NEW FICTION

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27500, 6 November 1954, Page 3

NEW FICTION

Katherine. By Anya Seton. Hodder and Stoughton. Ml pp. Mrs Seton’s new novel is an example of many of the problems that beset a novelist who attempts a historical theme without already possessing a specialised knowledge of the period. "Katherine” tells the story of Katherine de Roet, the girl whose sister married Chaucer and who herself married Sir Thomas Swynford first, and finally, after she had been his mistress for many years, became the third wile of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Mrs Seton is not a historian, but she has made an energetic attempt to study the sources of her material and the fourteenth century background. But such matter needs to be digested as well as known, and perhaps a really convincing picture could only come from deeply understood knowledge. As is so often the case in books of this kind, the reader can sense where the author is filling in from what she has read up in preparation for writing. The social history is carefully inserted in pieces. All the identifiable characters of the period make their appearance in an effort to make it genuine; Froissart reads to the Queen. Chaucer tosses off a poem, John Ball preaches in the courtyard. It is a pity that so much work should defeat its own ends. But the most difficult problem that has to be faced is that of language. The most notable historical novel of the last few years, Alfred Duggan’s "Leopards and Lilies,” used contemporary English with great success. Mrs Seton appears unsure of what to do. She compromises on a vague style of no particular period, using “thee” for “you," and as many other archaic forms of modern words as possible. The result is curiously stilted, and since very few of the people concerned would have been speaking English anyway, a waste of time; indeed nothing they said could be rendered in anything like the language they would have used. The atuhor should have avoided this obvious pitfall; she should at any rate have refrained from mixing her “thees” and “wondrous fairs” with such contemporary idioms as "I must get me a wife” or “nose around.” It is a pity that Mrs Seton has strayed into the fourteenth century for she writes vigorously and capably. Her overcrowded scene prevents the development of her characters but her sketch of Katherine has imagination and life. Sowers of the Wind. A novel of the occupation of Japan. By T. A. G. Hungerford. Angus and Robertson. 277 pp. A highly competent and vigorous new Australian novelist, T. A. G. Hungerford, has already established his reputation with “The Ridge and the River,” written from his experiences as a commando in the Bougainville campaign, and. "Riverslake," a fine novel about New Australians, which derived from his life as a kitchenman in a Canberra hostel. He is remarkable for the robustness and authenticity of his dialogue. He really knows Australians, especially 'the ordinary, tough Australian man. He excels at descriptions of the life of men who live in groups, the undercurrents of feeling that run among them, and the standards of honour and comradeship that govern their relationships. His new novel follows the fortunes of a group of Australian soldiers in Japan, from the time of their arrival to their embarkation for home. The central situation is a touching love-affair between an Australian sergeant and a Japanese girl. But the book is packed with other incidents, that illustrate the many and varied ways m which the men reacted to the difficulties of life in an Army of Occupation; some are consumed with hatred of the Japanese, and seek to find an obvious or a subtle revenge: others merely become busily involved in the blackmarket; others, again, homesick and unable to find roots or purpose in their existence, lead a life of far greater dissipation than they would have at home. The whole is a skilful picture of both the ugly and the redeeming sides of the occupation, supported by a sympathetic and understanding view of the Japanese character. It is a novel mainly of topical interest, but one that should be widely read and enjoyed. Vibrant Brass. By Arthur Cstherall. Dent. 2SB pp. The'fortunes of a brass band would « sa.“

moving out of this story of the rivalry between two brass bands in two villages lying one on either side of the Lancashire-Yorkshire border. He knows his North Country and his North Countrymen well, and he has taken the trouble to inform himself thoroughly on the techniques and atmosphere of brass bands and their competitions and championships. This gives a solidity to the background of his novel The initial impetus -to the plot -is furnished by a bequest which provides a large sum of money for whichever band shall win a championship within 18 months, the condition being that the terms of the legacy shall be kept secret from all except the two bandmasters and their secretaries. Out of this situation develops a heroic struggle and a tale that is unashamedly sentimental in its glorification of the deeds and achievements of little people and little places, but full of humanity and amusing complications. Village Fanfare, or The Man From the Future. By Donald Suddaby. Illustrated by Fred Exell. Oxford. 195 pp. Donald Suddaby is noted as a writer of strange and startling fantasies. In Death of Metal” he envisaged the invasion of the earth by a race of subterranean ta-eatures who had caused all metals to lose their properties and hence brought about the collapse of our industrial civilisation. His new tale invokes a vision equally startling. An English village in the year 1907 is chosen as the centre of operations of a Man of the Future, a being of fearsome powers and intellect who creates alarm and confusion among the ordinary Edwardian village-folk. He is able to increase his size at will, project himself into any number of doubles" and hypnotise people into doing his will. By his dis-, coveries in mathematics which have revealed "the actual physical power” curves, the Man of the Future has been able to develop his brain far beyond our present stage and to liberate the mind from “the imprisoning, flesh.” It is hardly an attractive vision Mr Suddaby presents, but his tale makes engrossing entertainment.