The Scarlet Guidon (review)

Book Reviews223 members of die companies were killed, wounded, or captured. Biographical sketches of brigade and regimental leaders and medical officers are also included . In making diis reprint available, die publisher has rendered a real service to die cause of Arkansas, die Civil War, and military history. It is such unit histories as this diat make die great general studies of die Robert S. Henry's, die Bruce Cation's, and die Douglas Soutiiall Freeman's possible. James J. Hudson Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Scarlet Guidon. By Ray Grant Toepfer. (New York: CowardMcCann , Inc. 1958. Pp. 316. $3.95. ) ray grant toepfer, who was born and reared in Kansas and graduated from die University of Wisconsin, has attempted in diis, his first novel, to explain in human terms—as distinguished from historical—why die Confederate soldier went to war. So far as I understand Mr. Toepfer's explanation, die Confederate went to war initially to defend his home; fought on because he dien felt himself part of "sometiiing"; and at die very last continued to fight simply because he had lost. The first reason given seems acceptable; die second, unconvincing and, as presented, uninteresting. The audior nowhere in his novel defines die "somedn 'ng" of which die Confederate soldier (and civilian) felt himself a part, but he does render it recognizable as die"sum greater than total ofparts" mystique dear to die notebooks of sociologists. It has appeared in novels before (cf. Steinbeck's, among odiers) and in those, as in this, to my mind, it has failed as an effective element. This failure is due, I tiiink, to die fact that novels must concern themselves widi die behavior, feelings, and reactions of individuals. Crowd behavior, and diere is of course such a sometiiing, is (usually) uninteresting because of its sameness, because of its predictability, and because of its unvarying, unreasoning simplicity. You soon tire of a story in which die characters respond to every moral or physical crisis widi, "They got to figure on die whole tiling, like it was one man." This handicap notwidistanding, The Scarlet Guidon is not a failure aa a novel. True, its first half, tiiough painfully honest, is also painfully slow. But its second halfis, literally, a different story, chiefly because die audior has largely confined his presentation of die first two reasons he gives for going to war to die first half. The second half of The Scarlet Guidon advances die third reason given, concentrates on a single, fairly complex character and has, essentially, tiiat best of all adventure plots: flightand chase. Thereis fine writing in die second half, diere is action, diere is suspense, and diere is movement. The second half interests and it is, all by itself, worth $3.95. I have made no attempt to summarize die narrative of The Scarlet Guidon because die publisher has anticipated me. Indeed, die book-jacket summary 224CI VIL W AR HISTORY he has given is so complete diat it comes witiiin an ace of destroying die carefully wrought suspense of the second half of die book. If you get die book, ignore die jacket copy. But here, a further quarrel widi this copy: When a publisher releases a new novel by an unknown audior, it is his mystifying but usual practice to identify it widi an accepted and respected novel of die pastbya well-known audior. Thispractice is mystifying, of course, because if die new novel is a good one it can—and in its own best interest should—stand alone. The practice is usual, however, because publishers—who above all odiers should know—never do know whedier tiiey have a "good" or a "poor" new book for dieir list until sales are totaled. The publisher of The Scarlet Guidon, no dissenter to die practice cited above, suggests tiiat his new release is another Red Badge of Courage. This suggestion, nautrally, does botii books a disservice. The Scarlet Guidon is a much better novel, over-all, dian nine out of ten of today's new fiction releases; but it is not a second Red Badge, and I am sure its audior did not intend it to be. In short, dien, Mr. Toepfer has demonstrated...