THERE are certain events that are of themselves too dramatic for man to dramatize. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo with all its implications is so tremendous that any novel must of necessity diminish rather than heighten its effect. It is not a clever plot: nor is it a highly emotional tour de force. No single imagination can capture in fiction its massive significance.

Stephen Graham has written some delightful literature and he has published some tolerable history. Because he tried to combine the two he did a most unconvincing job in "St. Vitus Day." It lacks the vitality of romance and the dramatic accuracy of history. Characters which have heretofore been symbols of reaction for students or martyred heroes to laymen now become puppets in an author's plot.

Technically the book is badly, constructed. Graham begins with a chapter on what he calls "the event" viewed in the perspective of the present day. He then carries the reader back five centuries to set his stage and to create a semblance of atmosphere. The final half of the book deals with the assassination and its immediate results to the individuals involved. This rather chaotic plan allows little direct sequence or coherence in a situation which demands clarity and unity above all things.

It is difficult to criticize "St. Vitus Day" from an historical point of view. The whole occurence is so involved and so fraught with controversy that any detailed criticism is worthless save from a student of the period. In many instances, however, the novel disagrees with the historical versions of Professor Fay or of Bernadotte Schmidt.

It anyone is genuinely interested in the period a more accurate and more vital account may be found in the second volume of "The Origins of the World War" by Professor Fay. While it may lack some of the intimate details of Graham's work it possesses a strength and drama which only reality can create.