LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 18

LITERARY NOTES

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

A story from the "Manchester j Guardian" which pleasantly illustrates ( the results of our present plenitude of ] entertainment: "The latest request was j heard at a bookstall this week: T want , something I can read whilst I'm lis- j tening to the wireless.'" ] George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and < the Man" has been transcribed into i Basic English—a simplified form -of English with a vocabulary of only 850 J words. Here is a complete book, for « the complete vocabulary is listed on < its back endpaper, and that measures ' only 4Jin by 6§in. ( Mr. Masefield, speaking from Swedish , broadcasting stations recently, said . that he believed in the younger generation of British poets. Just before 1 leaving England for Sweden he had received two volumes of verse written ( by young men, and these had filled 3 him with hope for the future of British , poetry. I Recently in London William Shake- < speare was fined 20s at Tower Bridge < for exceeding the speed limit. Of ] course, the/original had a word for the ] occasion:— ' O, wicked speed ] To post -with such dexterity ... 3 or, alternatively, Clifford's wish in j "Henry VI," that j Thy burning car never had scorch'd j the earth. . _ j A kind of twentieth-century Domes- \ day Book—"The King's England"—is ] planned for publication by Messrs. i Hodder and Stoughton next year. It j surveys every town and city in Eng- j land—and 10,000 villages. The work 1 has been in preparation for six years. < In their journeyings up and down the 1 land the compilers estimate that they ] have covered 500,000 miles by car. The ] editor is Mr. Arthur Mee, well knows for the "Children's Encyclopaedia" and 1 similar books. ; A memorial.to Rudyard Kipling will : probably take the form of a library, or j group of buildings containing a library, at the Imperial Service College, Wind- ! sor. This college, which is for the ; education of the sons of those who ' have served throughout the Empire : under the Crown, is the successor to ' the United Services College, Westward , Ho, at which Kipling was a pupil from ; 1878 to 1882, and which he pictured ; vividly in "Stalky and Co." Mr. Wells believes in a great educa- , tional encyclopaedism as a lifebelt in the world's present-, sea-of-despair fiounderings. "Seven-eighths of the hideous killing that is going on now all over the world"—he points out—"is being done by youngsters—by people well under thirty. Only a great, free, intellectual and moral drive—an educational .encyclopaedism—can restore the shattered moral of our race and give a definite direction to its disordered will." That this, perhaps, is realised by other people is shown by the fact that H.G.'s "Outline of History" is banned in one, at least, of the "dictator" States. "Those who think that the English language is worth preserving will have to fight for it; for the forces of corruption today are tremendous and increasing," said Mr. A. P. Herbert, in a broadcast. "Each of us by taking thought and trouble can strike a blow each day. We cannot all be right about words but we all can worry about words: and if we do that, we shall at least find for ourselves a new delight in words. I exhort you to be ! word-warriors and word-worriers, to' : keep an affection and a respect and a curious watch for words, to ask your- > self frequently, 'Was that right?' and •What does he really mean?' For , the English language is a possession i too fine to be wasted and,, far tob'deHj • cate to be taken for granted?*'