ALONG THESE STREETS

Once again urt has tapped the rich vein of his intimate knowledge of Philadelphia in this story which coots in its very being. Felix, an anthropologist whose passion for science has kept him on a single track through the years, inherits a fortune contingent on his living nine months a year in the home of his forebears. Reluctantly, he returns from the wilds and begins to rebuild his life along new patterns, learning to accept the responsibilities of his wealth, king purpose in the power it gives him and discovering that he isn't the misanthrope he had thought himself. Struthers Hurt combines a sense of place and people and story, with a philosophical turn of mind and phrase that slows the story down for some readers, but adds savor for those who want something beyond plot. This ranks first as a portrait of a city, rather than as a novel; there is something of the bite of Kitty Foyle towards its people, tempered by a more mellow and urbane view of a city he both loves and hates.