What London Is Reading

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

What London Is Reading

By Charles Pilgrim

LONDON. FROM Miss Jane Oliver we have in "Not Peace, But a Sword" (Collins) another of those long historical studies more or less in the form of a novel which are difficult to define. One does not know whether to call them fiction or history, and in this case the difficulty is unusually great, for Miss Oliver has stuck very closely to fact and has introduced few, if any, fictitious characters.

Probably the character which comes out most fully is one which we might call Scotland, for it is Scottish history which she relates. The period is that ont from the beheading of Charles I. to ti'e coming of William 111. to England *Bi'.d the final downfall of the Stuart fortunes. We have a masterly portrait of Charles Stuart playing a double game with Covenanters and Episcopalians. We see a great deal of the noble Scottish houses whose fortunes were more or less entwined with those of the Stuarts. Before all we have an impression of the intensity of the Scottish character when it approaches theological problems. The religious struggle in England was fierce enough, but in Scotland it was still fiercer. Those who find enjoyment in a fairly stiff dose of history combined with a number of subtle character studies of real men and women will get all that they ask for in "Not Peace But a Sword." Those English Mr. Wvndliam Lewis, who should not be confused with Mr. D. B. Wyndhain Lewis, is known as a painter and a writer of whimsical moods. "The Mysterious Mr. Bull" (Robert Hale) is an attempt by the author to sum up the character of his own countrymen. Mr. Lewis has a contemptuous mind and the main characteristic he finds in John Bull is stupidity. In accounting for those men of outstanding genius who cannot be denied by even the most contemptuous inind, he comes to the conclusion that a great mass of stupidity is necessary as a sort of soil in which genius can flourish. The greater the stupidity the greater the genius. Eew will agree with this book but no one can fail to be entertained by its wit. Biography for Beginners

Music lovers and others will find not a little to interest them in "My Brother Was Mozart" (John Murray) by Benson Wheeler and Claire Lee Purdy. This charming book tells the story of Mozart as it might be told by his sister, well on in years, to' a little boy. The intention of the authors has obviously been to produce an effect of somewhat rose-scented charm. Some of the dates are out of order but the outline is true enough and we do obtain something of an authentic portrait of the man who, having many blemishes on his career, was the creator of just such beauty as this biographical sketch essays to imply. This will not suit the advanced student, but it is as good as a romance. Prima Donna Miss Willa Cather is one of the most distinguished of American writers. She is remarkable for the literary care which she bestows on all her pages. "The Song of the Lark" (Cassell, 8/6) is a longer book than we are accustomed to anticipate from her pen, but length, has not impaired her careful gift. The

heroine is an American of Swedish origin born in Colorado. Her childhood and budding evidence as a musician are recounted in convincing detail and with gentle grace. We have one of those most difficult of fictional problems presented to us, the development of the artist, and we are made to feel that the author has shared the urge of the musician. It is clear that Miss C'ather has loved her subject. She dwells on the little things. We know how the girl has grown up and how the woman comes into l>eing. When in time the singer is full-fledged and of great repute, there is 110 suggestion of cheap romanticism or Hollywood glamour.

The title implies the quality of the chief character. The singer sings as the lark sings because it is her metier. There is nothing deliberately exciting about the plot or the events, but none the less it. lives from cover to cover. Miss Cather shows once again that she has rightly earned her place in the first flight of contemporary novelists and that time has not lessened her claims 011 the discriminating reader. The Amazing Wallace Edgar Wallace was one of the most astonishing writers who ever lived. His immense output suggested to some that he must be a whole army of writers; that 110 one man could possibly turn out so many books. "Kdgar Wallace," by Margaret Lane (Hcineman, 10/f>). is a work of almost filial piotv although the author is daughter-in-law to the famous "writer. One learns of the terrible hardship of a child life, hardship which at once hardened and undermined. Edgar Wallace knew poverty as few can have known it. His early manhood was an intense struggle against circumstance. His was no early success, but when success came, it came in something like an avalanche. Millions and millions of his books were sold. The financial reward was large, but he spent more quickly than he could earn.

It is probable that the poverty of youth was the cause of the extravagances of middle-age. He backed horses and owned them without profit. He wrote complete novels in forty-eight hours followed by forty-eight hours of sleep. He cultivated luxury for its own sake. He wore himself out and died with £140.000. But his popularity was still so great and his copyright still so valuable that all his debts were paid off and the assets are still good. Catering for the Rich It is not often that it is given to a man to invent a phrase which passes into world currency. Cesar Ritz was such a man and his life story has been written by his widow. Marie Louise Ritz, and published by Harrap at 12/6. Like many hotel, proprietors. Ritz was a Swiss, born in 1850 of peasant stock and the thirteenth child. He started life as a waiter in which calling he did not show any marked aptitude.

But as a waiter he was able to study hotels and make estimates of their needs. He developed ambitions and secured financial backing. He became associated with the great chef Escoffier. He rose and throve in a world which was full of money and in which luxury was welcome and heavily rewarded. After experience in London, he founded the Ritz Hotel in Paris. His name became famous throughout the world. He stood for something, that concentration of expensiveness in catering which so delighted the soul of Arnold Bennett. Now the word "Ritzy" implies a condition of living or posing. The' ex-Swiss peasant boy worked the miracle.