LAURENCE HOUSMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 156, 4 July 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

LAURENCE HOUSMAN.

A HUMAN SATIRIST.

GREATEST SINCE SUTLER.

(By F. A. de la MARE.)

Though the volume of his work is considerable and his fame assured, Laurence Housman is comparatively little'-known in New Zealand. His brother, "The Shropshire Lad," with two very slight volumes of verse, found an immediate "public" and a very curious, little niche in the Temple.of Fame. Laurence,.however, does hot run to second, editions. "John of Jingalo" is. out of print and "The Royal Runaway" is unprocurable. One is driven to reflect that Samuel Butler, the greatest writer who has ever lived and written in New Zealand, was reprinted only after his death. It is inevitable that we should turn to Butler for the analogy because Housman stands in the direct line with Butler as a master of social satire. "John of Jingalo" and "Trimblerigg" are surely the greatest: social satires since "Erewhon." Making Us Think. The crime of the social satirists is that they attempt to make us think. In those rare moments which modern life dedicates to the higher things of the mind we turn to Edgar Wallace and Henry Ford, the master-mechanics of literature and life.' There is something about them which spells "success." The springs, of life, the problems of Government, the' laws, of social justice and advancement, these things are for pni'.osophers, and why should common men have commerce with such? And of such is Housman; The answer is that Hous,inan,.. though a philosopher, is so extremely amusing about it. There are, of course, some who will ' find his flavour unpleasant, though in these irreverent days tlie number must be a diminishing one. Not all will, feel happy with a book which purports to be written by the Most High. "Trimblerigg'' begins "God;; says," and • the omnipotent proceeds with a very mellow humour to describe one of the works of his eand, a reverend .gentleman who -shakes a royal progress 'from a conventicle to chapel, from chapel to Church, until in the end he achieves, a halo —the despair of all imitators. It is all 60 natural when the doctrine of "relative truth" has been accepted.

Mr. Housman would, one must believe, like to claim the authorship of Butler's "Hairhaven," and it is well for him

that he cau, in these days, use" his encyclopa'edic; knowledge of the' theblogical 'controversy without social ostracism. This generation can laugh 'it the aberrations of a quarter of a century ago without , fearing an Olympian thunderbolt. There is no more com - petent. critic'of religious bigotries than Housman, because his knowledge is refined by that touch of sympathy which comes of understanding. His humour is . delightful. because . not unnecessarily cruel. It. is shrewd, but it is human, as becomes a member of the Society of Friends. ' .

: "John of Jingalo" is the story of a constitutional monarch who, through an accident, suddenly realises the extent and multiplicity of his powers. The story tells of his awakening and of the .repercussions upon his Court; upon a very delightful Prince Max; upon the most unresourceful ministers of State; and upon an archbishop who is a masterpiece. Those who know the peculiar flavour of the word "chortle" should know this Prince Max and this archbishop. Then there is Jenifer Chantry, daughter of the Archbishop—almost too good to be true. She must have had an exceptional mother. * Plays of St. Francis. It is, however, in the "Little Plays of St. Francis" that Mr. Housman has achieved his widest fame. The life of Francis of Assisi, as unfolded in the "Little Plays," is a great epic. 'Whether in the gay riot of youth in Assisi or in the lazar-house or brigand.'a hold .Francis is altogether real. The spirit of love which radiates from him is entirely human. In his presence all contradictions are solved and all theology is dumbfounded.- Chesterton,. a zealous Roman Catholic, has written a book about a saint called Francis. Chesterton makes the :undevout think of theology, and blaspheme,Housman, ;the irreverent one, makes even the sceptic bend the knee. The abnormality of Francis is excess of loving kindness and of understanding—excess judged . by common human standards. The astonishing thing is that the revelation is recognised at once as a revelation of reality.. Here, if ever, is universality. Francis J s more humanity than theology has ever allowed to his Master. '

The method-of approach in this series is characteristics. Writing to a friend in New Zealand, Mr. Housinan says: "My own discovery was that, without the help of Juniper as an effective foil 1 could never have written the series. Francis comes most to life for me in the; lovely use he makes of that fool, and the fool fs. ijay own tneans-of nearest approach to the mind 1 of Francis. There are stll some more 'Little Plays' to come, the i-eason being that at University College, London, there is a heavensent Juniper, and as the college has continued to act my plays each year, I have gone on writing plays specially to suit his interpretation of the character."

Is there, among tlie Dlvlne Hierarchy, a god with an epithet "laughter-loving" ? If there is bis blessing is upon "The Sheepfold," tlie story of Jane. , "Jane," says Mr. Housman, in the letter already quoted, "is a sort of rough Francis brought down to date—very slightly based as to incident on the real Elizabeth Girling, mother of the English Shakers, but quite different in character." But, while her origins are interesting it is Jane herself who stands triumphant. We see her in noble simplicity —a figure in bronze. She stands out . from the page purged and cleansed by an intensity of suffering that has tested every fibre of soul and body— tested and found true. Love and understanding at the price Jane paid for it bring her back from her pilgrimage a living and vibrating force, lacking but one thing—the gift of speech. Nor is this last gift denied. It would require a very wide knowledge of English letters to find an oration more eloquent or more to the point than the feminist oration delivered to the Primitive? on the memorable occasion of Jane's homecoming. "There were in that city five thousand souls besides women and children," ran the text, and well was it used to flog the forbidding elders. And the laughter-loving gods, cast their spell upon the congregation as she moved towards her conclusion. But Jane must be seen as a whole. She is built of noble parts. Knowledge of her belongs not to theology, but to religion in its essential, spirit. In Hougman's creation of Francis and in his conception of Jane, this "rough Francis brought down to date," there is nothing didactic, but we stand in the presence of greatness with hearts and minds stirred by high purpose arid noble simplicity. "■ - ■

The Sins of Society. / No space is. left for the many other works—"Uncle Tom Pudd," the poems, or "Ploughshare and Pruning Hook" (essays).' Prom these latter we receive directly something of the social philosophy which is. instinct in the work as a whole. In the preface, to the essays we catch a glimpse of the man behind the machine, from which .we .cannot refrain from quoting. "And so," he says in one passage in these pages; "law and authority are just as much questioned as any other of our social features, on the direct assumption that like produces like, and that a form of society which establishes, encourages, or condones as such defilements of human nature as- militarism, prostitution, sweated-febwur; BluiH-dw6!t!nga» vengeful and unreformative punishment — having its heart so hardened as to tolerate these—is not likely in its institute and government departments to have escaped from a reproduction of that attitude of mind which makes them possible or regards them as a defensible solution of the social problem."