LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 71, 23 March 1918, Page 14

LITERARY.

In Mr. W. F. Smith's new volume, " Rabelais in his Writings," which the Cambridge University Press has issued, the author endeavours to show Rabelais, the man and master, as he really was. His comprehensive method and apt quotation from the fountain-head are notable.

Mrs. T. P. O'Connor has written a book on Ireland. She, herself, was bom in America, and until "I came to Ireland the Irish question was to mc a closed book, although I have heard it discussed for years." ■ Thus, there is a great freshness in the actual Ireland as She has seen it.

Under the title of "Sidelights on Germany," Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton have nearly ready a volume of (studies of German life and character during the war, based on the enemy Pr___ f by Michael A, Morrison, who devotes special attention to the German dream of dominion in the Near and Middle East, with its tempting vision of Oriental Empire.

There ia plenty of room for improvement in average household cooking, and as a help in that direction a useful little book of practical recipes, prepared by Mrs A. S. Williams, has been published by Methuen and Co., under the title "Take a Tip From Me." The author states: "Economy being the order of tho day, I have only given Tccipos which are cheap and easy to carry out."

Mr. G. R. Sims quotes Thomas Hood on the title page of his " Glances Back." He quotes a verse to describe the "note" and suggest the contents of the book, thus:—

Come, my Crony, let'a think upon far-away" days, And lift up a little oblivious veil; Let's consider the past with a lingering gaze, Like a peacock wfco__ eye. are inclined to his tall.

A feature in the " 'Wellcome' Photographic Exposure Record and Diary, 1918," is a fine photograph of a German shell bursting behind the An_ac lines at the battle of Messines. This was taken by the official Australian photographer, Herbert A. Baldwin, and the negative was developed on the spot with "Tancol." The book itself maintains its good features. The main article, under the title "Photography Simplified," deals with the whole art of successful photographic practice, except exposure, which is dealt with in a separate article.

The "Publishers' Circular states that in 1917 there have been 5,716 new volumes, 10S translations, 752 pamphlets, and 1,525 new editions, in all 8,131. The total for the year 1916 was 9,14 ft, so there has been a decrease of 1,018 volumes. Novels, new ones and new editions, are down from 1,830 to 1,537. Works of biography have fallen from 285 to 230. The decrease in religious books is small, and the same applies to sociology. Subjects which the war actively covers have produced rather more books than last yea r, " history " for instance, which has 686 publications, as against 539 last year.

In Lord Morley's "Recollections," the following reference to the death of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is culled from a letter written at the time:— "Poor C.-B. has gone at last; for him a great relief, I'm sure, though he had ■borne the weary weeks with a patience and fortitude characteristic of him. Mr. Gladstone was less happy in his exit. He'had months of acute anguish. Harcourt was the most lucky of all, for after an easy evening in his family circle, he was found dead in his bed with ringers on the pages of a book. Yet, say what we will, believers or unbelievers, Death is Death."

A personal account of " War and Revolution in the Caucasus" is promised by Messrs. Allen and Unwin in a took by Mr. M. Philips Price, who went to the Near East in 1915 as a correspondent of the " Manchester Guardian " and begins with tbes story of the Russian campaign in that theatre down to the fall of Erzerum. Mr. Price's experiences included journeys through Northern Persia and Armenia, and many months spent in organising relief for the destitute native populations in the territories occupied by the Russian armies. The last four chapters deal with the revolution in the Caucasus, and the racial problems and political future of the countries visited by the author.

Mr. E. F. Benson's "Crescent and Cross" (Hodder and Stoughton) is a well-informed book on Turkey, which shews that the author has had access to certain sources of official information. He explains how Germany obtained its hold over the Turks, and describes the preparations for war: "Then came the day when Germany and Turkey were ready, the attack was made on Odessa, and out of Constantinople we w_ht. We climbed into the railway cariages that took the last rays of English Influence out of the Ottoman Empire, and steep were the stairs in the house of a stranger. Turks arc not much given to laughter, but Enver Pasha must at least have smiled on that day."

Among the recently published "Hawarden Letters," we learn that a small group of friends, chiefly drawn from the Gladstone, Balfour, and Lyttelton families, all "more or less music mad," were the nucleus of a little society familiarly known as "Souls":—"Mr. Balfour sometimes had Monday Pops at his own house. He owned four concertinas, generally called 'The Internals,' on which it was his delight to play, with anyone who would accompany him, through any of tlie Oratorios of Handel. Apropos of 'The Souls,' it was Lord Bowen who suggested a rival group to be called 'The Parasoles.' He was to be its high priest, seated under a large umbrella, where he' would listen to its members as they made confession of each other's sins!"

A transport officer, who has recently published his experiences under the title "The Road to __ut," suggests that the hardships suffered by the British forces in that campaign have never been realized in England. One knows by now that, while the man from Mesopotamia is most generous in recognizing what the troops on the Western front had to endure from high explosives, he claims to do the talking when hardships are under discussion, and then he says what is said here: ."For downright damnable misery in almost every form I put Mesopotamia easily first." There were flies, mosquitoes, and insects of every description; there was intolerable heat; there was 'a wind to blow the marrow out of your bones'; and, finally, there was the .water —'practically there was no land at all for the greater part of the season.'"