MISCELLANY

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30212, 17 August 1963, Page 3

MISCELLANY

Images st Truth. By- Glenway Wescott. Hamish Hamilton. 31» pp. Mr Wescott's volume of criticism is unlikely to be received with enthusiasm outside the United States. Discursive and consciously urbane, the author finds pleasure in telling literary anecdotes, and in this respect is probably at his best when speaking of Colette. His literary judgment is sometimes baffling. For instance, it would occur to few critics to couple together the books that appear in the following sentence. “As Mann looked around the literary scene, and realised that in the 20 years gone by he had not matched ‘Buddenbrooks,* and that furthermore it was only a sort of German equivalent of The Way of AU Flesh.’ or The Forsyte Saga,* I fancy that he minded it extremely." Opinions of this kind, expressed in this particular way, tell the reader a good deal about Mr Wescott, if nothing else. It is quite easy to collect revealing sentences. On page 244, he writes: “Certainly my admiration of The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ fell somewhat short of the concensus.” On page 64: “Except for the extreme jeopardies facing Western civilisation as a whole, I feel no uneasiness whatever about his having his sufficient fame in the outcome of the century; his share of what is called, in rather old-fashioned writers’ parlance, immortality.” Mr Wescott is also helpful with foreign languages. He writes, “This is a kind of joke rarely offered by Maugham; what the French call pince-sans-rire, that is, pinching without laughing.” Sometimes the reader of “Images of Truth” wonders if it has not been written by file spirit of Mr Collins, escaped from the pages of “Pride and Prejudice.” An A.B.C. of Music. By Imogen Holst. Oxford University Press. 189 pp. There are very few books which are able to make the rudiments of music an interesting study. Here is one that does and it is possibly for the sole reason that the author keeps in the forefront of our minds the fact that the music is sound, artistically organised. She also very rightly illustrates her text, not with mere snippets of contrived examples, but with complete and intelligible quotations from actual music, many of which will be playable or singable by the average reader. “An A.B.C. of Music” is more than a book of rudiments, however. The elements of musical history are surveyed always with an eye to musical style; the elements of harmony, formal structure, texture, and rhythmic device become the basis of separate and imaginative chapters, understandable by the lay reader and purposeful for the beginning student in academic study. Too many young people only "learn the piano." Their background knowledge is often meagre. This is the sort of book to stimulate and retain their Interest over the early stages of the oftdespised "theory.” Benjamin Britten writes the Foreword. The Looking Glass. By Stuart Cloete. (Collins.) 254 pp. The majority of these short stories commemorate the rugged colonial period of Africa’s development when, as the author says in his preface. “it was man against the elements, against lions, against space that had to be covered on horseback, by ox waggon or on foot.” Some of these tales are light-hearted yarns such as one might hear around a camp-fire: tales about diamond smuggling, the courting of a ' publican’s widow, a haunted si. ble. Of the more serious stories, the most distinctive in style and theme are those which describe the lonely tussles between men and their hostile environment. In such stories as “The Land of the Eagle,” and “A Run of Luck,” Mr Cloete’s bare clipped style, which elsewhere tends to flatness, evokes successfully the harsh beauty of the African landscape.

The Lotus and the Spinning Wheel. By Marie B. Byles. (George Allen and Unwin.) 252 pp. Illustrated. Index. That Buddha and Gandhi are India’s greatest sons is the theme of this interesting book. The author has travelled widely and has written two travel books. She claims to be a disciple of both Buddha and Gandhi (she is an Australian) and here she takes the reader on a pilgrimage of the land Buddha trod and then to an Ashram of Gandhi’s.

With penetration the author describes the contrast between the two great teachers who outwardly would appear to be very different from each o>ther. Buddha is tranquil, Gandhi is immersed in the social needs of the people of India. The philosophy of Gandhi was worldaffirmation, that of Buddha world-negation, yet both draw their strength and teaching from the same source, the deep spiritual reservoir within the individual which is God. The Buddha’s life is described and many stories and legends are told about him; indeed at times the narrative is cluttered with them. In giving an excellent survey of the life of Gandhi, the author writes with evident appreciation of the great and humble little man. She shows clearly that Gandhi's policy of non-violence was not that of political expediency; it was a faith. Nehru, who was a disciple of Gandhi and donned his mantle after the death of the teacher, also practised non-violence with this difference: to him it was a political expedient To remember this throws a light on the subsequent actions of Nehru.

The story of Gandhi’s part in the independence of India is told with accuracy and reveals his great and tolerant spirit. The fact that Gandhi frequently changed his policy puzzled both his followers and opponents. This was not due to the Mahatma's undisciplined mind but rather to his “intuition.” He believed, and there is no reason to doubt this, that he was guided by an “Inner Light” to change his tactics and he was always scrupulously honest in following the “light.” It is of great interest to compare the similarity of Gandhi’s source of “guidance” with that of the Quakers. Both believe in the “Inner Light” and both have contributed more than has ever been admitted to the well-being of mankind. Future history will see Gandhi in proper perspective and hail him as India’s greatest son. This is an excellent study and good reading.