NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20038, 20 September 1930, Page 13

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

EXPERIMENTAL PROSE. • The Criterion Miscellany: Ho. 15, Anna Llvla Flurabelle. By James Joyce; Mo. 16, Ambush. By Herbert Bead. Faber and Faber. (is net each.) These .thirty pages by Mr James Joyce are an extract from his "Work in Progress." They exhibit his progress towards what is a new language, rather tluin a new style. Words have grown old and dull: in their accepted forms and arrangements they have lost the strangeness with which even the familiar must arouse us from the sleepy habit of thought and feeling, if we are to know it truly. All great achieve raent in art is in one way or anotherand often in many ways—a revivification, a triumph over the senescence of material and medium and metliod; but whether Mr Joyce s extreme ruthlessness with language proves him a greater and moie original artist than thu.se who renovate and innovate less violently is a question which cannot be answered without reference to the result, 'in form and,motion how express and admirable" is the praise oi art. as well as Hamlet's praise of man; and Mr Joyce's technique is nothing, except as it perfects expression. When his hot admirers maintain that it does, or at least that it shows the way, and goes far along it, it is impossible not to yield them partial consent. .He does show, by beautiful musical surprises and captures of meaning, that writers can "pluck bright Honour" from defiance of tradition; that the dictionaries and the grammars are better'placed underfoot, to spring from, than upon the back to weigh it down. But the result is very often intrication and concealment, not expression. We are to learn Mr Joyce's languageP Samuel Butler said that life was like playing a violin solo in public, and learning to play the instrument as we went along. Learn ing Mr Joyce's language would be something like that. He remakes the language by inventing words, importing words, respelling words and reforming them, fusing words, blurring words, contracting tliem to hints and signs of themeelvesj and composing them according to any demand —oi rhythm or texture or undertone of sense—but that of normal structure. Anna Li via is Dublin's River Liffey The speakers throughout the fragment are washerwomen working by th" waterside. Perhaps Mr Joyce intend# to give their talk the musical, mur murous distortion of words heard from a distance—"Make my hear it gurgle gurgle, like the farest gargle gargle in the dusky dirgle dargle. So one washerwoman describes Anna's beautifying herself:

Lynd us your blessed ashes here till I scrub, the canon's underpants. . . . And after that she wovp a garland for her hair. She pleated it. She plaited it. Of tneadowgrast and riverflags, the bulrush and the waterweed, and of fallen griefs of weeping Willow. Then she made her bracelets and her anklet-' and her armlet* and a jetty amulet for neck lace of clicking cobbles and pattering pebbler and rumbledown rubble, richmond ana rehr. of Irish' rhunerhinerstones and shell-marble bangles. That done, a dawk of smut to her ■airy ey, Annushka Lutetiavitch Pufflovah, and the ielllpos cream to her lippeleens and th> p'ck the paintbox for ln»r pommp+'eo. fror> strawbirry reds to extra violates, and she sent her boudeloire maids to his Affluence, Cillegi« Grande and K'rschte Real, the two chirsine*. with respecks from his missus, seopy and sewery, and a request might she pass of him for a minnikin.

That is easy, and begins with a movement full of grace. Easy, too, and freshflavoured are phrases like this: "Do you know what sho shafted cheeping then, with a choicey voicey. like waterglucksf"; "Onevenersderg in jttnojuly, oso sweet and eio cool and so limber she looked, Nance the Nixie, Nanon I/Escaut, in the silence, of the ayepmores, all listening, the kindling curves you can't stop feeling?'; "Owlglassy bicycles boggled her eyes''; "Wait till the. honeying of the "Lußie, love,- Die eve, little eve, die." But a tougher' passage: /

Well, arundglrond in a wayeney lynp aringa rouma she pattered and swung and sidled, dribbling her boulder through parrowpr mosses, the diliskydrear on our drier side and the vilde vetchvine agin us,, curara here careero there, not knowing which medway or weser to strlka it, edereider makingchatta' hoocUe all to her' 1 u.u • cliiucii.u, tike Santa. Glaus at the cree of the pale and puny, nUtling to hear for their tinjr hearties, 1 her arms encirolingXsoiabella, then running with reconciled Romas and Reims-, then 'bathing Dirty Hans' spatters with spittle, wfith, * Christmas - box apiece for aisch and iveryOue of her childer, the birthday gifts they dreamt they gabe her. the spoiled she fleetly laid at our door! On the matt, by the pourcb and inunder the cel.ar. 'ihe rivulets ian aflod to see, the glashaboys, the pollynootieß. Out of the paunschaup on to the pyre. And they all about her, youths and , maidens, rickets and riots, like the Smyly boys at their vicereine's levee. Vivi Vienna, littlo Annchen vielo Anna, high lifel Sing us a, sula, O, susurial Ausone sidtilcls 1 Hasn't she t.unbre! Chipping her and raisin? a bit of • chir or a Jary every dive she'd neb m her culdee sacco of wabbash she raabed and reach out her maundy meerschaundlze,' poor souvenir as per ricorder and all for abre arlngarung, stinkers and heelers, laggards and primeladsi her furzebora sons and dribbledorry daughters, a thousand , and one of > them, "and wickerpotluck for each of them. For evil and ever; And kiks thebuch.

But the lasl; is the passage in which beauty is longest and best sustained and tne prose becomes a music cheats ing the ear and the eye like a dream. As the washerwomen leave the Liffey at nightfall, .their talk drifts on the air.' melting into the dusk and"the whisper of the water:

< 1 Oan't bear with the waters of. The chit tering waters of. " flittering bats, fleldmice bawk talk. Hot Are you not gone a hornet What Tom Malone! Can't hear, with bawk of bats, all the liffeying waters of. Ho, talk save usl My foos won't moos. I feel .as old as yonder elm. A, tale told of' Shaun ~or Shemf All Li via's daughtersons. 1 Dark hawks hear us. Night! Night I My ho head halls. I feel as heavy as. yonder stone. Tell me of John' or Shaun t Who were Shem and Shaun the living sons or daughters of! ' Night now! Tell me, tell me, tell me, elm. Night night I Telmetale o£ stem or %tone. Beside the rlverlnpr water* of, hitherandthithei'ing waters of. Night!

There cannot be many readers, however, who will care to read with head on one side, and eyes and ears strained, to catch the brief, intelligible beauty into which oonfusion mav fall. It is unfair to dismiss Mr Bead's handful of excellent war sketches in a sentence; but it has to be done. He has imagination and high intelligence, well yoked.

A COLLECTION. 1, Poison island. By "Q." 2. Sickens and Dandet, Edited by John Garrett. 3. Faerie Queene, Book I. - Edited 1)7 any K. Pococfc. 4. Sr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. By B. X>. Stevenson. 8. Birds of Wing. By W. H. Hudson. 6. Essays on Milton, with Selections - from Hla Poems. Edited by A. E. Roberta. 7. Sandals of Pearl. By Edith Howes. 8. (1) Alice in Wonderland; (S) The Hunting of the Snarfc; (3) Poems from Sylvie and Bruno.—Being Nos. 188 to IBS of Kings' Treasuries Series. J. M. . Dent and Sons. To review a collection like this is impossible, and of course unnecessary. It is not even possible to suggest what principle has been observed in making the > selection —to guess why "Q" suggested Milton, or Dr. Jekyll the "Faerie Queene," or "Poems from Sylvie": a book on birds. But. to ask. such questions is merely a pleasant little exercise. Every volume will be a treasure to somebody, and one or two of them —Dr. ' Jekyll, for example, who is supported by "will 6' the Mill'? and "The Treasure of Franchard," and "Alice" with Tenniel's pie-, tares as well as "Poems" and the ,ic nark"—will seem better v&lu« to people than they have «ve;r had before. The editing in all casesis competent, and in some cases scholarly.,

A FRENCH PRETENDER. The Shadow King. The Life of Louli XVII. of Prance and the Fortunes of tho Naun-dorff-Eourfoon Faintly. By Hans Soger Madol. Allen and Unwin. (16s net) The author's subject is the strange career of Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, a clock-maker, who a hundred years ago emerged fiom provincial Prussia to declare that he was Louis XVI. 's son, tbe Dauphin supposed to have died in priaoa. Naundorff was not a presentable claimant to the throne of France. He could scarcely speak French. His claim was Lttle recommended by his appearance, which was common. Yet he made thousands of people believe in him, not oniy the thousands who can always bt excited into accepting nonsense, but witnesses wiio had some real Knowledge. Sflrvivors oi Louis -v vi. s Court, his Minister lor Justice, ana his private seci ei.ary were persuaded tttat Naundora was, by rigut, Louis XVIL; so was the Dauphin' 6 old nurse. The statesman and lawyer* Favre befriended him. He was strongly supported in Eng.and, and the Dutch Government believed in him and helped him. He died in Holland, where the cemetery at Deilt contains his monument: "Here lies Louis XVIL, King of France." The story is fantastic, but not more fantastic than the conflict of theories to explain him away as an impostor—a Prussian adven- i turer or a Polish Jew, the great grandson of an Albanian King or the agent of secret societies, an emigri nobleman or Louis XVl.'s valet, a soldier called Werg or Marie Antoinette's page. Still, a positive theory is not proved by a conflict of negatives, and it is .very difficult to. feel even the first spark of faith in Herr Madol's demonstration. He affects a fine judicious has "'refrained from trying to influence the reader's opinion"; which is as if an advocate, having made a resolute r.t- • tempt to prove his case, were to say ta Hie jury, "But, gentlemen, nothing that I have said is intended to affect your judgment." Conviction, however, is the last thing that readers who -enjoy historical mysteries will seek from this book. It is more entertaining than n mst inventions of th« rotrancers, and is full of those surprises of character and speech and episode which show thstt history is more freakish than any reputable novelist would darn to be. In London, for instance, where the "Duke of Normandy" became an inventor and experimenter, "the paid agents of his political enemies. . . bribed the servants, and smuggled themselves into bis house." They contrived to set fire to his workshop. Explosives, though of his own invention, exploded, and he had terrible difficulty in putting out the Barnes and saving "an engine of war." This lie had destined for "a great experiment," and in it lay "his only hope, the outcome of all his resources." Unhappily, neither the explosives (even after this startling proof that they didgo eff) nor the engine of war" brought the Pretender financial success or enabled him to maintain his numerous family, the enlargement of which by another Prince .of France miserably coincided with their landlord's order to quit his house. When the .Sheriff of the County of Surrey ordered the j Duke's furniture to be sold, there were included in the catalogue, with "a rav-j ishing drawing-room Buite in rose- I wood" and " a state bed in Spanish mahogany," the poor man's ','1500 tools and a pyrotechnics! workshop with, valuable appurtenances," and, item, a bomb, "of great value, since it; is tho own handiwork/.' He left England, soon after, for Holland, where he was negotiating .with: preliminary success for the, sale of his inventions to the Government, when he fell ill and_ died. On the body - wore- found- "the same .marks as were known tb haw been borne by the Dauphin"—a eear on the lip a mole on the tlrgS, a triangular vaccination mark. These are impressive evidences, but an . even more" Impressive question v suggests itself to the reader. Whence could Naufcdorff' have acquired his aptitude-for mechan- ( les but from Louis XVI., who tinkered blisrfully at locks and clocks'in his v workshop, while the Revolution gathered outside! ' 1 > ; i A MAD FAMILY. tur.rtdar Mni'c. 'By Ml'dred Oram. Oeerjje. a, Harrap and Company, Ltd. ' The Batemans are a fatally whom the reader cannot help comparing j with Sanger's Circus. They belong' 'the stage and, to music. They „ »U., have "temperaments," - and luxuriate i in them. They hang turbulently,' together, under the rule of- the. grandmother, Kate, 7 a likeable, fofrnidable, wise old woman, who- plays the] piano "like a man. When ntr granddaughter Elena brings home her« adopted baby, she waveß denials aside :| ''Don't be/ ft coward. The Batemiuia always admit their sins. -The * Family •is waiting to see you. OOme , upstairs. We i will tell - them thatyou are a mother, and that I have ' forgiven you." Elena says, "Nonsense, but she follows Kate upstairs, and Nancy enters'the Family. Shs grows up thinking-she is a Bateman,_ striving-, to make (ler blood comply with their irregular rule. Inevitably Elena marries another uncomprehending »Wo>Peter, the playwright who makes her lamous; inevitably he and Nancy drift into a self-protective alliance against the mad, tyratanical Batemans. Elena hurls the truth at her, .and liberatesher into the world which is not the Family. Peter rebels and' escapes.', The Family sheds them, and is 'Jfiore itself than ever. Even Elena is fit to send for the ' hairdresser and ,to discover in a providential Nicaragua!*,;; who hud arrived with Tertia,,. a tnnn who understands wometa.' ~°B ,'Liebestraum,' then a Moskowski waltz, then a son® by,, PijjWt'K sad and full of loneing." and looked like Lorenxo dei Medici. The, story is lively, but apnrt from, their freaks and tantrum?, the . Batemans give few 1 signs of heing artists.

TRAVELLER'S EUKOPE. A 'Butcher. Guide to Europe. By WOUara D, Crockett. ThaXWetli Annual Edl- . tlon. Allen >a4 tfnwln. (20i.) This ia the Jubilee Edition of an exoellent guide-book, revised and enlarged. Only exorbitant demands' would be unsatisfied by what this single volunte supplies-. It directs the traveller about every European country, and is equally helpful to the walker, ' the cyclist, the motorißt, . the. flyer, the boat- or train-traveller. Each ia told how he may arrange his. journeys, so as most conveniently to see what he wants to see. v A useful chapter describes recent changes And events} another gives lists of-'"addresses likely to be of service to the tourist*-; ahothei is devoted exclusively to motor routes; another is a bibliography of recent books likely to interest the traveller. But of course the chief usefulness ofe: sflch a work is in its full and accurate acoount of places, with distances, maps, and plans;' and in this -respect the reputation of . the Satchel Guide guarantees the purchaser. If he were" to sot out wiihout the book he migh»often hare cause to be sorry. With it, he would be insured- against many or the exasperating : difficulties and dUK. tresses and failures of travel.

THE STARS. , 1 Hie Magic of the Star*.: By Mfcorlos Mkatp-' ■ ltnck. Translated by Alfred SOtn.' Allen and TTnwln, Ltd. (6s net.) In general the contact between science and poetry is of the same kind '[ as that between science and religion—*light, and vigilant, and not very ■ respectful. BuJ M. Maeterlinck's con-> tact is confident and reverent.. BV knows that it is with poets as he confesses it is with astronomers, that they "are all, whether they like 'it or not, under the. influence ofEinsteio, and that if astronomers can see no farther than their telescopes, poets must not dream much • farter than science permits. Whether it is profitable to translate science into poetry la of course a different matter. If the purpose of this book is . simply to increase wonder and enlarge our sense of space, it is, a purpose which no ono could carry out more successfully than M. Maeterlinck. If the object is to lead us to new beliefs, or to new denials of old, beliefs,' it is not cer* tain that a poet ,is a good guide.. WKeri he says that "energy, whose expression motion is, has no ' place :. wherein to hide, to escape, or to pause," and that if motion stopped for the thousandth part of a second, time itself would stop, and "a. void carve itself, in the emptiness such as we cannot even struggle faintly to imagine," we are dull if our imaginations are not stimulated, and our comprehension of the incomprehensible made to appear almost possible. But when he asks us to believe that there has. never been a grander conception of the incomprehensible ("that will remain incomprehensible to the end") than the ancient Indian notion of "an illusion that, appears and 'disappears in accord with the endless rhythm of the sleep and awakening of the' Eternal Cause," it is. difficult to feel " sure that he is not deliberately exeat* ing a faith that no man, does or can hold. One thing, however, is certain: the more we know the more we marvel, and M. Maeterlinck's knowledge is too sure_ and too full to encourage. r merely foolish fancies.

D. H. LAWRENCE. :v D. H. Lawrence.A FiratStudy. By Stephen , Potter. Jonathan Cape, (8s neb) This is a strange book about a strange man, written by «■ very young man. It is ingenious without biding ' clever, and outspoken without- being - offensive. It* is not very deep, or very' wise, or very helpful. There is inform- ■ ation about Lawrence that has previously been available,' and for-that " we cannot be. too gratefuL. But it' is annoying to have a man like' Lawrence . regarded as superhuman, . approached. /I with awe and yet corrected, andfinaHy. ,/>r. explained mystically. Mr Potjt deeming qualities are his/naivete,/''Ms,' sense of style, his skill in making. I,<aw-,,.: rence himself explain' hinteelf, and hi* tremendous earnestness. •• L . ■» '-t\ ACB^OWLEDfcM^^ The Oclmas. - By A. I. Vasallyev, Edited and 1 introduction - by r -B«n< - ' '233®*' '®* TJie author, the last » v of Police, gives of Seeret Police organisation 'lhe reader will' learn that, when agents house observed suspects terini it assumption that a" secret was being hteld!. there"; nor think it a remarkable 'W»f of' gence that a-spy should'Coiain|sstoff'iK= r fe« street urchin to pick' dg'the, •of a letter throwja' away'.Ti#-"liis, while himuelf '^ntinfle^ revolutionaries plots thai agere" f&teflkpflq: succeeded, pSj ratifch ienod extrao«Tinary- ngure,i the ;T#ing Jiad' /br|ig Bta^eriag. I .i. ■ day. French Revolution i as 1 ihe. which'worked outA :ohan^;in.stiHlph|ri -^® She ' A new ~|>t h(i * and valuable "Wißdobtfof. the' .'series, 'Kalidasaj whom places.mi fche centurt "between ? 4&O l A"-Di*flS .and 850 or 370, A,Dw,; ; waa,a"' rich, pictorial imagination, oi which is better commended translation 1 than introduction. ' " - s , ' V "':'' 'TV;'',> Canada Weak. 37 Frederick trated by Jofcn Innoe. S. at' Bons. (5s set.) This is another addition t to ward Bound Library/ '. edited* Ashley Gibson. {%, and partly geography," but V»fe«W< v read that anyone '-Wh6 want®""cover Canada Mr Niven the tti^':htfwlook^g^i§|^g , , •<!%< i. j|r^| . The Department of the British Museum haa ■• heenft' presented with an autograph Goldsmith,- which .is known to have early' part of l?7Q,u reply to a letter from his brother Maurice' informing T^hui''' his late-uncle, the■: ttev?.« 11»dtn^- : Gdtt3,f tarine, had left him aand its notable, ifeaturo -ia characteristic fi^a^rdsil^rl' Although when "tellini .Maurw&ofc honorary appointment by writes, "Honours to one, in tion ard something like that "wants a' i ' > ; he*places his '6ntirely poskl of hi?' rdeac. wprthx Kilmore. Whether they or think the whole necessary to or our-poor May. not 4w*nfes&« |w to thetr On the back -of the acknowledges the reeeipt.of the^tno^^lM erous, the •Imdy m tSi* pmmmi