ROMANTIC - LAND, Francisco Franco. By Joaquin Arraris. (Bles s 7s. 64)
Secret Agent in Spain, By Herbert Greene. (Hale. 52..s. 6d.) Dancer in Madrid. By Janet RieSenfeld. (Harrap. roe: 6d.). Searchlight • on Spain. By the Duchess of Admit. (Penguin
Special. 6d.)
THE first three books on the above list are personal records of fact (which in the case of General Franco's biography- can be corroborated), yet they read hie fiction ; whereas the fourth is larded with statistics and quotations which give it an- air of conveying " the facts," though it really only contains those selected, partial, over-emphasised truths that add up, with a Q.E.D., as propaganda. The Duchess of Atholl's- publishers mention her " hereditary interest in historical research "'; but the purpose of a searchlight in war is to be trained on • a single object (or enemy objective) at one time, and its effect is to make the surrounding darkness darker still. Hers is purely a weapon of offence, up to a point skilfully handled : with it she picks out certain facts and obscures others—not always deliberately perhaps, but by instinct, from an unques- tioning sense of duty. Anarchist writers as well as Minerva- fives complain of her strict adherence to the official Communist policy of " winning the civil war first " in temporary alliance with the Liberals. On her visit to Red Spain the Duchess, an earnest and honest democrat, was the dupe of dupes, for fear of Fascism. It is hard to say whether her credulity is the cause or the effect of her passionate convictions -on the subject of the Spanish war ; but certainly their outcome-is a most persuasive and untrustworthy account of its origins. A wholly reliable version seems humanly impossible in this age of print and prejudice ; but a greater degree of accuracy,
fewer unqualified assumptions and more logical argument might have been expected—even for sixpence—from a book by the Duchess of Atholl, which does not merely claim to record what she was shown on a trip to Valencia. '
Mr. Greene and Miss Riesenfeld, on the other hand, are content to give us thrilling and very readable accounts of what t hey saw and felt in Government Spain, he as a spy and she as a chance visitor. Both books at times inspire wonder almost amounting to doubt ; not that either author is guilty of any wish to exaggerate, but the reader has grown incredulous, knowing how little the eye sees and how much the heart feels. Mr. Greene made three expeditions to Spain, over a period of a year, in the service of Y; a master mind who is neither " an Englishman, a Spaniard or a Jap " ; his adventures include being trailed, drugged, . robbed, involved in a mysterious motor-accident-in- mid-Sussex and -generally-leading the- un- comfortable existence of a marked man (at Perpignan he found it " impossible to stand in a bar without some dago sidling up to eavesdrop "). So vivid is Mr. Greene's sense of hidden persecution and so hazy the reader's grasp of the hero's motives or any of the other players' moves (Mr. Greene could throw
the G.P.U. off the scent) that this reviewer was soon chary of even being seen with the book in Hendaye, on the threshold to Spain. It can be recommended as having the pii771ing appeal of a detective story with the added spice of " real life " : the best things of this kind in the book are the reported experi- ences of a Fifth Column refugee and a German-Jewish volunteer, the Appendix on Japanese secret service methods and the intrigues of B, most engaging of Mr. Greene's many alphabetical associates.
- Miss Riesenfeld, a 2 r-year-old American of Austrian and probably Jewish parentage, could speak only German until she was two, but she learnt to perform Spanish and . other dances in California and from Argentinita's troupe acquired a gypsy partner who fancied himself more as either a tap- dancer or a bullfighter. In July,. 5936, she went to Madrid to marry her Catalan fiancé, though he warned her to stay at home, where she returned some six months later, after he had been killed for supporting the-Movement., Misi Riesenfeki does not bring him to life in her.pages with the same dramatic talent which she lends to the description of the civilian mass under siege and the character of his class-enemies ; but he appears to have been a man of uncompromising „courage. That she was carried away by excitement is perfectly under- standable in her position and no one will he callous .enough to blame her for a naturally sensational show .of. sympathy with the sufferings, and hence the cause, of the people around htr ; yet this after all, despite her fiance's arguments . (those of a very large and hunted minority), was the easier attitude to adopt, and her -glib -repetition of fantastic charges again.: his side, as well as a lurid heightening• of colours; on her ow) , makes it seem that she did so rather too wholeheartedly. The book -has good sketches by Lyle Justis.
It -is surprising how- little is known of the life of General Franco—and that little, which really concerns not his life but -his career; is itself amazing. The same can be said of Lyautey and of most -men of action ; but the "Chief of the Spanish State," like Lyautey, is more than a man of action. The English edition of Sr. Arraris's biography has 'a -final chapter -condensed and slightly differing from the two last chapters of the Spanish and French texts ; nevertheless it is still only a partial biography, keenly interesting• so far as it goes but stopping short at the point where a brilliant military commander was proclaimed Generalissimo and took up the more intricate- duties of statesman. Full details of his fighting career in Morocco-and-his services at home are recorded in this book, and for them alone it is worth reading, even in the slightly too faithful translation of Sr. J. Manuel Espinosa— the facts themselves are impressive enough to have deserved a quieter rendering into English. The character of his administration, his few and sober speeches, his aims and even his personality as a political leader are barely indicated here, as they naturally fall beyond the scope of a book published over eighteen months ago and only recently made available to English readers in almost exactly its original form.
-JOHN MARKS.
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