SHORT STORIES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30152, 8 June 1963, Page 3

SHORT STORIES

The Saucer of I,arks. By Brian Friel. Victor Gollancz. 215 pp.

Most of the stories appearng in this book have already been published in magazines, but none lose anything in re--eading. In most, the author has harked back to his own boyhood in a small village in Ireland, but all the sentiment portrayed is. adult Even the funniest (and there is a lot of humour here) have a hint of pathos, as for instance in “Kelly's Hall” and “The Fawn Pup.” In 'Foundry House,” pest and present are brought face to face and the consequent sadness is also found in “Among the Ruins,” when Jo tried to recapture his own boyhood by visiting his place of birth Throughout the book, the sounds of life are muted, and there is a great delicacy in tne writing. This is a book to be savoured—not swallowed at a gulp. Equally good but very different is D’Arcy Niland’s collection of short stories—“DADDA JUMPED OVER TWO ELEPHANTS" Michael Joseph, Ltd., 191 pp.). Here the author is portraying the Australian outback, and his writing contains the harshness and hardship of life in that land. But it also contains the compassion and kindliness of its people, and loyalty between man and man, and man and woman. Every story has its punch and every story is intensely human. One of the best stories, “The Parachutist,” contains no human element at all, but deals with the death of a hawk in a famine-stricken land. Here his love and knowledge of this country are superbly displayed.