call us today for your group picture. We can send
an experienced photographer at ANYTIME, ANY
WHERE.
Our prices are reasonable; your busines is
appreciated.
— BRING YOUR KODAK FINISHING TO US —
oA. & M. PHOTO SHOP
North Gate — Tele. 4-8844 — Next to A.&M. Grill
Attend The
i
First Regimental Ball
ERNIE FIELDS
And His Orchestra
SBISA HALL
AUGUST 11, 1944
9-12
Admission $1.50 plus 300 tax Total, $1.80
Staff Sergeants in Each Battalion Will Have Ttickets
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