Fiction: Recent Books: Oct. 12, 1936

THE BELLS OF BASEL—Louis Aragon— Harcourt, Brace ($2.50). Uneven but interesting novel by a famed French poet who was once a leader in the Dada and surrealist movements. Laid in pre-War France, it deals with the careers of a fashionable courtesan, a rebellious daughter of a Russian émigré, a revolutionist, includes some vivid scenes of social corruption, some dim ones of social conflict.

THE AFRICAN WITCH—Joyce Gary— Morrow ($2.50). Long, semirealistic novel laid in British West Africa, revolving around the defeat of a handsome, English-educated native chieftain in his attempts to improve...