Rebecca West

Her Real Name is Cecily Fairfield

Rebecca West, the English novelist and critic (whose real name is Cecily Fairfield), had just arrived in Manhattan and we were driving up Broadway. She found the Wrigley chewing-gum sign with its flashing colors delightful. She had found the harbor of New York inspiring. Said she: " I intend to remain in America a long time--long enough to write a new novel."

Miss West, whose The Judge was last year one of the books most discussed in literary circles, is vivid, animated and, in certain poses and moods, beautiful. She has dark hair, dark eyes dark skin, bright lips. She talks quickly and brilliantly. Her conversation is lit with epigrams and she has moments of caustic comment on life in general and people in particular. One of the most ardent feminists for years, she nevertheless does not smoke. To her lecture tour which starts this week she looks forward with much trepidation. But she is a good actress (she once acted in London and as a young girl was dropped from a cast because she was caught reading Creative Evolution at a rehearsal).

Miss West is of an old Scotch-Irish family. Her mother was a musician and came of a family of musicians. Her father was Irish, from County Kerry -- descended, I believe, from Sir Anthony Derry whom Hol- bein painted and who was a Privy Councillor under Henry VIII.

She says that she began writing when she was twelve and soon afterwards, at the age of 14, engaged extensively in newspaper correspondence concerning the suffrage movement. Although her championship of women's rights brought her wide attention, she is still chiefly known in England for her brilliant and bitter criticism.

The Judge is a novel of great beauty. So also is the earlier The Return of the Soldier which is now being dramatized for production in America as a play.

"I like your reporters!" said Miss West, who had just received a flock of them at the Waldorf. I reminded her that she hadn't yet seen their interviews. We had now reached Central Park West. The park surprised her. She wanted to know if she could ride in it. We assured her on this point, whereupon she assured us that the air of New York City was exceedingly intoxicating, that she was quite happy and that she was prepared to enjoy herself thoroughly in America. J. F.