NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19646, 15 June 1929, Page 13

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

RECENT EVENTS IN JAPAN. Japan Vadfz Tslaha Tieco. By A. Jlorjac Town*-. Mr Morgan Yuung" is editor of tne • Japan Chronicle," and anyone acquainted with that journal m!l know that what ho writes about Japan wilt bo worth reading. Thw bonk is a narrative of political event* between 1912 and lV»2tj, a period ot" uuaaing contracts. The rapid rise of Japan t » the petition of a first-da** Power and the unprecedented prosper sty of the war year* is followed bv tbe tragedy of the earthquake and the rr.iscnea of \ severe industrial deprvsiv-r. We have seen many sociological sn '' eeononnc treatises on Japan latelv. but tor interest and informalirrnesa they cannot compare with Mr Yuunps >iVid and simple narrative. He is ontent to tell us tl>e story, b-it nnyerv who reads it will be prompted to nmch speculation. Most readers of the book will bo impressed with the rapidity with which Japan h..a passed through the various phases of Western civilisation. The Japanese seem to have compressed centuries of cspcrieT>o into :i few years. But the r.,»rmai progress of the Japanese people, to iudge by Mr Younp s account* of the vast rinanital scandals and certain ini uk nt< m China, has not been able to keep pace with their progress in mateml things. Thev have the outward struct*]*** of a modern capitalist society, but the temptations it offers fer crrruptioi: and exploitations are often t<x> mncf: for them. The only complaint an von* can have against Mr Young is t» at li-» itids his narrative with indc-ent suddenness. We have read much illinformed generalisation about Japan, but anyone who reads Mr Young's remarkably dispassionate account will be anxious to know what he think* about some of the events he records.

REVELATION AND INSPIRATION. Sibyls aad Sseri. Br Edwtn BrraiL O. Alias and Unwin, Lt4. Th« stealer i-art of this vol-me insists of a series of «r3jc lectures given in Oxford on tlie Sieakers Foundation for Bfblical Studies as far back as 1927. buf the addresses have now been amplified a little. The author's task is not so much to- explain mankind's belief in a spirit world, but to survey some of the paths believed by men at various times to have- been ways of communication with that world. There is the way, for example, of the ''Travellera Beyond the Bourne" —the heading of one chapter—who were supposed to visit the spirit world and return to report. In this field Dr. Bevaa ean find cwilv Bt. Paul to have be*n a historical figure, the others —and he locate* a surprising number of them —being the characters of poetry and legend. There are next the dwellers jn the spirit world who have visited onr world—gods who came to give at instruction (even in mundane matters like weaving and hesbandry}, as well as the Supreme Example "in the Christian era. In the remaining lectures or chapters we hare not so much travelling as in-dwelling spirits and agents of inspiration, the last lecture of all being an extraordinarily interesting account of Ecstasy and Dreams, not only in their historical aspects, but in relation to mod ern physiology and psychology. It is not easy to handle aubjeets of this kind without giving offence to the orthodox or inviting the criticism frore the heterodox that the whole truiSi has not been toK ; so that Br. Bcvaa will not please everybody. But there can be no doubt about his scholarship and taet.

ADVENTURES OF A GROCER. Betura Ticket. By Frederick Howard. Longmans. It waa unfortunate for Cecil Shard that, having the soul and aspirations of an artist, he was born, bred, and remained a grocer. His father was a mean, thrifty man who refused to do anything to help the boy to better himself, so the lad ran away to London, married, and when he received a legacy, emigrated to Australia. There he fell in love with a musician, but his sense of duty to his wife and son prevented him from leaving them, and when bis financial affairs were sufficiently in order for him to do bo the woman be loved died. So he need his return ticket home again. WAISTS AND CRrNOLINES. Anna aUrstott. By atrs Fred Bayaelds. The Bedley Bead. As the crinoline and waist of the figure on the gaudy jacket suggest, thia book ia a Mid-Victorian novel. The Marplotts are English upper middleclass people whose narrow-mindedness and snobbishness arc a little more than usually pronounced. Tna father is a decent man, but the mother, unintentionally the most striking character in the book, is a perfectly appaling hypocrite. Anna, the daughter, is the only one who has any strength of character, and in the end she manages to secure some happiness by breaking away from her home ties. The story could be told in considerably fewer words.

A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE EN INDIA. Qaast aad Cenauest. By T. B. Baaalaflale. Lenfniaaa.

Tbe exact date of the action of thia plot is unspecified, but it seems to take place in India at the time wh«n soldiers of fortune were Tying with one another for positions of influence at the courts of native rulers. A wild Irish lad, who ran away from home and took service in the army of the Bejrum of Sardhana, rose later to the rank of general., and by hi? great bravery assisted one of his countrywomen. All this is told in detail, and with it we hare an account of the intrigue? which occur at all these small Eastern Court*.

A REPRINT. Tk* I*wa of Chaac*. Br T. K. lttßi Yottrg. Th« Bodley H*»4.

The Bodley Head appear to be republishing all this author's early books in a uniform, cheap edition, and this plan has the disadvantage of making similarities of plot, setting, and style more noticeable tf> a reviewer Thif book is the gtory of a man's lore affair* with two women in 800 th Africa. Ther<» is a mild diversion in the shape ©» adventure* with diamonds, hut l)avid Curtis'* emotion* are the chief *hem<