LITERARY GOSSIP

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22135, 3 July 1937, Page 17

LITERARY GOSSIP

An American bibliographical writer gives an interesting account of a Keats relic which was to be sold at the dispersal of the Armour Library a few weeks ago. This was a seven-volume edition of Shakespeare, edited by Samuel Johnson, of which Keats for years always carried with him one volume or more.

They bear witness, in the form of thumb marks, underlining?, and other markings and notes, to the thoroughness with which he had read and -tudied manv of the plays. . . . Certainly the notes by Johnson were net alwavs happv, and frequently they were"just prosaic and dull. The magic ink of Keats has transformed this into the most valuable set in existence. Keats showed clearly that he preferred Shakespeare to Johnson. With the seeing eve of the poet he penetrated the latter's laboured analyses, and after crossing out' the objectionable criticisms, stigmatised their dogma with apt phrases, usually quoted from the plays themselves. Keats' found various ways of calling Johnson a fool. For condemning '"Titus" as spurious he is assailed with: "Ye Blocks, ye Stones! Ye worse than senseless things. Knew ye not Pompey?" For his pains with "Macbeth." Johnson is rewarded with a disdainful "Thou losest labour. As the Hare the Lion." The objection to many passages in "Love's Labour's Lost" as being too "mean, childish, and vulgar . . . to have been exhibited . . . to a maiden queen." is met with "Who understandeth thee not loveth thee not." His remarks on "All's Well" evoke the exasperated "Wilt thou ever be a foul-mouthed and calumnising Knave?" His opinions on "Measure for Measure" are neatly answered from the text with "Eut man! Proud man! Drest in a little brief authority, etc."

That certain of the plays were read nnd reread more than others is confirmed by their thumbing and marking. Some of the pages are comparatively crisp and fresh, the "Henrys" and the other histories offering no signs of having been read. Where poetic fancy had its freest expression, as in • - Tlu: Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," it is clear that Keats virtually devoured the text. Now it is much too easy to draw conclusions as to a reader's preferences i'rem bare pen scratches on certain pages. And it is a dangerous practice besides. "Romeo and Juliet" in this set is barren of markings, yet its influence upon Keats is undeniable. But there is such a wealth of significant information supplied directly by Keats that deductions are almost inevitable, ond these volumes become an invaluable guide to his sources of inspiration.

The "New York Times" reviewer of "The Letters of Lenin," recently translated and edited by Elizabeth Hill and Doris Mudie, deduces from them no unpleasant portrait of the man:

Among the most striking characteristics of Lenin are his remarkable unconcern with ordinary physical comforts and his insatiable passion for learning. In prison, in exile in a remote village of Siberia, and later in the precarious position of a political emigre abroad, books and libraries remain one of his chief preoccupations. He learns German, French, English. Italian. Even in 1920, in the midst of the civil war and the ravages of war communism, he finds time to write to a Moscow library asking for a set of Greek dictionaries (Greek-German, Greek-French, Greek-Russian, GreekEnglish) and for the best philosophical ! dicUorvaries, ag.ai.vv in. aii live leading , European languages.

In his personal habits Lenin is revealed as a man of exemplary frugality. Throughout his life he kept the strictest account of his expenditures. Writing to his mother in 1895, Lenin complains that in the course of the month he spent one ruble and 36 copecks on street cars, which he considers excessive. And the same punctiliousness in money matters is in evidence "throughout his entire career. He seldom makes reference to personal discomfort. The village of Shushenskoye, to which he was exiled and which he calls Shu-Shu-Shu, is "not a bad village." He likes the air, the view of the distant Sayan mountains, and even confesses to his mother that he had attempted to write a poem about it, although he never went further than the first line. Both in Siberia and abroad Lenin finds much relaxation in walking, swimming, shooting, chess, cycling. Lenin invariably displayed the most affectionate regard for his mother, sisters, and fellow-exiles. And there is often in his letters an expression of longing for the boundless expanses of Russia. "How I miss the Volga," he writes from Paris in 1911.

Mr Geoffrey Faber has started, in the "Publishers' Circular," a brisk discussion of the spate of new books. He is not, he says, the only publisher who regards with apprehension the continuous increase. From 6738 in 1906 it reached 10,407 in 1936. A quarter of the output is fiction, and the proportion is increasing. Last year more than 40 new novels were issued in England every week. Mr Faber believes that if this figure were greatly reduced it would be better for everybody concerned—for publishers, for novelists with any claim to merit, for booksellers, for circulating libraries, and for public librarians. The "Publishers' Circular" has followed up Mr Faber's statement by a survey which classifies the output of fiction. Eleven publishers, out of 133, produced 52 per cent, of the new fiction last year. Would they, it asks, have produced so many npvels unless they had been sure of a reasonable profit? So long as it pays them to produce fiction at the present rate they will not be disposed to listen to any suggestions for voluntary curtailment of output. Other comment has followed. The president of the Publishers' Association would like to see statistics of the death-rate of new books as well as their birth-rate, The Hampstead Public Librarian can see no way to prevent a reduction of output from affecting good and bad books alike. He believes that at present there are far too few good and useful books of all kinds. The Bermondsey Public Librarian points out that the multiplicity of readers, interests, and tastes demands a corresponding variety of books. Once, for instance, a general book on dogs would have been sufficient, but now for every breed of dogs there is a separate handbook. Even in fiction, the same specialisation is at work. In his opinion it would be useless to attempt any drastic control.

Admirers of Winifred Holtby's work are now reading her "Letters to a Friend," edited by Alice Holtby and Jean McWilliam, reports the librarian of the Canterbury Public Library. Other general works in demand are "William Bligh of the Bounty," by H. S. Montgomerie, an able vindication of this great sailor, and "The Famous Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury," by Leslie Randall. Philip Lindsay, who is well known for his historical works, has now written "Crowned King of England," the history and tradition of the Coronation of George VI., and this, with other books on the Royal Family, is unwaveringly popular.

In fiction. Winifred Holtby's "South Riding" and Aldous Huxley's "Eyeless in Gaza" are still being read. There is a demand al?o for C. S. Forester's period novel, "The Happy Warrior," and Vera Brittain's "Honourable Estate."