NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20630, 20 August 1932, Page 13

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

THE TALE OF GENJI. The Lady of the Boat, being the Fifth Fart of The Tale of Genji. By Lady Muras&ki. Translated from the Japanese by Arthur Waley. Allen and TJnwin. (10s 6d net.) Ilere, after a rather longer interval than had been anticipated, is the fifth of the six volumes of "The Tale of Genji," and there should be no need to say it was worth waiting for. As we approach the completion of this singular work, whatever doubts of its greatness as literature may have survived are definitely stilled. "The Tale of Genji" merits the title of a world's classic on the strength of those qualities of form and sensibility which ar® common to great literature everywhere and at all times —which take no count, that is, of historical period. The work gains in fascination, of course, from its drawing of a society at once as remote and as exquisitely cultivated as this Japanese Court society of the tenth and early eleventh centuries; v but its intrinsic virtue is that of a story related with an unerring sense of character and consummate technical skill. Heading this fifth volume one wonders again how much of its elegance of sentiment and purely _ verbal felicity is the Lady Murasnki's and how much the translator's. It is not that one suspects Mr Waley of having put into the story something' that was not there before, hut it _is easy to imagine a translation which was accurate enough in its fashion and yet missed the grace, the ironv and the undertones of modernity which he so signally achieves. It is quite as much in its verbal inspiration as in the polish and urbanitv of its manners that this imaginative history displays the extraordinarv refinement of the civilisation of the period. The novel recreates a world—doubtless an extremely narrow one—in which material standards are taken for granted and human diversity is expressed in the permutations of a series of social and artistic accomplishments. It is a world in which handwriting is an art of boundless psychological significance in which rbasterv of the zitliern or the lute is an index of spiritual development and the making or perfumes a secret too subtly pjerson alto be shared. Here conversation between the sexes proceeds through curtains and screens in the form of poetic improvisations. To tender a spray-or plum-blossom to a lady of the Court was an action fraught vrith meaning, to devise an immediate reply cast in the form of a quotation from the poets to a letter which was itself a variant of a familiar verse —this was to be cultivated. And to be cultivated was often, in the last resort, to be able to look beyond "the shifting fabric of tho visible world" and penetrate to the mysteries celebrated in complex varieties of religious ritual. So fastidious a way of life must necessarily have an air of enchantment to-day. It is all the more astonishing, therefore, to discover in the men and women or the story so faithful a likeness to ourselves, so common and recognisable a humanity. "The mere thought, Murasaki writes, "that someone was no longer in the world was enough

as is the case with most people who ] are themselves growing old—to bring j tears into her eyes." There is no diificulty in multiplying observations of this type in "The Lady of the Boat" j as in any of the previous volumes. Its i characters belong, in the wider sense, ! to humanity. Genji is dead when this fifth volume opens, but his spirit broods over the scene. The hero is now his reputed son Kaoru: the wheel has turned full circle, Gcnji having been, betrayed by his closest friend as he himself had betrayed the Emperor. By Kaoru's sido stands Niou, Genji's grandson; and j it is the contrast of character between these two young men and their rivalry in love which forms the motive of the fifth and the last volumes. Kaoru is of the meditative type, withdrawn and observant, sceptical of the world's pleasures and the victim of his own fatal impulses of chivalry. Niou is of more mercurial stuff, a rather light-hearted hero of action, sympathetic to a fault but much concerned with his own lordly desires and pleasures. The net of circumstance in which they and. the Lady of the Boat are involved »s of fine mesh and cannot easily be reproduced here. Kaoru promises the dying Hachi No Miya, a nobleman fallen from favour, to watch over the interests of the latter's daughters, and falls in love with the elder, Agemaki. His passion for her, unfolded with characteristic ease and delicacy, leads him to commit the tragic blunder of introducing the younger sister, Kozeri, to Niou, whose concubine she becomes. Agemaki's reaction to this sequence of events is as modern a stroke of psychological analysis as could be desired, and it is at the same time a l>eautifully convincing revelation of character. She dies before the close of the stoir; and Kaoru, though mourning their nnconsummated love and worshipping her memory, is half in Jovo with Kozeri, in whom is visible something of the sweetness and force of character of her sister. It is, it appears, the rivalrv of Kaoru and Niou for the love of Tikifune, a maiden possessing a marked physical resemblaneo to Agemaln, which provides the dramatic theme of the concluding volume. The present instalment, indeed, charming and tenderly poetical thoiicli it is. must rvbriouslv he considered a prelude to the final adinstmenfc of personalities and nhilosonliies. —"The Times" Literary Supplement.

THE BRITISH SOLDIER. By Ideut-Colonel Graham Setoa Hutchison. D.8.0. M.C. Hutchinson. 316 ire. <18« wst.) Through Whitcombe and Tombs. Ltd. Colonel Hutchison writes very vividly, as readers of "Footslogger' and "The W. Plan" already know; and this is a better book than either of the others. He looks upon "the Warrior as the central fact of war," and watches his hero steadily- through the long ordeal and adventure, 1914-1918. He disclaims interest ia "the background of the .war,'' the political and economic and strategic, issues which others have dealt with, though the division between his subject and theirs is not bo real that he can wholly ignore them. For example, because his love was lor the soldier, he w.as bound to fee) and is now bound to express his indignation over low intelligence iu high places; for the price of stupidity was paid by the coUimon fighting-man. Thus the value of the tank was largely lost because it was disclosed too soon, at the end of the Somme failure; and the sacrifices of Passchendaele might have been reduced or avoided if the high command had fully consulted the brigade and regimental officers. But these are "incidental considerations. Colonel Hutchison's narrative is. constant to its purpose, the description of a soldier's war. and of a war, too* in which the soldier, could be happy and was happy. He tells the story as he saw it, and every, side of the story: training, the trenches; .billets, attack, defence, raiding, mining, sniping; the development and exploitation of new arras; games and frolics; horror arid heroism. There are swift, successful adventures like the. celebrated, "nightdress raid," when four hundred Worcestershires defeated the Germans and the snow in fair white feminine garments; and there are long accounts of major conflicts, in which the significance and soope and course of iterations are not less clearly defined because the centre of interest is the man with rifle and bayonet, or bomb, or machine-gun. The book is remarkably well illustrated with photographs, many from the other side of No Man s Land, with reproductions of drawings and paintings by the author and by Orpen, Kennington, and others, ana with plans and diagrams.' Another interesting and useful feature is Colonel Hutchison's list of recommended war books of various kinds.

MISS DELAFIELIPS NEW NOVEL. Thani Heaven Fasting. By E.. M. IMlafield. Macmillsm. Miss Delafield traces the history of an Edwardian girl from "coming out" to her marriage, towards' which all her training and thinking had been bent as the single object of a woman's life. The passage between her first, short, foolish but eager romanee and the dull courtship of Mr Herbert Pelham, whom she accepted with the happiness of relief frpm heavy fears of failure, is illustrated with • all 'Miss Delafield s peculiar brilliance. She has the faculty of startling a reader into the mental exclamation, "Good lordl How life-Uke that is!*' As, for example, when Mr Pelham has solemnly announced tha» he has been made very happy and done a great honour, and very deliberately kissed Monica: "Shall we stroll a little further?'l mustn't let you catch a chill. I shall be taking care of you now, you know." , . He helped her up from the log, and then drew her hand through his arm. < "There," said Mr Pelham, m a tone-of satisfaction. "Quite like an old mamed couplfi already. 11 Yet "life-like" is the praise of dazzling imitation, not of creation, and Miss Delafield seems unable to earn more. It is an indication of her remarkable power to define that thus novel contains within its design sharply sketched themes for others, such as the psychological tyranny of Frickv Marlowe over her sister Cecily, ana Carol Anderstfn's inordinate, plastic egotism, which models the world. and all in it to his mood.

WIVES ABROAD. Ther® and Back. By Ada Harrison. With drawings by Robert Austin. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. If this book is a novel, it is a queer kind of novel, but very pleasant. It' it is a travel book, it is a queer kind of travel book, but very pleasant. The classification of the vehicle does not matter at all; the journey is to be onjoyed. Miss Harrison's travellers are two young married women, who talk well and copiously, individually and together, and one of whom, when Miss Harrison guides the pen, writes with a witty precision which can soften into qualities more gracious. The Italians, the Americans, the Germans, the urchins, the pictures, the bells, the streets, the churches, the food they meet in Italy are all happily met; and Mr Austin's drawings are' as light and 1 neat m the text.

ODTAA. Dicky Chimes, or, The History anil Adventures of Elcfcard Titx Chimes. £7 roup , Knlg&tiider. Jonathan Cape. The manner of this diverting history is deliberately and successfully old-fash-ioned, reminiscent of Smollett, yielding. Maryatt, and Defoe, without ever nap turing and holdiog the note of any of them. Its structure is yesterday's also, that of the excellent old picaresque story, in which the hero wanders, the adventures come, and eotc cidence has a pretty long arm. Mr Knightrider—is it unwarrantably suspicious to think of him as a man in * mask? —eveu returns very happily to the old style of chapter-arguments, a-, under: CHAPTER XIX. Irrive at Moutrea- —I poker again—l.ose all my moaey— Caught in a hail-storm—Meet an tastiffc navvy—We commence work tejreUtT. CHAPTER XXXVI. I suffer at the of a sergeant—Two corporals themselves—X am made colonel i <>rder-i" —The colonel is killed in actios—Sf.n of Armistice —I come «_» li-ve in Soav. CHAPTER XXXVIII. I make preparation* for Sylvia's arrival—Am disturbed ia the night—Find Dolly ia destitute—•. with a strange adventure—rescued of jewels—Am abandoned fcy Sylvia. Dicky is a brisk, likeable felly*, though no better in many vravs than a* should be. His eventful history reached a period in his marrying his* Miss Sylvia. Bunk, with whom he lived in (jaiet I content in Shropshire, -.".bile Dolly, tfc Molly Seagrim of his youth, grew fat and queenly in a four-ale bar in then won the heart and haul r-i a sailor off one of the trawler*., AUSTRALIAN RHYMES. Frolic Fair. A Book of Australian Verse far Children under Ten. Chosen fcy Joam Mackaness, 8.A.. and George MartiWM, M.A., Lltt-D. Angus and Xobertaoa (Is 3d). This little anthology has been fully chosen, and eontains nothing that will not interest and much that nil! delight young children whose plea.?ur»» in poetry is, as yet, mainly in the sottni of it. There ale, however. ten<lcrne.-< and fantasy in these jingling rhymes that will appeal to older readers, tea. Few could fail to be charmed by the garden hose and the "squishy way it goes," and tlie "Little green rain front the dark of Heaven," or "I lore ta walk alone, dont yon? In ease things might- be coming true!" The iscission of works from such well-knotv* writers as - Frank Morton, Mary Gilmore, David MeKee Wright, Zora Cross, and C. J. Dennis adds +0 the interest ef the book.

It,seems, however, a pity to hare included a few rhymes so obviously moulded on others.. In "The Wltib She's a Lady" one cannot lieu the second line for the insistence of Kipling's "an' the IfaiMhWar'* her mate"; and "I have a little gtrieaer" runs determinedly , into * StcvoHi's well-worn "Little Shadow.'' The Kttl? book is well*set-op and compact, mad should prove invaluable to infant trackers, offering as it does a happily varied selection of verses suitable for irritation by young children. AFTER STEVENSON. "The Hanging of Captain Gi*co. Bl »■*»* XcLeUan. Jota Karwy. Mr McLellan sets up as lus narrator one Thomas Innes, "who made "his moneyby piracy in the early eighteenth «*• tury, and left a lively record of Ms exploits. They carried him across the course of events which, when Scotland was enraged by the failure of Ik® Darieu settlement aud trade scheme, led to the execution of Captain Tfcova* Green; and if Innes, thongfc t Bntj, taU the truth here, then an innocent am I ivas hanged. Mr McLellan has 'mhmsthing of Stevenson's art in wiefpiuning fiction.with matter of fcet and of seeming fact, and something, too, of Stevenson's vital simplicity in nanative style. Pew will begin this atony without surrendering to it ecwafortably. A NEW ZEALANDER IN EUROPE. Travelling Uikt. Sr d. S- SsrafcK. IwWUad nam ©#., Xtt. ICt TVMr Suxnpter travelled with Ms wiie to Engl&ud from Invercargjli, spent three in London, bought a car in which he motored through not* of England and half of Scotland, visited France, Switzerland, and Italy, and returned to Now Zealand only £396 out of pocket. His Recount rf tM trip is pleasantly and arwessly written and he does not make the mistake of *•> vising first impression*. Mr Soapier also reveals himself as a very via* tourist. Plans and schedules were mm* allowed to 'tyrannise over him; and lw never Med to bo aoything ntoer© tifefftt iiii intelligent Sightseer. BUSHRANGERS. : Bnshrangiag Bilhonettes. By B«nard Ccwo* and Arthur Bnriell, Aagsa ant Mat soil. (6s «d art.) ' The. startling quality .of nan; these tales of the bushrangers of old Australia and Tasmania *3l eaaso many who are not students of colonial history to doubt ihor authenticity. Yet they are true, as a. few hours spent among old newspaper fin wilt prove. The two authors have dkwe their work well, and if at t»*nes_ tbey are apt to be carried away by their enthusiasm, the colour they giro t© Ifcar narrative. will not detract- from ite - popularity. ACKNOW LEDGSQSNTS. Wards of the Outer Maxch. By Kw Olmi—a Taylor. Angua and Batartm. <«a K.) " A swift, romantic story whidi ksapa from Cornwall to Australia in the dajfc of convict transportation, and works out a high theme of wrong, endurance,, faith, and forgiveness. The writer has considerable dramatic* power. Miraculous Bread. By Vera w h—tl«y. - Hurray. A sane and sensitive study of faintly life, in- which a self-centred moww plays the part of tyrant, and a humorons, wise, unconventional aunt tkit oi guide, philosopher. and friend. Out of the Silence. By Erie Cox. son and MaDtn. A novel which has been lirs>i ignored and theu praised. Those wn* enjoy the -fantastic will be most likely to enjoy it. Those who prefer fantasy to obev a clear inner logic and are sensitive to crudity will not rank it very high in its own class. I PyperhilL ' A Galloway Story. Br 3—» Olivet Bidden. Hoddar as* llHtfMm From W. S. Smart. A light-hearted, pretty 'storv, «* which the countryside is as fr«a and attractive as are the people whose days slide by like music to a nappy cameneeThe Home.. VoL IS. No. 8, Angus* Ist. 1932. Art in Australia. 14*. <l* Stl A '"better homes number/' containing articles and photographs illustrating new ideas in furniture ami furnishings.