BEAUTY'S QUEST

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 21 November 1931, Page 19

BEAUTY'S QUEST

"The conscious level of the mind>" we have been told, 'risno more than the surface of a deep and dark stream" The light of knowledge penetrates-a little; "maybe, but underneath flow the strong currents of the unconscious, so inconclusively estimated, so much the preoccupation 01. the ■modern psychologists. It is to Freud, whose sounding Hue has boon plied most assiduously in these waters, that the ancestry of Professor P.. W. Kobertson's book, "A. Soul's Progress (Edward Arnold and Co., London), may be traced. Freud's conclusions relat-. ing' to the'emotional life of man .the interweaving of ideas .and feelings were tho germ from which has sprung this account of an approach to beauty, an approach by a, sensitive seeker, sharply aware of the things of the wind but one who has emerged slowly from the cocoon of. a colonial environment and o£ 'a childhood and/youth: of artistic poverty, Freud,'then . Proust, whose example of the richness "of memory w 'the most importanf thing that tho novel has given .us in this generation, . and ■finally Pater, because ■ Pater was the [writer, to whom the author is able to ~ trace, 'his spiritual''awakening. ■ . This is a lucid account' of one man s «rowth to consciousness of beauty, nen in allusion and strongly .suggestive .(in the best and' undeteriorated sonsd oi that misused word"). For the chosen it may hold a revelation, the excitement which cornea with the perception of now and material truths. It is written with grace- and ease,'no mannered prose, but the unforced, direct and supplo instrument of a scientist-philosopher, who has something to share, and who .-thinks his conclusions more important than Ins presentation.: " It reaches, thus, towards the ideal in form. But for all that, the book has weaknesses. There "is self-refelation' in• it, but at-times-a hint of sudden withdrawal as- if a sensitive nature, waking to awareness- that too much might bo divulged" -retired upon itself. There is a "symphonic form; "■ claims the publishers, -because, •of-the return-of-early themes,-the pat-tern-like- thread which ■ runs ■ tlu-qugh .the work. • But if that be true, to fol-low-the-metaphor, the musical material is somewhat thin. There seems undue importance vested in some trivial incidents; it occurs to <.ne that in beauty's quest thejo. have -been greater, more revealing moments -than the bell-note in Hauptmunn's "Sunken Bell," which appears-magnified out of all proportion to its importance. This shrewd, dramatic stroke is, after all, no .more.remarkable than one, of Mr. Edgar Wallace's scream in the-dark and needs no more subtle explanation. But the case is such because, in tho author'-s words, until ho reached Oxford his, emotional life had been far from rich. ■ From poverty -to wealth. Tho book passes from an account of early , experiences of a. barren childhood through a few digressions not very relevant to an account of the .finding of a beauty and a brilliant .chapter ■on . the. meaning of beauty.. . It leaves one agreeing that '"all "theories-of-.art. are. wrong," but those wJio.rcad.it will have embarked on.a high adventure

Native- talent finds a warm welcome in tlio "N.Z. Artists' Annual" for 193]. Contributors includo . Harry Bouiitrce, David Lowe, Gcorgq Finey, and Stuart Peterson among the artists, and the writers" include Eileen Duggan (on "Katharine MaiusficlQ"), Jessie Maukay ('-'Hare. Hongi"), Ken Alexander,' .Tames Cowan, C. B. Allen (on"Mil! "Wheels"), and other K Tew Zealand .writcirs make up a full.and varied annual of ovrr SO pagef.