LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 104, 1 May 1920, Page 18

LITERARY.

! "Burners," by the Hon. Lady Byng, is! I one of tlic latest additions to Hoklen a.nd ! I-inrdinghonTe popular fiction, in oloth ! covers, at two shillings net. It ia a etory lof lOnglish society, depicting ite conventimial outlook on life, and the narrow puvironnicnt in which a large section of the women folk spend -their days. .\ii interesting addition to Mr. John Murray's two chilling edition is "The Wages of Virtue." by P. C. Wren. It is i;i vivid picture of fife in the French I Foreign Legion in Algeria. This corps is famous for its reckless bravery, and the land of mystery in which they serve supplies a romantic setting for a story of i w:M adventure. jf ! i in' -Kinpire Review" for Man-h con- | niins an.article <>n "The Financial ProI l>!.mis nf Tii-day." by F. «'. (.'oodenough, I ill lirnian >■: Barclay's Bank: -'Kusiness I :iti i Trade Conditio*nn," by Sir R. V. Smith, chairman of Lloyd's Bank; "High I'rirfe and Government Borrowing,' , by Kt. lion, l'eginald McKenha: "'Foreign , l-Achanges an,l Currency,' , by W. Leaf; and "Kconomy *n<l Work," by L. H. N. Coi-ehen. j "The Ydlow Document," by Pierre Souvcrttre and Marcel Alain, joint authors of the -Fantomas" series of detoctive stories, is a novel of the same ■ lass. In this case the chief villain is a Herman known as "the Fantomae ot Berlin," who lias obtained the clue to an invention in the possession of a French captain, which will be so destructive that victory must attend, the arms of the country which possesses it. The I document comes into the possession of a I lieutenant in the French Army, against I whom all the machinations of the far reaching f.'erman spy system thereupon concentrates its malign power. The lieutenant falls into German clutches at j the outset of the Great War. What happens to him thereafter forms a thrilling story. The publishers are Stanley Paul and Co. Among the noteworthy contents of "Cornliill Magazine" for March ie an article by Mr. Maurice Hewlett on "Poetry and the 'Mode," in which he makes the following comparison between Tennyson and Shelley:—"l yield to no man ib my admiration of 'In Memoriam'; but -when one compares it with it is impossible not to allocate the one and salute the other as for all time: When in the down I sink my head, Sleep. Death's twin-brother, times my breath; Sleep, Death's twin-brother, knnws not Death, Kor can I dTeam jot thee as deao , . And then: He lives, he wakes—'tis Death is dead, not be: Mourn not for Adonals. Thou young Dawn, Turn all thy dew to splendour, for from thee The spirit thou lamentest is not gone. Xo: "In 'Memoriam" is a beautiful poem, and technically a much, better one than "Adonaie." But the spirit is different; narrower, more circumscribed; in a word, it dates, like the top-hat and the crinoline." A translation of "Saaha, -, and other short stories, by the Russian novelist A. Kuprin, hae been published by Stanley Paul and Co. From a biographical preface we learn that Kuprin was born in IS7O, and served in the army until 1897, when he devoted himeeelf to literature. The writer of this introduction*declares that "not even Turgenev himselv recalls the savour of an exquisite moment with a more physical insistence! than does the author of 'Saeha.' Readers of 'Saeha' will have little difficulty in identifying the port as Odessa, and many of them will doubtles recognise 'Gambdinona' as a real place. Saeha himself ie a revelation of Kuprin at his verY best. Against this squalid background, amid these orgies of international debauch,! there emerges one small fiddler, the very genius of an ancient rare." The novel depicts with vivid touch conditions of life -hat are tenae with human passion. "Til. Army Ensign,' , another of this collection of stories, describes the boredom of army life in times of peace. Other phases of Russian social conditions are disclosed in "The .7ewe.*s," "The Murderer," "Black Fog," and other stories. s The Hon. H. Y. Braddon, M.L.C., sometime Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Australia in the United States, has written an account of his " American Impressions," which ia published 'by Angus and Robertson, Sydney. He opens with an account of the outstanding characteristics of the American people, dealing with the subject from the business and social aspects. His remarks on the American constitution: and President Wilson will enable British readers to understand more clearly the apparently complicated relations between the President, his Advisers, and the American legislature. A- special chapter is devoted to the Irish and other foreign races who have found a home in the United States. The population of Irish birth or descent is estimated at fifteen millions, who exercise a powerful influence politically, and consequently rain a good deal of prominence in the 'ress and the legislature. Among other interesting topics dealt with are the linaneial, industrial, and commercial interefts, the liquor question, shipping,- and the American war effort. It is altogether a very instructive little book, up-to-date in its facts and figures. The "National Review" for Marcli contains a suggestive article by 'the Hon. James M. Beck, on "What Might Have Been." It reports an imaginary meeting of the Allied Conference at Paris. President Wilson ia described as arriving late, and while waiting for him, the English, French, and Italian Prime Ministers discuss the merits of their absent colleague, and the results that may follow America's intrusion into European affairs. Upon the arrival ol President Wileon it is suggested to him that he should follow English and French -precedents by consulting the L..S. Foreign Affairs Committee and associating with him representatives ot the Senate. This President Wilson repudiates with scorn, and declares that by conciliation or coercion he would, make recalcitrant Senators ratify whatever the conference agreed upon. In the end, however, the President yields to the advice of the other Prime Ministers, and resolves to invite Senators and Hitchcock, W. H. Taft an d Associate _ Justice Hughes, to act as an Advisory Committee. The author's conclusion is that if this -wise course had been folI lowed, the American attitude towards } the Treaty of Peace would have been j very different. Among other articles in the March "Xatioiml" are.:— "Industry and Production," by Sir Vincent Caiil lard; "Anthony Trollope." by H. C. j Biron; "Hindrances to Housing," by the , Countess of Selborne; and "Could the Great War Have Been Prevented?" by I* J. aftucs^