Books: Hops and Plana*

FIFTEEN RABBITS — Felix Salten — Simon & Schuster ($1). Mild, somewhat poetic, this exceedingly simple book presents a vision of rabbit life as the Viennese author of Bambi sees it. As in Bambi, which was deer life poeticized, all the birds & beasts of the forest—and finally even the trees—converse freely together in a rather flat idiom, and the majority eat each other with relish and frequency. That, with the doings of sundry hunters, forms the background, foreground and action of the story.

For the rabbits, always hunted, never hunters, life is a battle to keep the spirits up. Protagonist Hops often wonders where is the sport in it.

Owl, fox, hawk and the mighty He with his thunderstick all take turns at the Fifteen Rabbits, a group which, like the Forty-Nine Bottles, solemnly and inevitably diminishes. Hops and his affinity Plana, both first appearing as babes, enjoy lucky escapes, but little Epi, their companion, is seized by some young Hes and Shes and dies in captivity, piteously. The remaining ones cavort and chatter, their ears droop and rise, their whiskers twitch, and they meet various fates. Later appears Iago, an embittered dog who tried to go native but found he had no talent for it. He inadvertently assists Hops and Plana during a round-up hunt at which most of their companions perish. In late winter he again saves Plana, famished and freezing, by giving her shelter in his kennel. Plana leaves this comfort, however, to rejoin Hops, who, with the coming of spring, has conquered his pessimism with a gentle Christian philosophy. The two frisk on to the last page, ears a-wiggle, appearing to be, after a year of platonic cohabitation, upon the verge of a deeper intimacy.

The sentence alone on the first page— “If you would keep men from becoming as animals, strive ever to see animals as men”—may explain this book, and it may not. It is hard to become excited over rabbits. Poetry, drama, philosophy seldom attaches to them. But for those who like them, here are some, colorfully painted.

The Author. Felix Salten, born Saltzmann of Budapest, but a Viennese most of his 60-odd years, is known in theU. S. as a novelist, through recent translations of Bambi, The Hound of Florence. In Europe Schnitzler, Wassermann, Werfel— all personal friends—Galsworthy, Mann, many others acclaim him as essayist and dramatist. Some 20 of his books are appearing in an authorized edition in Vienna; the U. S. will have them eventually in English. Last June found him in the U. S. suffering entertainment with quiet, smiling urbanity. A Jew, he is not a Zionist, disclaims all ists and isms. His life is literary, not political, yet active when the two conflict, for his was the leading test case under the rigorous Austrian muzzlelaw for critics. Works the U. S. may sometime read are: Prinzessin Anna (novel), Martin Overbeck (romance), Kinder u. Freude (drama).

*New books are news. Unless otherwise designated, all books reviewed in TIME were published within the fortnight. TIME readers may obtain any book of any U. S. publisher by sending check or money-order to cover regular retail price ($5 if price is unknown, change to be remitted) to Ben Boswell of TIME. 205 East 42nd St., New York City.