The Harvard Advocate

The Christmas issue of the Advocate marks the return of two features not seen in its lightsome pages for some time--reviews and editorials. It is high time that the magazine revealed some tangible evidence of its own thought, other than that which may be gleaned from its enlightening notes. Both editorials and reviews are welcome. It is unfortunate, however, that the board has nothing better with which to concern itself than the establishment of its relationship with the late Dylan Thomas. Charles Sifton's editorial attentions to the CRIMSON can only be considered obscure, flattering, and touching.

If the subjects of the Advocate's manifestoes may not interest the reader, at least its fiction, which continues to overshadow the poetry this year, proves well worth reading. John Ratte's "Love Story" is by far the most outstanding piece. Its temper is unusual for the Advocate, whose contributors often seem bent on merely displaying to the world the sensitivity of their souls. Ratte neither sinks into a morass of hypersensitive depression, nor, though he is highly imaginative, does he lean on the grotesque. The story can perhaps best be described as a complete reversal of the typical Saturday Evening Post romance.

Instead of boy meets captivating girl, is trapped by captivating girl, Ratte's theme is boy thinks girl wants him back, boy sadly deluded. Because Ratte portrays this situation with color and humor, he not only makes his story most readable, but increases the pathos of the situation by the contrast of the intoxicated lover's joy and his impending disillusionment. The story is wonderfully economical for the narrator's observations reveal not only the true nature of the situation, but the essence of his character and the whole of his past experience.

Bob Cumming, another economical writer, appears, as usual, in black face. Like Ratte, with a few well-chosen references, he reveals the plight of his narator--a young Negro boy who is intensely concerned about being misunderstood--without, however, making his subject appear abnormally sensitive. One of the story's principal virtues is Cumming's knack for conveying the feeling of the woods in a very few words.

Much more serious, but less striking than Ratte's and Cumming's sketches, is Mary Meade Harnett's portrayal of the plight of a maiden lady who feels that her life has been sacrificed to the whims of her relatives. Mis Harnett makes her story especially complex by introducing another spinster's sickly cousin. Be delineating the character and thoughts of first one and then the other (rather than intermingling them) she expresses the barrier which has arisen between them. But while this separate characterization adds to the feeling of the hopelessness of their relationship, it still jars the reader when suddenly, midway through the story, the meditations of the central character are interrupted and those of a virtually un-introduced character are substituted. The main drawback of the story, however, is its dry, unexciting style, which while being appropriate for the character of the protagonist, tends to discourage the reader. Perhaps just a little more verve, if only at the beginning, might make it more enticing. Paula Budlong, the Advocate's stand-by this year, contributes her usual polished story. This one is less grotesque, more subtle and indirect than her previous pieces.

The poetry in this issue for the most part cannot compare with the prose. There is one good poem, however, Jean Valentine's love lyric, which because of its simplicity and sincerity effectively evokes the essence of a feeling. It is heartening to see one college poet who seems more interested in communicating something than in displaying a developing erudition, or in proving "maturity" by affecting a depression which is obviously not too deeply felt. Unfortunately, the abstract-term-so-that-they'll-know-I'm-intellectual school is heavily represented in this issue by Ernest Wight's "catatonic crocodile--bogged deep in mud" and Robert Johnson's two poems. One of Johnson's poems, "The Subway Beggars," might have been very effective, but at the end he attempts to express the commuters' horrow at the ugliness of life through a reference to Praxitcles, which seems ludicrous appearing as it does in the minds of average subway-riders. Peter Heliczer's "Conduct Since Birth" is fairly good, but parts of it are incomprehensible, and in this particular poem there seems utterly no need for his lower case letters.

There is an unusual amount of art in this issue, mostly by Midgette, whose Magi cover is the best since the advent of the "architectural" cover. The Advocate is also blessed with a very colorful full-page cigarette ad. --FRANK R. SAFFORD