Books: Feathers in a Vase

THE FACE OF A NATION—Poetical Passages From the Writings of Thomas Wolfe—Scribner ($2.75).

Thomas Wolfe always needed editing, but not this kind. With the best will in the world and the notion that Wolfe was “first of all, a poet” the publishers have anthologized 71 pieces of descriptive, rhapsodic and wistful prose from his novels and shorter works. The effect: that of sticking in a vase 71 feathers that belonged on an Indian war bonnet with wind in it.