THE BOOKSHELF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

NEWS AND REVIEWS.

VARIOUS NOVELS.

A NEW WODEHOUSE.

"Tliorc seems every reason to suppose tliat in due course the literature dealing with the M.C.C. Australian tour of 193233 will excccd in volume that of any other British campaign exccpt the Great War." —"London Mercury."

Mr. Hubert Banner, Malayan Government official, protests against the habit, in novels with a Far East setting, of portraying the white man as a drunkard and a ne'er-do-well. White men in the tropics, ho says, have their work to do and their jobs to keep, and they have no time for the kind of life which so many authors persist in describing.

The "Birmingham Post" remarks that strong first lines are one sign of inspiration in poetry. They probably help moro than is suspected the vogue of some of our shorter poems with the average reader. Hence the frequent inquiries of correspondents for the title and author of a poem beginning thus and thus . . .

Lord Gorrell, novelist and poet, has been appointed editor of the "Cornhill Magazine." The September number, is rich in quality and variety. For many readers the most interesting item will be a chapter on Irish life by the famous Somerville-Ros3 partnership. Though Martin Ross died some years ago, Edith Somervillo still couples with her own the name of her collaborator and dear friend. Damo Madge Kendal contributes memories of W. S. Gilbert, in whose comedies she played. Mr. R. B. Cunningliamo Graham, Lord Ernest Hamilton and Sir J. A. R. Marriott are among the other contributors.

Mr. Walter Sichel, biographer and critic, and brother of tho lato Miss Edith Sichel, died in London last month ill his 79th year. Two of his distinctions at Harrow have never been defeated. He was the first, and, it is believed the only boy to bo cheered down tjlie school steps as a scholar, an enthusiasm as a rule reserved for the captain of an eleven victorious against Eton, or the winner of tho Public- Schools' Racquets Cup; and he was the first soloist of tho last verse of tho famous school song, "Forty Years On," a verso specially reserved for him by John Farmer, the composer, as a tribute to the delightful quality of his voice. His works include "Bolinpbroke and His Times," "Emma Lady Hamilton," "Sheridan" and "Disraeli." "Sheridan," written at the request of tho family, remains the standard work on the subject, while "Lady Hamilton" brought new material to light, and all subsequent work on the subject has been based on his research.