"THE Enemy of the Stars," now issued for the first time in book form, is perhaps now interesting because of the great effect it has had and because it represents a somewhat archaic example of an art form now more fully developed. Its influence has for the most part been indirect since it effected the form of the play in the middle of "Ulysses", and that book in turn has had almost more influence than any other single volume of prose on contemporary literature.

As one views this play in retrospect, it appears a little crude, the superior craftsmanship and conception of the Ulysses play have somewhat spoiled it for anyone familiar with the latter. It has some of the ridiculousness of the typical Eugene O'Neill mood, and the method of running words together making sense by their sound effect and their individual connotation rather than by their conventional sequence meaning has not been as yet made sufficiently forceful.

Although Mr. Wyndham Lewis has to a certain extent gone out of the field of his other work in "The Enemy of the Stars," he is still essentially the controversialist. The two characters. Arghol and Ramp, unreal as they seem, express in a convincing manner the ideas of Mr. Wyndham Lewis, ideas that were way ahead of their time of dealing with the conflict between Labor and Capitalism.

Mr. Robert Hillyer has said that "Ulysses" itself may in the far future be a literary document of interest in Ph.D. theses; and probably "The Enemy of the Stars" will have much the same place. But unlike "Ulysses" is originality is almost its only virtue. Certainly it cannot be compared either for artistry or power to Mr. Lewis's other works.