NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 15

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

—*— WAGNER. The Letters of Richard Wagner. Selected and edited by Professor Wllhelm Altmann. (Translated from the German by M. M. Bozman.) Two Vols. J. M. Bent and Sons. It is so widely believed that Wagner, though on the- very pinnacle of greatness as a composer, was not very nigh up the slope as a man, that the nrst effect of these- two volumes of letters is to inuku the reader wonder how he came by that other opinion. For it cannot be said that the selection made is not representative, while no one can xoliow the author through so many pages of self-revelation (about (OU) without becoming aware of a stout ami generous heart as woU as of a great niiud. 'i'lie mind, ot course, every one iias lelt who knows anything of music; while some lew realise tliat tiiere was literary genius (of a kind) as well. But there has not been much said, or thought, or felt ol Wagner's moral greatness, although the world has long had his story as told by himself. (It is to be pointed out, however, that the Lite was heavily censored, and stops t at ISG4, while these letters carry the story to 1883.) The explanation may be contained, at least in part, in a paragraph in the editor's preface, written, of course, for a tutaJy ditterent purpose: ''Perusal ot many of these letters affords a nigh degree of aesthetic enjoyment. Tliey show the writer as a man of lightning changes of mood. When he sat down to write a letter ho frequently represented matters in a rosier light than the facts wmld justify. Occasionally a letter would grow under his hand into a veritable treatise, especially when he dealt with aesthetic theory and literary questions, or when he felt challenged to an. exposition 01 his own work." We may, in a be seduced by his pen as many of his friends and associates were, in dis life, by his comfortable, plausible, and confident egotism. But that is certainly not happening to us all the time, since very many of these letters to-day, especially to English readers, are exoced.ngiy heavy and dull. The fact really is that the gulf which tradition so often places between gre;;t work and the mind and heart of tho worker is an absurdity. Genius may l>e petty or selfish or dishonest or unclean —in spots and patches. It cannot be crooked or meanor small essentially, though the meanness may occasionally reach astonishing proportions. Wagner was often mean and often small, but it is •imposible to read these letters and still supposeeven if it were a thing that could bo supposed without them —that he was not in the main generous and big. And it is possible that what will chiefly arrest English readers after this first discovery is another of an exactly opposite kind. They will realise—certainly realise more fully than they have done before, though there has been nothing to prevent anyone from knowing it on general principles—that it is not much easier to be a musician in Germany than to be a poet in England. Not once or twice, but over and over again, and , almost to tho end of his life, Wagner has to complain of the hostility of the critics, the stupidity of the. public, the obstruction of the officials, the lack of interest of the so-called discerning few. Although there were other than musical reasons for them, outbursts like tf'is are common: "I think of Germany now, and of my proposed enterprises there, with nothing but horror. God forgive me, but there I see nothing but pettiness, meanness, self-conceit, and pretence of solid worth which has no real foundation. There is lack of thoroughness in every one and every thing, so that I actually prefer to see /Pardon do Ploermel' [Meyerbeer] here in Paris, rather than over there under the branches of thp famous, the glorious German oakt" But it is perhaps the chief merit of all collections of letters by the ere at. that thpy show .th? loneliness of genius and the stupidity and treachery of the multitude. MOSQUES AND MOONLIGHT. The Veil of Islam. By t. Noel. Stanley Paul. The titles of his earlier books show that Mr. Noel (or is it Miss or Mrs?) specialises in desert love stories, which never wander far from type. A handsome sheik abducts a white girl and carries her off to his mountain kasbah, when the plot takes an ingenious, if impossible, twist, which saves the situation. The action, of course, takes place in Morocco among desert moons, mosques, and minarets. (Through Dymock's Book Arcade, Sydney.) ALL FOR THE LOVE OF ADVENTURE. The (keen Shadow. By Herman Landon. Cassell and Co. The Elusive Picaroon has many points in common with that fascinating rascal Raffles. Both steal for the love of adventure, and to give to those in need, and both conceal their identity from their friends. In the second book of his adventures the Picaroon comes to the rescue of a distressed damsel, involves himself in a network of schemes,' and finally unmasks the ivillain. The plot has several new features, and the action is fortunately too brisk to leave much time for sentiment. (Through Whitcombe and Tombs.) BOHEMIA. Comedy. By Elizabeth Murray. Bodley Head. Comedy was the name an itinerant Irish actor gave to his only daughter, an attractive character, whose attitude to'the two men who loved her gives Miss Murray her theme. But the real attraction of her novel is its background. The action takes place in London, the London of Bohemians who work a little, play a little, are never sure where the next meal is coming from and do not care. Through it all dances the inconsequent Comedy, primarily to show the contrast between the Bohemians and the people of assured position. She does it ivery attractively. EARLY AUSTRALIA. The Currency Lass. By James Devaney. Cornstalk Publishing Company, Sydney. It is seldom that anyone has the courage to hurt the susceptibilities of Australians by writing of their pioneer days. However, this author has braved public opinion, and written a thrilling story of the convict settlements one hundred years ago. The Currency Lass was the daughter of a convict who was sent out from England to serve a five-year sentence for the trifling offence of snaring a hare. His daughter was a gentle girl, and engaged to Jim Kenway, a free bushman. A black, whom he had befriended, offered to lead him to a place where he could pick up surface gold. The prison flogger overhead their plan, and so begins an exciting plot. The book is probably as accurate a picture of Australia as Wild West books are of America.