BOOKS of the WEEK

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 30, 29 October 1932, Page 17

BOOKS of the WEEK

VARIETY IN NEW FICTION

Four Entertaining Novels of Different Types “The Middle Generation,” by J. D. Beresford (London: Collins); "Black Mischief,” by Evelyn Waugh (London: Chapman and Hall); “Pilate’s Wife,” by Jean Damase, translated from the French by Athur Mayne (London: Duckworth) ; and “City Wise,” by Micheline Keating (London: Barker). “Blest with that charm, the certainty to please” could not, perhaps, with truth be said of any single modern novel; yet he would be a fastidious reader who could not find in one at least from among this group of four the recipe for a very pleasant evening. Two of the authors have established reputations; “Pilate’s Wife” is a first novel, and Miss Keating’s book is appently also II first effort. The settings vary from the London of “The Middle Generation,” through Syria and New York, to an island kingdom off the coast of Africa. Mr. Beresford has been writing novels of high standard for many years, and any book of his can be picked up with justifiable prescience of its excellence. This does not mean that bis methods are at all stereotyped, or that his novels are merely good stories set down in an accepted traditional form. For all his large output, Mr. Beresford is still an experimenter. His latest book is an episode in a saga of family life, beginning the tale of Owen Hillington as a boy fresh from school and ending it with Owen, “a man within three months of his fortieth birthday, twice married and the father of four children.” It is a fine story of the spiritual adventure of a quite ordinary man who seeks to find some meaning to the pattern of his life. Mr. Beresford is one of the few present-day authors whose work is comparable with that of Mr. Galsworthy and Mr. Walpole, and to many it has the additional virtue of not being overloaded with a mass of circumstantial detail which so often.makes for dullness.

Mr. Evelyn Waugh’s talent is still so deliciously promising that another novel from his pen is a really exciting event. There should be no disappointment over “Black Mischief,” a dramatic and decidedly strange tale of queer happenings in exotic surroundings. It combines something of Ronald Firbank'3 subtle elusiveness with “Saki’s” satire and humour, and adds, especially in the last chapter but one, a gruesome touch of the macabre. There is no outstanding character. The black king who styles himself “We, Seth, Emperor of Azania, Chief of the Chiefs of Sttkuyu, Lord of Wanda and Tyrant of the Sean, Bachelor of the Arts of Oxford University,” Sir Samuel Courtenay, the carefree British ambassador, Basil Seal, the Minister of Modernisation, High Commissioner and Comptroller General, and his Financial Secrearty, Mr. Youkoumian, are all equally delightful. In “Pilate’s Wife,” M. Dumase has made very effective use of a most unusual theme. His chief character is a French army captain, secretary to the governor of a province in Syria. The captain carries on a mild affair with the governor’s wife, and against the background of this trifling intrigue the author has set the drama of a wadnering prophet whose life, because of his religious teaching, is demanded by the Jewish priests. The story is a modern version of the events immediately before and after the trial of Jesus, with the governor in the role of Pontious Pilate. It is a remarkably conceived and splendidly executed piece of work. “City Wise” is hardly up to the standard of the other books. Yet it is a good novel, and in less illustrious company its light would shine brighter, it is a tale of hectic life in a wealthy New York set, in which an old man watches with a wise tolerance the effect of his enormous, self-acquired fortune upon the characters of his descendants. Its main fault is a certain superficiality due to a lack of any real depth in its psychology.

S .llllllllimiltUllllHlllHlllllllllllHllHlimiltlHlflMllllllltHlltHr ’ “A REPORT FROM EARTH” “The Recording Angel,” by J. A. Hobson (Loudon: George Allen and Unwin). For quite a long time the reader will suspect that Mr. Hobson's new and wellwritten book cries- out for translation into Russian, on the principle that it is the sort of thing the high command of the U.S.S.R. would heartily approve. But gradually his attitude reveals itself more fully, and it becomes clear that his view of contemporary world conditions is that which might be held in some respects by Mr. H. G. Wells and in others by Mr. G. D. H. Cole. His book bears the sobtitle, "a report from earth,” and has been conceived in a form that offers many opportunities, as the reader might guess from his preface:— I tls perhaps not generally known, he says, that the usual Centennial Report upon the conditions of our earth has recently been made at the Office of the Recording Angel. By a curious chance some fragments of this report, taking shape in a dialogue between the Messenger from . Earth and the Recorder, have fallen into my hands. I here publish them in the hope that they may prove as interesting to the general public as they were to me. He will not be disappointed in his hope. The dialogue is intensely interesting, and the case it presents, although new in only a few respects, could hardly be better or more forcibly presented. The trouble is that it is difficult to distinguish the beginning. the middle and the end. Or perhaps it is simply that there is room to raise only a certain number of issues, and all are so big, and of course so connected, that it is hard to perceive the most basic of them. Yet one essential element of Mr. Hobson's position seems to be expressed in the following:— Nationalism and Capitalism, says hid celestial messenger, are both policies that divide insetad of uniting men. and both rest ultimately upon naked force—Nationalism upon force of arms. Capitalism upon starvation. The one arrays the stronger against weaker peoples, the other, stronger against weaker classes. This is. however, only their action when wo regard them respectively as political and economic forces. But polities are not. and never have been, separate activities, and now they are more closely interwoven than ever. Everywhere Nationalism is the mask for the hard-faced business man. What almost worries Mr. Hobson most about the current type of economic system is that it came into being with the era. of free competition, “when it was maintained that everyone was paid what he was worth.” It turned out, he says, that there was no accepted criterion of human worth, so it came about that every man's worth was what be could get. Yet Mr. Hobson is more urgently concerned with the perversion of social sentiment into Nationalism, which as witnessed today in competing armaments, hostile frontiers. exclusive tariffs, restrictions upon emigration and struggles for gold, “puts the whole exneriment of Humanity into jeopardy.” Ho is not. however, a pessimist. although he thinks nnd attempts to prove that “the Enemy” has done a good deal of wrecking, and that religion and physics have not been saved from it. Hear, nevertheless, his messenger:— Now the over-confidence of the Enemy has got. the better of his cunning. Ills simultaneous assault on every front, political, economic, moral, by staggering humanity is bringing it to its senses, the last thing he desires. The immediate situation is a standstill, mankind halting on the brink of the abyss. This shock, this pause, are essential to win time fnr the reserve forces to come up. for reason to assert itself. for goodwill to recover its lost ground. The creative powers in man. normally inert, can act in an emergency.

NEW “NINEPENNIES” "Love in the United States,” by Joseph Hergcshcimer; "Long-lost Father,” by G. B. Stern; "Who Was Florrieniay?” by Netta Syrett; "The Beason Why,” by Mrs. Belloc Lowndes; “The Monster of Mil,” by Owen Rutter; “Mrs. Jim,” by Archibald -Marshall. (London: Benn. "Ninepenny Novels.”) This latest half-dozen of the new,“ninepenny novels” brings the grand total up to 26 volumes since the enterprise was inaugurated earlier in the year. It also provides six new “ninepennies” of outstanding merit. Messrs. Benn used, right from the first, the phrase "leaders of modern fiction” to describe the authors who would •write special stories for the series; and a glance over the authors’ names appearing against the titles given above proves once again that their description remains accurate. When stories by such writers as Mr. Hergesheimcr and Miss Stern can be had for a shilling a time, there is at least one “bright spot in the news” for a large section of the reading publie. Mr. Hcrgesheimer’s book contains two long short stories. The other five are nil complete novels. But Mr. Hergesheimer’s stories should not be neglected. The American writer is at die top of his form, and the title story in particular is a deliciously satirical tale of a realty Big Business man who secretly, nnd in one direction only, an incurable romantic. The success of the tale depends on its uproarious incredibility nnd the wizardry of its ending. ‘‘The Big Shot.” which is the second story, is also satirical comedy, extremely American and highly entertaining. Miss Stern in “Long-Lost Father,” which she dubs “a comedy.” is no less entertaining. The extraordinary, debonair Carl Bellairs and his delightful long-lost daughter. Lindsay, are th? central figures in a modern story a>s exhilarating as tlie headiest wine, about which, incidentally, Carl and Lindsay both know a good deal. The tale is a comedy of errors of the most amusing kind. In “Who Was Florriemay?” Miss Svrett achieves the bizarre. It is a weird and extremely well-told story, in which the mystery centres round a woman who was sometimes a devil and sometimes an angel. Dual personality is the theme of an absorbing tale. Mrs. Belloc Lowndes requires no more than a word to the wise. "The Reason Why” : s a mystery story with still another of her unusual and curiously original plots. Mr. Owen Rutter’s “The Monster of Mu.” is a tale of adventure in the Pacific with a yacht, a number of extraordinary mysterious events, a dreadful monster, a remarkable Island and a thrilling ending. It is nure adventure from beg'nnlng to end. “Mrs. Jim.” bv Archibald Marshall, is a pleasant story of the young widow of the only son of an English baronet, who comes from Paris with her baby to live with her mother and father-in-law in England. All these “ninepennies are well worth ren din 2.

THE LEGION IN REALITY “March or Die.” by Michael Donovan (London: Cassell). This book is an extraordinary, terrible and realistic account of a young Irishman's adventures in the famous Foreign Legion. Michael Donovan, ex-legionaire 21748, took a day trip to Boulogne, am! there, in a moment of madness, enlisted in the Foreign Legion. He was drafted to Algeria, and went through some dreadful experiences before he managed to escape. His stor.v is told with a vivid realism that docs away at one sweep with most of the “Beau Geste” romance of the legion. It tolls without reticence all the beastliness and inhumanity which unfortunately characterise the administration, and shows the depth of degradation to which the legion has sunk. It is written well, nnd should appeal on account of its immense realism and vigour. BRIGHT AND HAPPY TALE “Big Business,” by A. S. M. Hutchinson. (London: Hodder and Stoughton.) All who have read “Once Aboard the Lugger,” Mr. Hutchinson’s first humorous novel, have hoped for a second. Their hopes are more than justified in “Big Business.” It is an extremely vigorous and diverting tale, with patches of broad comedy. Mr. Hutchinson’s happy flair for “le mot juste.” and his neatness and dispatch in landing his people in a sea of trouble, cannot but excite admiration. The financier, creator of super-flats, flic newly rich, self-made young man, the very moral young schoolmaster, whose desire for one brief hour of luxury, leaves him with two months’ vacation ahead and not one halfpenny, the jovial Sarin Springe, who hopes to possess himself of his deceased aunt’s fortune by strategy, and the virginal Missi Peake are all characters worth knowing. The chance resemblance of the schoolmaster. Mr. Pringle, to Snron Springe's lost brother, enables him to impersonate him. hut only for a season. The denouement is quite surprising, and the story has not one doll moment.

Reviews and Passing Notes

FOR THE NEW YOUNG An “Outline” and “Omnibus” of Memorable Quality “An Outline for Boys and Girls and their Parents,” edited by Naomi Mitchison; “The Children’s Omnibus,” edited by Sylvia Lynd (Loudon : Gollancz). Only those who read and reflect upon this new “Outline for Boys and Girls” can appreciate the difficulty of greeting it in the proper terms. Best of all, perhaps, it can be greeted simply as an event, and as a big one. Mrs. Mitchison gathered together more than 26 contributors—she calls them “a flock of the Great and Good” and speaks amusingly of how hard it was to shepherd them—and she got them to write special articles on their own special subjects for children. “Some of my authors are eminent,” she says, “and some are not eminent yet.” At all events, the Great and Good were responsible for 23 articles divided under fhe general headings of Science, Civili-sation-and Values. The articles all have the advantage of having been tried out on children, and in some cases slightly altered or simplified. Every section of the book has a fine, honest temper that makes it a delight to read. But none of them surpass in that respect Mrs. Mitchison’s general introduction and her introductions to the last two sections, in all of which She has a way with her that should overjoy all “boys and girls and (certainly) their parents.” .In the course of her main introduction she makes it clear that: This book does not pretend to be an encyclopaedia, giving all the information about everything; .what it docs do, I think, is to give the beginnings of things, the foundations of knowledge, and to show why they are exciting. And again: Intelligent grown-up people are very apt ot know a lot about one kind of thing, but very little about all tha other things; that Is to say; they are experts. This Is bound to make for muddles and misunderstandings. “The Outline for Boys and Girls” Is an attempt to clear up these muddies,, to make the people who will be running things In another twenty years aware of all different kinds of knowledge and values. She goes on to explain how the book should be read, and describes its scheme of “working outward, from Me or You (the one thing of whose existence one is fairly certain) to the Universe; and ‘from Now (the present) to all time, past and future.” The only disadvantage of discussing the book here is that the discussion, once begun, might last for an indefinite time. Even the best articles by the Great and Good must be passed by, because it should be emphasised that this new “Outline” provides, as has never been provided before, a means by which boys and girls, and indeed many of their parents, may reach more quickly that sure, complete outlook which is the very fabric of wisdom, and of which so many people, particularly to-day, feel themselves so much in need. The book is a means to such an end, and a valuable one; although the journey, even with its help, is difficult, and requires a careful tread. Nevertheless, if the child is father of the man, and if children are lucky enough to see much of this “Outline,” there should be a great many wise men in a few years’ time. Against all of which it might be asked: should children know anything about the International Labour Office, or the Gold Standard, or the FitzgeraldLorentz contraction? Even if they want to? For that is the kind of inquiry that makes the book hard to greet with certainty in the proper terms. Mrs. Lynd's “Children’s Omnibus,” however, is quite easy to address. It is simply the grandest sort of omnibus for children that anyone could imagine. Kingsley, Macaulay, Lear, Thackeray, Jane Taylor, Hilaire Belloc, Cowper, Andersen, Grimm, Shakespeare, Aesop, the Arabian Nights, Lewis Carroll, Anna Sewell, R. L. Stevenson and others all provide the most wonderful tales in the course of its 1032 pages. Everything is complete (even Kingsley’s “Heroes” and “Alice in 'Wonderland”) except Munchausen and Aesop. And, of course, not the least uncommon thing about both Mrs. Mitchison’s and Mrs. Lynd’s books is that grownups will rush them.

A MUCH-LOVED MINISTER "Rutherford Waddell—-Memoir and Addresses,” edited by J. Collie, M.A., Professor of New Testament Studies, Theological Hall, Knox College, Dunedin, with a foreword by James Gibb, D.D. (Dunedin and Wellington: A. 11. Reed). This is a book which no one will read without being profoundly stirred. The late Dr. IVpddell was the much-loved minister of St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin, for forty years before his retirement in 1010, and his wonderful personality, wise, intensely human and above all supremely Christian, is mirrored in the present volume with remarkable success. Or so at least, it mast appear to those whose only intimate knowledge of Dr. Waddell comes. from its pages. True greatness has a way of making itself felt. Those, on the other hand, who knew Dr. Waddell will find in this book of Professor Collie’s a permanent, living memorial of a kind that will move them deeply, make them reflect yet again on the splendid humanity of their beloved "Doctor,” and remind them happily of the reward to which such a fine life must inevitably have led. At the time of Dr, Waddell’s retirement—a retirement marked by expressions of goodwill and praise which must be unique in the history of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand—a southern journal wrote, in a leading article: ‘‘lt will be long before the fragrant memory of Dr. Waddell’s charming personality and great influensc as pastor, journalist and humanitarian passes away from the scene of his manifold activities. The people of Dunedin, of all classes and creeds, are justly proud of him.” It can only be hoped, as it can be expected, that the publication of the present book will hasten the day when to the people of Dunedin, the people of the rest of the Dominion, of all classes and creeds, may be added. Dr. Waddell’s life was of a kind with which neither this country nor any other is frequently blessed. Dr. Gibb's foreword and Professor Collie’s admirable memoir tell fully of Dr. 'Waddell’s life and character. Professor Collie has written a story of enchanting simplicity and directness, as all who read it will quickly discover. It provides, with the selected addresses, essays and letters, a most satisfactory monument to a man whose fame will broaden and heighten with the years. WHERE INDIA NOW STANDS “Years of Destiny: India 1926-18132,” by J. Coatmau, G.1.E., with an introduction by the Rt. lion. Lord Irwin, K. (London: Jonathan Cape). This book sets out in a fresh and authoritative light the events of the past six years in India. Lord Irwin’s policy is described and the historical foundations of the Indian Nationalist Movement arc discus-sed, particular attention being given to Indian political personalities and uarties, and to the scope and technique

of present-day civil disobedience in India. The Hindu-Muslim question is fully explored. Mr. Coalman’s work is an attempt made by one who has had unique opportunities. for studying Indian politics from the inside to enable everyone to understand what is happening in India now, and why it is happening. Developments have occurred during the past six yeras of a fateful character for India’s future; steps have been taken which can never be retraced; and his book shows exactly where India has been left by all that has been taking place there since 1926. Mr. Coatman's view is that both the British and Indian peoples should fix their minds on the attainment of the goal set up by Lord Irwin's historic announcement of October 31, 1929. and by the Round Table Conference. If such a goal is .worked for, barriers of all kinds, he thinks, will be found to fall down. MISCELLANY "Most subjects of plays and books," writes Mr. Ivor Brown, "are lordly beings, unconditioned by children, taxes, laundrybills, and all those other entanglements which keep us, the unwritten myriad, too busy to be beastly. They see a fair lady ride on a Blue Train and they are at Monte in a moment. How easy to be bright and sinful when you have no relations, no family, no plodding to the office in the rain. Home? They have never had one in their lives.” * * » Most of the film posters on the hoardings appear to have been born in hell. — The Rev. William Younger. Mr. E. Powys Mathers, who, among other things, is “Torquemada,” the celebrated crosSword-puzzle fabricant, has written a mystery play, “Cold Blood." which was to have been produced this month in London. “Torquemada” is middle-aged, bearded, and if he were to find himself a professional boxer, could fight only in the heavyweight class. Cast for a new talking picture now in the making: Don Quixote, M. Chaliapin ; Sancho Panza, Mr. George Robey: director. Pabst. Mr. Ernest Hemingway, author of •‘Fiesta,” “A Farewell to Arms,” “Men Without Women,” and “In Our Time,” has written a new book, "Death in tTm Afternoon.” which Jonathan Cape will publish during the present season. From advance tiescriptions it promises to be a remarkable book. It contains several short stories ns well as a chapter on writing in America which embodies his own literary credo, "stated fearlessly and with smashing directness.” * * * The assertion that art may be good art and nt the same time incomprehensible to a great number of people, is extremely unjust; and its consequences nre rntnous to art itself. —Tolstoi. ♦ * The more often man is assured he is nothing but a body, the less joy the thought seems to bring him—and the less freedom from the sense of original sin. It is no guilt-free generation that is mirrored in the long-drawn torments of Proust, the flinpant misery of Mr. Aldous Huxley, the Waste Land of Mr. Eliot.— Herbert Agar, in the “English Review. * * * There may bo a reward for rebels in heaven, if the Bright Young Things are looking in that direction; but there is precious little reward on earth. —Air. G. K. Chesterton. Mr Winston Churchill has almost completed his "Life” of his great ancestor. Marlborough, for which be recently procured valuable material on a visit to Brussels. It has been reported that Air. Churchill was recently invited to write Mr .1 D. Rockefeller’s “Life," and to nnme his own terms; but it is said that he declined —no terms were possible.