THEIR OWN WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

THEIR OWN WORKS.

AUTHORS' CHOICES.

Eighteen well-known authors have been invited by "John o' London's Weekly" to state which of their books they would most like to be judged by. A few of them have declined, on tho ground that an author is the last person competent to estimate his own work. A. J. Cronin replies that, if he is to be judged by one book, then let it be the book he may write in five years' time. By then, having outlived the indiscretions of his literary youth, he may produce something which he shall not subsequently condemn—an acid teat, which, so far, he has not survived. Certain others respond in a similar vein. Some tell us which of their books they like best —which, of course, is an answer to a different question from the one that was put to them. The most interesting replies are those which not only mention a choice, but specify the reasons for it. -Thus, Charles Morgan prefers "Portrait in a Mirror," because it is closely related to memories of his childhood and youth. Hugh Walpole votes for his "Herries Chronicle," because (1) the Cumberland country is at the back of it, (2) the romantic spirit is sustained in it from first to last, and (3) it is the most English of his books. Martin Armstrong's preference is for "St. Christopher's Day" on account-of the difficult problem he had to solve in writing it. John Collier chooses "His Monkey Wife," because (1) it made him laugh while he was writing it, (2) some people like it very much, and (3) some people dislike it very much. Roy Campbell selects "The Georgiad" as a full statement of a creed only vaguely formulated in his other books. Louis Oolding prefers "The Miracle Boy" as the most completely created and creative of his writings; Humbert Wolfe, "Requiem," as the most cohesive; Aldous Huxley, "Point Counter Point," as the most complete and the most solid; Adrian Bell, "The Cherry Tree," as the latest nnd so more in tune with him as he is to-day; and Wilfrid Gibson, f'Krindleskye." because of the great enjoyment he got from writing it.