BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 261, 4 August 1928, Page 27

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

(By

"LIBER.")

Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read-; And his home is bright with a calm delight, Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson.

BOOKS OF THE DAY The Late Judge Alpers. Any review or notice of “Cheerful Yesterdays” (J. Murray), a volume of autobiographical reminiscences by the late Judge Alpers, might well be headed a “Romance In Real Life,” for Oscar Alpers a Dane by birth, who landed in New Zealand in 1875, a “solemn little boy,” between eight and nine, not knowing a single word of English, and whose father's capital on arriving at Napier was under £l5, became in turn pupil teacher, university graduate, secondary schoolmaster, journalist, lawyer, and so forward to the tinal distinction of being appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. All this is now set forth, in a narrative to which the term romantic is fairly applicable. There attaches, however, to the autobiography a poignant pathos, for the author wrote the concluding portion of it when death was all too certain : indeed, he had passed away before the manuscript had reached the publishers. Those who had the pleasure of the late Judge Alpers’s acquaintance will at once testify to the unfailing brightness of his temperament, will know how witty and charming he could be in his hours of leisure, how wide were his literary and other sympathies. In this fine book they will find chronicled what, in his preface, Lord Birkenhead calls “a worthy record of a fine personality and a valiant career.”

His first knowledge of English he picked up, he tells us, from “Robinson Crusoe” and the Bible. Dofoe’s clear and vigorous English being character, istic throughout life. Later he found linguistic instruction and much pleasure in a shilling (Dicks’) edition of Shakespeare, and Palgrave's “Golden Treasury.” Adding to the family income by conducting, at seventeen, . a night school for working men, he had become a pupil teacher at twelve and a half, and chronicles the dept of kindness which he owed to the headmaster of the District High School in Napier, the late Archibald Bruce Thomson, who was for several years chief assistant in the General Assembly Library. From Napier young Alpers proceeded to Christchurch, winning a bursary of £6O a year for two years at the Teachers’ Training College, also attending the School of Art. From both hi? was expelled for insubordir nation. In the former case an apology was followed by reinstatement. His offence, he explains, had been publicly lampooning an ogre who taught “mathemawtics” —-an utterly stupid man, frequently tipsy on duty.” Becoming an “extra mural” undergraduate at the University, he writes :in high terms of Professor Macmillan Brown. During hls'ifew years as a teacher at Canterbury College, he her came a member of the staff of the Christchurch “Press,” contributing a weekly "squib column,’! fpom which he resurrects not a few good stories of politicians, actors, and others. Ever anxious to add to what was in those early days a very meagre income, we find him acting as New’ Zealand correspondent of the London “Morning Post.” Recognising that the teaching profession was poorly paid, he ' studied' law, duly passed, and practised for a while in Timaru, finally settling in Christchurch as' a barrister, in, which profession he remained until the time of his judicial appointment. Several chapters are devoted to legal experiences, to stories of “Judges I Have Known,” of “Juries,” of the romantic side of West Coast life, etc. The chronicle now largely resolves itself into a record of strange, curious, amusing legal experiences. The autlibr’s strongly-developed gift of humour enables him to retell the stories of many famous cases' in a nifinner calculated to make them the most agreeable of reading. That such a brilliant man, whose rise to his honoured position did him so much credit, just as it offers an example of what is possible in this country to industry, energy, and natural talent,. should have passed away at the com-

paratively early age of sixty-one was little short of tragic. Judge Alpers’s autobiography is one of the most notable books that New Zealand has produced for many years, for he was a man whose career not only did honour to himself and his adopted country, but whose record affords a generous provision of excellent entertainment. (18s.). Romance and Research.

Dr. Charles Hose, the author of “Fifty Years of Romance and Research, or a Jungle Wallah at Large” (Hutchinson and Co.), has been, during a long and most active life, a pioneer in many fields, and long and specially connected with Borneo, of which wonderful and still little developed island, he has already written in “Natural Man” a record from Borneo.” He now comes forward with a bulky and very handsomely produced volume incidentally the story of his life and record of his many scientific discoveries. Several of these latter have been of conspicuous value to industry and commerce. The book is, however, specially devoted to his wonderfully varied and useful service in Sarawak, where he arrived, as a cadet in the. Government service, and where his uncle was a bishop. Hero he was soon appointed a surveyor, and having undergone a course of surveying in connection with Jesus College, Cambridge, proved himself of such practical service that lie was appointed officer in charge of the Baram District, retiring on pension in 1907. He tells of the discovery of many forest wonders, of the marvellous levelopment of the Bornean oil fields, and writes at length, and with great interest, on the manners and customs of the natives, on that “Scourge of the East.” the terrible Berri-berri, of which he, in part at least, discovered the cause and remedy. Later on in life he did valuable work iu England in connection with chemical production, and war munitions generally, and has been a prominent figure in connection with the Royal Geographical Society and other learned institutions. The charm of what is always a highly interesting narrative is greatly enhanced by the wonderful wealth of illustrations which cover almost every feature of the author's experiences, comprising four colour plates by John Hassall and G. Powell Jones, and nearly a hundred black and white illustrations in Borneo and the East generally. The book has a ’preface by Sir Arthur Keith, president of the British Association. (415.) Stendhal in English.

The task of translating Henri Bevle. more generally known by his pseudonym of Stendhal, into English, has always been recognised as one of considerable difficulty . In the series of translations of the great French writer, now being published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, a singular success has already been made by Mr. Scott Moncrieff, whose English versions of the still more difficult style of Marcel Proust have aroused so much praise in the literary world. A translation of Stendhals’s “Psychologic de I’Amour,” or “Stendhal on Love,” is now presented by the publisher as the sixth volume of a series which, when completed by the addition of the author’s “Rome, Florence and Naples,” and other works, will be invaluable to all desiring acquaintance in English ’jyith the famous French writer. Special difficulty in his task of translation must have been encountered by Mr. Vyyvan Holland, for Stendhal’s book has been regarded hitherto as most “untranslateable,” by reason of the author’s interpolations and annotations often almost inexplicable. “Love,” to a writer such as Stendhal, carries the Latin, especially the Italian interpretation, rather than that consonant with English traditional views and taste, but it is astonishing how searching and true to life are many of the author’s observations. His examination of bow love, passion, and other emotions, are regarded in Italy. France, England, and elsewhere, can be, it is true, at times, somewhat too generalising; in other places he can

perhaps, be over detailed. But always is he readable. This is the most comprehensive and satisfying translation yet published in England of one of the most remarkable of Stendhal works. (10s.) x Blackmore’s Old School.

All who have read Blackmore’s famous novel, “Lorna Doone’ —and he who has not should lose no time iu making acquaintance with this famous and delightful story—should be greatly interested in Mr. P. J. Snell’s book, “Blundell’s” (Hutchinson and Co.), in which is related the history of the old school at which occurred that famous fight of John Ridd’s against the equally doughty Robin Snell, described with such gusto in the earlier pages of Blackmore’s masterpiece. Perhaps the fight, as recorded in the novel, never really took place. Mr. Snell suggests that it was but “a sublimation” of many similar pugilistic combats which took place at the school’s traditional “ring,” on Blundell’s Green, just as, so latterday writers ou Exmoor And its earlier associations declare, that Blackmore very largely invented “the story of the lawless Doones, their local power and its extinction at the hands of the enraged John Ridd and his fellow farmers. All the same, it makes good reading. “Blundell’s” was a seat of ftarning of very ancient origin, and its founder, Peter Blundell, living in Henry the Eighth’s time, and starting life as a local carrier. Blackmore was the fag of a boy destined to high ecclesiastical distinction, for Frederick Temple became Archbishop of Canterbury. Blackmore was not, Mr. Snell says, very happy at his school, for, he adds, Temple “was no gentle fag-mas-ter, his favourite mode of punishment being to strike poor Richard on the head with a brass-headed hammer.” When both were well on in years, Temple was wont to refer to his practice with some glee, “as if it were a proper subject for humour.’ It is not surprising that the novelist “detested that form of victimisation, and detested Temple, not only then, but always.” The book has several interesting illustrations. (225.) “The Mirage of Versailles.”

Save with the purpose of proving to English readers how chaotic may be the Teuton post-war mind, and, incidentally, how disregardful of facts, and, more than aught, how many Germans still cleave to the idea of future Teuton political predominance in Europe, it is difficult to understand why Herr Hermann Stegemann’s work, “The Mirage of Versailles” (Allen and Unwin). should have been translated at all. Everyone recognises by this time that not everything done at Versailles to settle permanently the peace of Europe was fated to be successful, but the Swiss author’s evidently desperate effort to prove the Allies always in the wrong to gently slide over or totally ignore Germany's bad faith, and to place before us a quite inaccurate view of post-war Europe, simply “won’t wash,” to use a popular colloquialism. Here Stegemann has evidently France on the brain, and is none too fair to Great Britain. He labours hard to prove that American support of Czecho-Slovakia was due ip France, but the main factor was the personal influence of Paderewski and that fine, farseeing statesman, Masaryk. President Wilson also acted quite independently of any real or imaginary Gallic influence. (165.) LIBER’S NOTE-BOOK Miscellaneous. From Messrs. Longmans and Co. comes an Australian edition of “The World,” a “General Geography,” by L. Dudley Stamp, 8.A., D.Sc., and A. Grenfell Price, M.A., with ten coloured maps and 436 diagrams and illustrations. The work is sgpecially designed for use in primary and secondary schools in Australia and New Zealand, and should prove an admirable addition to educational literature. “What Botany Really Means,” by Dr. James Smith, Professor of Botany, Queen’s University, Belfast (George Allen and Unwin), consists of twelve chapters, written in plain, non-techni-cal English, on the modern study of plants. It is not a text-book, but gives the “living background” which makes, the difference between successful and unsuccessful teaching, the author stressing his points by means of many

analogies from everyday life and experience. (75.) Ronald Gurner, the author of “CS” (I. M. Dent), is well known as a headmaster, and leading English educationalist. His powerful but most pathetic picture of a typical London boy, educated at a board school, trained for no special vocation, and forced into a blind-alley occupation, wherein he gradually falls in with the march of degradation in his environment, despite the efforts to reclaim and help him of some faithful friends, is a forcefully told story. “A Call to Humanity” which ought to be heeded. (6s. 6d.) Eric Green’s “Arts of Hockey” (Hutchinson) is a very practical handbook of good counsel to hockey players, by the well known English international. (ss. 6d.) To “The Mind and Body Handbooks” (Rider and Co.) has been added “The Seven Secrets,” a pleasantly written little treatise on “power, health, harmony, success in life, youth and happiness,” and other subjects, by John McArthur, who propounds the practical application in everyday life of the “laws of right-thinking” (2s. 6d.) The publications of the Melbourne University Press, in particular the issues of the Economic Series, deserve the atention of all New Zealanders interested in sociological subjects. A recent publication deals with “Economic Statistics. for Australian Arbitration Courts,” the author being Professor J. L. K. Gifford, lecturer on economics and history in the University of Queensland. Professor Gifford’s special object is to “familiarise the advocates in arbitration courts with reasonings about wages and the effect of some of the chief economic events on wages and employment, and with the uses of the economic statistics which help judges in their efforts to fix wages at the level which is best for the general community.” Various othei’ matters, relating to the arbitration system, including the inefficiency of such statistics as are at present used for establishing index numbers, are also dealt with. The publication is issued at ss. (Australian price) by Messrs. Macmillan, of Melbourne, for the University, authorities. “Awful Occasions,” by E. V. Knox (“Evoe”), (Methuen and Co.), is a collection of humorous essays, stories, and sketches which first saw print in the’columns of “Punch.” “Evoe’s” funmaking begins to be a little strained and forced, but there are a few good things in the collection, notably a decidedly funny account of how a pjyrty of cheerily optimistic Britons spent a holiday on the Riviera what time the dreaded mistral blew, and the famous Cote d’Azur was a somewhat dreary playground. (6s. d.) ’ In her “Days and Ways of Early Man” (Methuen and Co.), Miss Dorothy Dawson reveals to child readers something of the fascination which lies in the story of man's evolution, making the struggles and achievements of our earliest ancestors vivid and real, and thus helping the young people of to-day to understand and enjoy the discoveries constantly being made in the mysterious realms of prehistoric archaelogy. The liberal provision of useful and well-drawn diagrams adds greatly to the informative value of an excellent little book. (6s. 6d.)

SOME RECENT FICTION Etched in Moonlight.

Those who know the fascinating stories and sketches of the Irish writer, Mr. James Stephens’s “The Crock of Gold,” “Here are Ladies,” and “Deidre,” will be glad to have a further collection, however, somewhat small in bulk, of his excursions into dreamland, and the creation of an atmosphere which, though unsubstantial, can be exquisitely beautiful. This is provided in his recently published “Etched in Moonlight” (Macmillan), the longest of the seven stories and sketches, in which is a singularly beautiful tale of a dream and its mysterious and pathetic development. One cannot accept many of Mr. Stephens’s characters as real. They are figures created in a purely imaginative mood, but they possess an unmistakeable charm of their own. The last sketch, “The Boss,” is removed from the general tone of the series as a whole, being a curious story of a commercial man’s psychology, and is possessed of a certain ironic humour. “The House With the Echo.” The realism, unsparing, often quite brutal, which has been so strikingly exhibited in so much of Mr. T. E. Powys’s ■work, in “Mockery Gap,” “Mr. Tasker’s Gods,” and others of his stories, is happily absent, at least in its more unpleasant features, in his I latest collection of twenty-six short j stories, bearing the general title “The i House With the Echo” (Chatto and Windus). As before, Mr. Powys takes as his scenario a little English village, and gives us a series of sketches or studies of character which are singularly convincing in their realism. There is now, however, a tendency for his humour to be less sardonic, his satire milder, his general view of life more tolerant, more humane, almost sentimental. I know of few more touchingly pathetically beautiful stories than “I Came as a Bride,” more grimly effective than “Mad.” Mr. Powys is a master of terse yet full expression. He never wastes a word. Nor does he miss an effect. As an example of this one has only to study, say, “The Windmill.” As to his command of real humour, even though it be, at times, a trifle over ironic, not a few of these stories will testify. I have laughed heartily over the imprisonment in “Nor Iron Bars” of the lazy Joseph Turvey and his fancy for “the great Christmas pudding” which arise therefrom, and but few readers will do otherwise. Black Sparta. Naomi Mitchison, Who, in ‘‘The Conquered” gave us a couple ,of years or so ago, a series of artistically conceived reconstructions of ancient history, provides, in her “Black Sparta” (Jonathan Cape) a collection of stories of Greek life and characters, some wiih Sparta, others with Athens, or fln> Islands as background, the period being between 500 and 350 B.C. Those were the times of Socrates and Plato of Pindar and Aspasia, but for the most part such famous figures in history are not included in the heroes and heroines of these stories, which are largely devoted to men and women of no special classical fame. Although the idiom is very modern, the Greek simplicity find distinct dramatic colour of Miss Mitchlson’s stories Is very notable. “The Lamb Misused.” which is a pathetically striking story of the fine self-sacrifice of a woman; and “Iler Epiphany of Poicessa,” where a priestly rite is profaned oy vandale and an earthly lover saves the high priest are excellent examples of Miss Mitchison’s picturesque style. The poet Pindar figures in “O Lucky Thessaly” and “Black Sparta,” the title story, exhibits the terrible rigour of Spartan laws. Interspersed between the various stories are poems by Miss Miteliisoii. some of whieli an: worded with not only skill, but real grace.