LITERARY GOSSIP

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22307, 22 January 1938, Page 16

LITERARY GOSSIP

His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr J. W. Beanland, has received from Miss Mary McLennan, of Toronto, a copy of the memorial verses which she contributed to the Toronto "Mail and Empire" on the death of Lord Rutherford:

Across the campus, o'er the fen, Unto a world of science men. Resound, ye bells, his requiem ring, With gratitude his praises sing;

For one who lived, who loved and

trod The paths of truth, communed with

God ' • ~ -. Unfolded secrets infinite Revealed to him by Holy Light,

'Midst England's noblest sons he rests; Westminster Abbey cherishes New Zealand's son of humble birth. Whose name surrounds an Empire's girth.

Across the campus, o'er the fen, Unto a world of science men, Resound, ve bells, with music sweet, Beyond—he doth his Maker meet.

Some interest is lent to the verses bv the fact that Miss McLennan s brother was Sir John McLennan, Professor of Physics in Toronto University till his death in 1935, and a close friend of Lord Rutherford.

In a letter to the "Saturday Review of Literature" an American citizen gives the final answer to an old question: Closing a Long Controversy

Sir—Ever since I can 'remember, people anxious to advertise their Culture have been making lists of 1U books to be taken when wrecked on a desert island. In every instance that I can recall, the selection was on a neurotic basis. The latest illustration is furnished by three western college professors, each of whom starts off dutifully with "The Bible and Shakespeare " In the first place, if they are the men they ought to be, they would know the Bible and Shakespeare so well that it would be needless to encumber their luggage with the volumes. In the second place, what possible benefit could a castaway derive from these old standbys? Perhaps a man feels virtuous to think that the rescue party will discover him dead on the beach, the Bible clasped in one hand and Shakespeare in the other. Anyway, he'll be dead. Any list of the best 10 books for a castaway must, if it is made up realistically, be about as follows: —

1. A book on camping and woodcraft.

2. A book on building and managing small boats.

3. The best atlas possible. 4. A popular book on astronomy. 5. A treatise on human anatomy. 6. A treatise on human physiology. 7. A popular handbook on medicine and hygiene.

8. A book on gardening and horticulture.

9. J. C. Willis's "Manual and dictionary of flowering plants and ferns" (for identification of useful flora). 10. The Columbia Encyclopedia.

PAUL POPENOE. Institute of Family Relations, Los Angeles, Cal.

When Edwin Way Teale was writing "Grassroot Jungles," he wanted to include in it a photograph of the caterpillar of a Polyphemus moth. One of his scouts discovered a Polyphemus caterpillar on Staten Island and immediately telegraphed the news to Mr Teale in Albany. Mr Teale rushed to the spot, only to discover that the caterpillar had begun to weave his cocoon and was no longer available as a camera model. A second and third attempt resulted in similar disappointments. Then, when a fourth caterpillar was discovered, Mr Teale held it on his lap during the train ride to his home and kept it from turning into a cocoon by stroking it and talking to it vigorously. As soon as he reached his home, he put the creature before the camera and secured the picture which appears in his book.

The manuscript notebooks of Sara Teasdale, which were recently on exhibition at the "New York Times" National Book Fair, are the property of Margaret Conklin of the Macmillan Company, who is acting as literary executor of Miss Teasdale's 'estate. When Miss Teasdale was still in her teens and first felt the urge to write she bought a small red notebook in which she set down her poems as they came to her. From that moment until the time of her death in January, 1933, she recorded all her poems in notebooks of the same size and colour. There were nine of them in all, but shortly before her death she delstroyed the first three, containing her very early work, because she felt that the poems in them were not representative. The other six were left to Margaret Conklin. Another small notebook, now in possession of her literary executor, contains the titles of all the books Miss Teasdale read from the time she was 15, with asterisks showing which books had been reread and how many times. The poems which Miss Teasdal wished to have included in her "Collected Poems" were also indicated in the manuscript notebooks and in single marked copies of her volumes. The Macmillan Company has issued a 24-page booklet on Sara Teasdale containing a frontispiece portrait by Nickolas Murav, a biographical sketch, a critical article, etc. It will be sent free to any one who requests a copy. The request should be sent to the Macmillan Company, 60 Fifth avenue, New York City.

Sean O'Faolain welcomes the issue of a new edition of W. B. Yeats's "Vision." He calls it "the ripe fruit of a long life of internal exploration of the soul": When it first appeared we read it with avidity, but were often hurt and discouraged by our dullness; its veiled wisdom seemed, in Pater's phrase, like a shaken tapestry. The design came and went. Now. Yeats has worked over and over it until it is an entirely new book, and we come to it as eagerly as to a magic cave where a lamp has been lit. Those who read the first version will recall the excitement they must have felt before this proposition of a duality in all human personality—called the Doctrine of the Mask. Interesting as a thread of Ariadne through a great deal of Yeats's own poetry./it also offered to us an image of release from the separateness, or isolation, resulting from that self-con-sciousness which chains so many men to themselves.

This year the first AE Memorial Prize will be available. It will be worth about £IOO and any young Irish writer under 30, who wishes for a period of leisure to commence, conclude, or work on a piece of literature may apply for this prize. No subject is barred; all that is required is that the candidate should give his subject literary treatment. This was thought proper, since AE dealt with such a variety of subjects himself, all as a man of letters. The prize will probably be available every two years.