LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 18

LITERARY.

Mrs. llonore Wilson, author "■ • "Judith of the Godless Valley, -, (Hod- , der ami Stoughton), mid other stones ; of the Arizona desert, is the wife of a : consulting engineer, and writes from i personal experiences of the wild country i she deeribes. in her latest novel Judith • is vivid, fearless, intensely modern, a lover of dogs, and horses, capablo of > fierce passions, scornful, of all meanness, i Dpuglas Spencer, the man sho loves, is a • wild young rider of tho cow country. 1 Their* ideals clash, ho undergoes a . strange awakening, and feels his place is in the valley, hie life-work there, and she is bent on escaping from it into civilisation. All the characters in the book are drawn with sympathy and fearless truth. Mrs. L. Allen Harker has written a series of charming stories in which the outlook of childhood and youth is presented -with sympathetic insight and charm. Her novels make ft strong appeal to all lovers of tho young, and are calculated to promote a better understanding between boys and girls and those who exercise authority over them, or arc responsible for guiding the de velopment of their minds. In "The Vagaries of Tod and Peter," (John Murray), Mrs. Harker tells a readable story of the school life of twinß. who resembled each other to such an extraordinary degree that it was difficult to distinguish between them when separated. The youthful pair were accredited from the preparatory to the public school ns possessing fnir abilities and general integrity, but ready to join in frivolity and insubordination, a character which was fully justified in the amusing incidents narrated in the dtory.

The possibilities of an interesting new development in connection with shipping, are. referred to in last month's "Motor Ship," where it stated that arrangements have been made by the Netherland Steamship Co., to convert n 10,000 ton steamer to a motor vessel. The ship was only built in IDIO, nnd the owners have apparently decided that owing to the remarkable economy of the oil-engincd vessel, it is desirable to incur the heavy expense of conversion. In America, eight largo steamers, • originally owned by the Shipping Board, varying , in tonnage from 5000 to 12,000 are also being converted by the installation of oil engines. Tt is estimated that at present-day prices of oil and coal, si saving of between £8000 and £10.000 per annum, can bo effected in the fuel bill, by converting a 10.000 ton llj-knot steamer to a motor ship. I ■"Within These Walls," by Rupert Hughes (Xash and Grayson, per Dymock, Sydney), is a story of New York ninety years ago. The population of the city was then only 200,000, and Chicago was a little village. Without a water eupply, except such as might he obtained from poisonous wells on Manhattan Island, epidemics were of frequent occurrence. The story opens with the flight of David Robards, a young lawyer, with his bride from the city when ite inhabitants were dying in thousands of cholera. The- honeymoon of the young people was spent at a. cottage on the Bronx River, and it was here that events tragic in the lives of Robards and hie family occurred. But their town residence in New York also became a social centre, where we are introduced to the young bucks of that period who were not ashamed to become riotously drunk at private dances. Daniel Webster and other celebrities of the period move across the stage, and the incidents include a fire which swept away the business centre of New YorW and aided the agitation for a scheme which ultimately gave the city an ample supply of pure water. "The Brooklyn Murders," by O. D. H. Cole (Oollin3, per Whitcombe and Tombs), is a first novel by an author who has hitherto been known as a writer on economic subjects. The plot is ingenious and baffling. Two men are found dead, not together, but apart. Yet the clues point to the conclusion that each man killed the other—a physical impossibility. The unravelling of the mystery takes the reader into some strange company, and lead* up to a dramatic ending in "which the detectives—professional and amateur—claim each a share in the glory. 'The Whipping Girl," by the author of "Woman's Way," is Ralph Rodd's attempt to answer that vital "if." After boldly declaring that nothing shall make her do anything so hopelessly out of date and fictional as to take another's sin on her shoulders, "Xurse Nan," moved by deep womanly sympathy for tho patient who has lost his sight, deliberately elects to become his guilty wife's whipping girl, so that the man may never know tho type of woman he has married. The novel is published by 'W. Collins and Sons. | In "Saint Magloire," a novel by Roland Dprgelcs (Collins), Magloire Dubourg, commonly known as Saint Magloire, returns to his own country after forty years spent as a lay missionary. His reputation has preceded him, he is known as a miracle worker and a mighty teacher, and when he lands in France crowds immediately flock to hear him. From this point onward Mons. Dorgeles traces the progress of the saint ami its effects on contemporary French minds, peasants and bourgeois, with a fine and impartial sincerity. "The Secret Journal of Charles Dunbar," by J. Maconechy (Collins), is the dinrv of *c< til- " ; " •• ■' at '-oir>trv parish who falls pnssiohately in love with a beautiful and fascinating woman, elopes with her for a time, and then renounces the world and gives up his life as a missionary in China. The book | deals with the problem, is it the duty of such a man to renounce absolutely and finally his love for a woman, who loves him in return, because that love conflicts with his devotion to his God? "Bashan and I," by Thomas Mann, a famous Austrian novelist (Collins), is j devoted to the study of the mind of a dos. The author studies Ttnshan with sur.h insight, and describes what he learnt with such art, that one feels that deeply into that charming, wistful mystery, thfe mind of a dog, and his feeling towards mankind. Since Ernest TCfiymon'l awoke to fame , Inst rear, shortly after the publicatrn of his first novel. "Tell England." a work *■'•<>t ran'dlv reached -a circulation of "7.000. he. has written two more novola. 'T)nmn.«<Mj»-Oate." .his third novel, which , fpesdll's nublifth, is a study in psvrho- ■ lopry, an intensive analysis of the minds, ' the tempers, the characters of two (•cnisins—'boy and girl—who aTe typical representatives of two families. ! i

'These Charming People," by Michael Arlen (Collins), is described as a tapestry or a panorama of the fortune, follies, anlvpnliin , u'ullnnteries, and general- '■ \ iiciivi: \i-~ siiclinerdeno (that lovely lady), l.iir.l Tiirlyon, Mr. Michael Wag- ' stnffp, Mr.-linlph VVyndham Trevor, and • others of their friends of the lighter 1 sort, written down by Mr. Ralph Wynd- ' ham Trevor, and arranged hy Mr. i Michael Arlen. In plainer terms, the i story is n. novel of London society in ' certain fashionable circles. !■ A classical instance of the effect, of • a change in title on the success of a book i is the case of "Treasure Island." Anotner ) example is now recorded. When John 1 Russell's short stories were published i in America under the title "The Red ! Mark" the sales were comparatively I small. But when Thornton Butterworth published the book in England he called it "Whero the Pavement Ends." i The effect was sensational. Everybody ! read tho book. The American publisher ■ adopted the new title and tho sales 1 went up I ' TWO VOLUMES OF VERSE. Poetry pours from the English presses ' these days. There are so many volumes, Admirably printed and bound, that contain at least something to justify their ( existence. How much of all this will survive for even a short while? It is a rnther melancholy thought, yet there , is something heartening in the fact that so many men and women are impelled , to put their thoughts into verse, and ; have something of the root of the mat- ; tcr in them. Mr. W. J. Turner's i J "Landscape of Cytheron," which Chatto and Windus publish, is the work of a young Australian-born writer who has , achieved some success ■in London as poet, critic, and playwright. Mr. Turner lias imagination, * a sense of beauty, • , and an extensive vocabulary, and if lie ' would curb his exuberance and choose . subjects of more universal interest he ' might go far. ITo gives us rather too jj , much of personal emotional experiences, I ■ which, although they are often con--1 veyed with beauty, are somewhat thin . in substance. Thrmiirh the dim tapestrj , Of the sea. '■ Hill, mountain, -. The mplnnrhnly of fountain i Unions Its grey plumes; The lnnprnor of moonlight Softly blooms. < ) Ono takes away an impression of blossom rather than of fruit. Mr. C. . A. Dawson Scott, the author of "Bitter |' Herbs" (William Heinemann) uses al' i medium different from that of Mr. M Turner. He writes irregular unrhymedl 1 i verse, which reads like prose cut into |' lengths until you realise that the lines s have a eeanscion that would bo fatal ' in prose. When cool The wind Is blowing over seas t Itliifk opnl and the day J Hath turned from garden fragrance, fmm the penen ■ On the naked wall, to seek j Delight In starry dnsks beyond the rtm, t find wnlkß— , Ami the small ant .Must shelter under leaf and stone ' Lost ttint unheeding foot i Crush. , As witness Matthew Arnold, great | j poetry can bo written in an irregular jc rhymeless metre. • Mr. Dawson-Scott I f has insight and feeling, and a simplicity I i that Mr. Turner lacks, nis volume is i v well-named, for many of the poems are a about tho sharp eide of life, and have a bitter flavour. His work i 3 interesting aa illustrating present day tendencies ( to combine realism with beauty, using f an unconventional medium. 1 [ PRIMITIVE MENTAMTY. j HOW SAVAGE RACER LOOK AT \ THINGS. ( An authorised translation, by Lilian t A. Clare, of Prof. Lucien Lovy-Bruhl'a i book "Primitive Mentality" has been i published by George Allen and Unwin. It The auther has collected an immense , * number of instances from the reports of } missionaries and travellers, illustrative ' of the mental functioning of the primi- ' tive, and showing how the primitive » mind, though orientated quite differ-1 ! ently from our own, is yet consistent I with itself in the way it arrives at its j c conclusions. Since tho primitive con- ' aiders there is no such thing as A "chance," but refer* all that occurs to ' the direct intervention of unseen and occult agencies, in which he and all the | creatures and objects around him "partifipate" in a very special way, his i ' dreams, the omens he encounters, the ' revelations, obtained by means of ' the various methods of divination and ' trial by ordeal, are of paramount importance and demand instant attention. I ' At a time when the unconscious is ' being so fully studied, and the signi- P ficanee of the dream in particular so % widely acclaimed, this volume will assist ' in throwing light on some of the pro- j ! blems of the day. . ' The general scope of Professor Levy- | 1 Bruhl's views are set out in the follow- ■ I ing extract from his early work, "Les Fruitions Mentales dans les v Societes ' Tnferieures": —"The reality in which * primitives live is itself mystical. Not ' a single being or object or natural ' ' phenomenon in their collective repre- l mentations is what it appears to bo to * our minds. Almost everything we per- ' ceive in it escapes their attention or is * a matteV of indifference to them. On ' the other hand, they see many things "" of which we are unconscious. F< r ' instance, to the 'primitive' who longs to a totemistic community, ex animal, every plant, every object i deed, such as the sun, moon, and stars, w forms part of a totem and has its own \( ] class and sub-class. Consequently, 1 every one among them has his special t nffinities and possesses powers over t the members of his totem, class and ; r pub-class! ho has obligations towards [ s them, mystical relations with other; 1 totems. an<l so' forth. Even in com- I f munition whore this form does not v I exist, the collective, representation of . r certain animals (possibly of all. if our | t records were complete ) is mystic in ! r character. .. . The same is true of j > plants—and each orsran in the human j v hodv hns its mystic significance. ••■ jICoi'tnin parts of animals nnd plants ;iro ; t. believed to possess particular virtues. > a iTn some eases, a noxious mystic, power > ( is said to heioTur to all living thinsrs. . . „ TCcnons in and the cardiiial ( i noints hav n then mystic si-rnificanco. ..j ~ Even obiects m»de and used by man have their mystic pro- j(j nertios and nn become Vnefieent or f, terrible, according to circumstances. , . " „ The spirit' of conservatism. s*>id to v V.<> peculiar to primitive peoples, "is the j fi direct result of an netfve belief in the > t mvstie nunl't'e* beloneiim to obieetg s and connected with their form, through p which tlio- , - rmy he controlled, thniin-h n the deviation , therefrom would j a enable Hioni tfi defy human interven- j1; tion. An "P'lnrently quite inaiirtf'nViTitili innovation imv .... release host'le | h forces and finilly prove the ruin of its j p instigator and of all connected with j s him/ j I