BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 22328, 2 May 1936, Page 23

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

VERSES WHY DO WE WRITE ? Why do we write? Have not the tales age-old Been told More fitly and more richly _ long ago, By men whose pens wore tipped with gold Of magic inspiration ; Who wizards were of words, Who knew how subtly they might catch the flight Of dreams that flee like birds Beyond the grasp of other men, And clothe them with the beauty and the strength Of shining words? Great wizards they! They heard the throb and speechless cry Of inarticulate humanity: And in their skill They painted joy and ill. Expressed the inexpressible, That many a man could say “Those are the thoughts of me to-day.” And still, All touched with that unearthly light Of strange divinity.

* * * * How could the Children of To-day More greatly say Of love so sadly unreqnite, “ She sat like Patience on a monument Smiling at grief? ” Or, speaking of futility of life. “We are but dreams left wandering in the day.” And yet, and yet, We needs must write. The bright Excitement of the poet Will come like fury sweet, intoxicate, Upon us unawares, Within the city gate, As go wq must about our loves and cares: Or we may hear The voice, persistent, still. Speak in those shining words The thoughts that will Not quiet be, But of us straight demand That we should write. * * * * Then shall we write, And though our wizardry be not complete, Though that strange mastery of inspiration Come not to us in greatness of perfection. Yet not disobedient we Shall humbly be To whatever lovely vision Unto us be given. For all those ancient tales, Great thought and strong desire Still in unquenchability of fire Glow in the hearts of men this very day. Could we not speak as clear as They —Those Ancient Ones— Of that bright Rainbowed fabric of our life, Then shall we write With all the strength and colour that we know; Imprison that celestial glow: Draw from the depth of our humanity A wisdom and a clarity, That may with brilliance and with blessedness Express the heart of other men. That they' may bless Us that we write. — P. Lilian Jeffreys (Christchurch). LORD OF THE QUIET HEART Lord of the quiet heart, who knew the sound Of raging streets with auger loud, Yet walked serene in faith that saw Beyond the blindness of the crowd— Help us to find the even way Through all the clamour of this day. Lord of the gentle eyes, who saw the _ bright Spear-points beneath Thee gleam and toss, Yet heard with tenderness the thief's Faint cry for mercy from his cross— Remember us, that we may hear The whispered hope, the accent near. Lord of the steadfast will, whose vision clear Saw all the travail of the years, Beyond which lies the world to be That knows no human wrath or tears, Help us to see with eyes unsealed Thy harvest that the years shall yield! —Arthur W. Peach, in the ‘New York Times.’ LETTERS BY KEATS Two of the letters of John Keats have been presented to the Keats Museum at Hampstead by Senor Enrique Brockman and his sister, of Madrid, the grandchildren of Keats’s sister. Fanny Keats married in 1826 Senor Valentin Llanos, and they lived for three years in the same house that her famous brother had occupied with his friend Charles Brown —namely. Wentworth Place, now the Keats Memorial House, in 1833 they settled in Madrid, where they had four children. The eldest daughter, Isabel, married Count Brockman, and it is their son and daughter who have presented the letters. One is signed “ Your affectionate Parson John,” and in it Keats explains to his sister (then aged 15) with reverence and detail the nature of confirmation in the Church of England. The text of the letter bears the Hampstead postmark, March 31. 1819. The other letter is written on the back of a letter to Fanny Keats from Mrs Dilkc. It reads:— My Dear Fanny,—So much time has passed with me this last year, without my having had power to employ it—which is absolutely necessary—that 1 am glad to take advantage of the present time to study and write a little—that is the reason I have not been to see you. However, if on Monday the frost continues, I will endeavour to be up early and out across the fields.—• Your ever affectionate Brother John.

A LITERARY CORNER

NEW BOOKS HISTORICAL TALES Historical tales arc coming in lo their own again. There is a marked revival in the demand for this class of literature. Among the most successful of the writers to-day who venture into the realms of tho past is Mr Rafael Sabatini, so that it was a happy thought of the publishers (Hutchinson and Co.) to obtain his services to edit ‘ A Century of Historial Stories,’ one of a series of omnibus volumes that this firm is publishing. This latest issue is a fascinating book. Mr Sabatini has chosen his tales with discretion from writers of the past and of the present. Representing tthe_ Victorian period or earlier are Harrison Ainsworth, Charles Dickons, W. M. Thackeray, Charles Kingsley, Sir Walter Scott, Whyte, Melvilc, and others, while modern writers of historical romances include Sabatini himself, E. Barrington, Marjorie Bowen, Baroness Orczy, and John Buchan. No less than 35 writers, living and dead, have been called on, and they contribute among thorn over a thousand pages of fascinating reading. A ‘ Century of Historical Stories ’ is an admirable book for the home, and the price is remarkably cheap. SUBTLE, ORIGINAL, AND TRAGIC Contentment, temptation, deceit, forbidden bliss, torture, and ultimate tragedy find vivid expression in the powerful new novel ‘ Camera Obscura,’ the first English translation of the works of Vladimir Nabokoff-Sirin, rated in tho first flight of Russian literature. There should surely bo a wide demand for further translations as a result of this brilliant book, so commonplace and yet so original. Its subtlety in suggestion, rather than the baldest explanation of many situations, adds immeasurably to the exquisite charm of its smart presentation. Never a superfluous word, deed, or expression tempers the force of its crisp scenes. Laid mainly in Germany, with a Continental motor tour enlivening its later pages, ‘ Camera Obscura ’ is tho study of a sensitive art expert, whose nine years of marital happiness are abruptly terminated when he falls in love with an alluring girl. At first he leads a successful double life, until his simple, unsuspecting wife discovers a note from tho mistress. Even the death of his little daughter from a chill caught because of him fails to bring husband and wife together again, for he is finding his new circumstances too attractive. All is serene until he unwittingly falls victim in similar manner to his wife as a liaison blossoms before him. Under cloak of friendship, the rival revels in the situation, seeing it ns an unscrupulous caricaturist who finds the universe a vast, distorted joke. When the truth dawns on the elder lover ho becomes almost demented, and in this state drives his car to destruction, and himself to total blindness. This is particularly well told. Another cruel twist in his already-tormented life brings the tale to a touching climax. All characters are deftly delineated, and sympathy throughout is with the wrongdoer, whose misdeeds are early forgiven. ‘ Camera Obscura.’ translated by Winifred Roy. is one of those books a reader finds all too short. The review copy was received form Whitcombo and Toombs. The publishers are John Long Ltd., London. ‘ THE HOUSE OF SECRETS » Mr Wyndham Marty n has scored great success with his Anthony Trent books. Trent is an amateur investigator of crimes. A wealthy American, he has made the solving of mysterious crimes his hobby. No matter how risky or how intricate a case, he is ready to take it up, privided it intrigues him. In ‘The House of Secrets,’ a strange affair is related. The scene opens in the Cornish fishing village of Port Idless, when a foreign giant with a fine singing voice arrives there. He is received as a guest at the ancient home of the Ellenglazes. It is given out that he is a protege of the daughter of the house—a rich young woman —who is deeply interested in music and wishes th give the guest a chance to have his voico cultivated. In reality he has come to serve as the girl’s bodyguard. One of tho ultra-modern set, she has spent much of her time on the Continent, and has got into a position in which her liberty is in grave danger. The plot soon thickens, and thrilling events follow one another in quick succession. Trent comes on to the stage, and all his resources are called on to checkmate the villains in the piece. And unmitigated ruffians they prove to he. Those who were thrilled by Mr Martyn’s ‘ Nightmare Castle ’ will not he disappointed by his latest effort. The publishers of ‘ The House of Secrets ’ are Herbert Jenkins Limited. ‘ DEATH’S VISITING CARD ' The regular reader can generally tell whether he is going to like a book after reading the first paragraph. At any rate, he can judge whether or not it is worth pursuing the matter further. ‘ Death’s Visiting Card,’ by John C. Woodiwiss (Andrew Melrose' Limited), opens suggestively; “Nine-thirty had just struck from the clock tower at the end of the pier. Cambourne seemed like some fairyland. Prom end to end of its well-kept front a million points of coloured light shone out of the darkness, while high up on the cliffs the electric signs of its hotels and business houses glowed ' invitingly.” Here it might be supposed pleasure would bo at the helm, but the title of the book, combined with the opening words, suggest sinister possibilities. So it proves. Strange and terrible deeds are recorded, the work of a man with a warped mind, who had sworn a vendetta against society. The plot is skilfully laid, and tho reader has placed in front of him a succession of incidents that-are thrilling to tho last degree. Mr Woodiwiss by this book should establish himself in the front rank of tho writers of mystery stories.

BRILLIANT MYSTERY MIXTURE ' Murder Pie ’ is the arresting title of one of the most fascinating mystery works it has been anyone’s privilege to read. It is made doubly attractive by the fact that each of its 16 thrillpacked chapters was composed by a different author—all Australians, and most of them well known in the literary field. Others include journalists, university iprofessors, a librarian, an actor, and even housewives. One of its two lady editors introduced the main characters, and the pivot around which the action centres —a murder by night in the grounds of Sydney University. The puzzle was then expanded by the remaining collaborators, each contributing his or her mixture of ingredients in sequence after reading the pages completed up to the stage at which he or she was required to begin. It may readily be imagined that with so many thoughtful minds at work, adding pieces to the “ pie ” as they proceeded, a formidable dish, demanding expert treatment, confronted the “chef” entrusted with the final baking, or mature explanation of the mysterious deeds recorded right through the piece. Some chapters are naturally more interesting than others, but the last is a masterly effort, confined as it is to the same limit of under 30 pages allowed every writer. Again, one admires the absence of any glaring lapse in characterisation or conflicting event so liable to have developed under haphazard authorship and laid in wait to disgust an attentive reader. And anyone who comes by this book will assuredly find himself absorbed by its novelty "and variety. Its Completeness is commendable, and its continuity smooth, even as it gains momentum at the hands of all but the mote sedate theorists of some of the earliest chapters. Congratulations have thus been well earned by those responsible for this entertaining ‘ Murder Pie ’ — Misses J. L. Ranken, Jane Clunies Ross (editors). Ruth Bedford, E. Marie Irvine, Ethel Turner, Mrs Noelle Brennan, Professors G. V. Portus, W. J. Dakin, and Walter Murdoch, and Allan Clunies Ross, Bruce W. Pratt, M. Barnard Eldershaw, S. Elliott Napier, C. H. Bertie, Leslie Victor, and Francis Jackson. The review copy was forwarded by the publishers, Messrs Angus and Robertson, Sydney. NOTES Mr Gordon Home has written a volume on York Minster ior Dent’s Cathedrals series, of which he is the editor. The book, which will be ready shortly, is illustrated with the author’s own drawings in half-tone and line.

Hutchinson will shortly publish a book in which Major the Hon. Gerald French, D. 5.0., protests against the attacks made against his father, the late Lord Ypres, in the ‘ Haig Diaries.’ The book is entitled ‘ French Replies to Haig.’

Longmans have published a book entitled ‘ Song for Sixpence,’ by Mr Geoffrey Pollott, a young poet who has been peddling his rhyme sheets in various parts of Southern and Western England. In recording his experiences he describes interviews with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Sir William Rothenstein, Mr G. K. Chesterton, Mr Laurence Housman, Sir Henry Newbolt, and others.

Sir Roger Keyes has written a foreword to a book by Commander John Creswell, R.N.. under the title ‘ Naval Warfare: An Introductory Study.’ The author turns to history, ' and especially the lessons of the War of 1914-18, in considering the naval needs of the British Empire to-day.

The James Fenimore Cooper School Memorial Committee is sponsoring a movement to encourage the commemoration of American men and women of letters by the naming of public schools throughout the United States in their honour. The committee, which is headed by Dr Henry Seidel Canby, has dedicated a bronze placque honouring Fenimore Cooper, a pioneer among American novelists, at the James Fenimore Cooper High School of New York City. At the dedication ceremonies a pageant in commemoration of Cooper’s writings about American Indians was presented by Indians of the Cooper country, including James Deer, Chief of the Six Nations.

Under the no longer unique title, ‘ Olympia.’ a new book has been published by Dr Hermann Popp which will undoubtedly gain for itself a prominent place in the ranks of Olympic literature. The author, unlike many of his colleagues, possesses the advantage of a fundamental philological-historical schooling, and in addition thereto is somewhat of an artist, so that the book will not be dryly academic. As a conclusion to his book, the author sketches briefly the development of sport up to present times. Ho is free from scientific and literary ambitious, and writes for a wide circle of readers, thus offering in his book a comprehensive, pleasant treatment of the theme, “ Olympia.”

From the files of fifty years ago : Some interesting figui'es, which, have been supplied by the chief librarian of the Birmingham Free Libraries, show that the following is the order of Birmingham’s favourite twenty novels. The figures denote, the number of times that the several books were issued from the Central Lending library:—‘The Pickwick Papers’ (389) ; ‘ Bleak House ) (361) ; ‘ David Coppcrfieid ’ (303) ; ‘ Robinson Crusoe ’ (294) ; ' Oliver Twist ’ (278): ‘ Martin Chuzzlewit ’ (224) ; ‘ The Mill on the Floss ’ (217) ; ‘ The Arabian Nights ’ (211) : ‘ Ivanhoe ’ (200) ; ‘ Vanity Fair ’ (195) ; Mrs Wood’s ‘ East Lynne’ (188); ‘ Adam Bede > (181); Mrs Wood’s ‘ Channings ’ (143) ; Kingsley’s ‘Westward Ho!’ (139); ‘ Mv Novel ’ (137) ; 1 John Inglesant ’ (134) ; 1 The Vicar of Wakefield ’ (133) ; ‘ Middlemarch ’ (129); ‘ It’s Never Too Late to Mend ’ (121) ; and Miss Worboiso’s ‘ Fabian ’ (119). The only book in other departments than fiction which would be entitled to a place on the above list is Tennvson’s Poems (13-5).

A gift to the British Museum is the only recorded copy of the official report of the discovery by the Portuguese of the land of the legendary “ Prester John,” now known as Abyssinia. The report, printed at Lisbon in 1521, describes how the Portuguese fleet sailed to Massawa to take back an envoy sent by the Negus to Portuguese India, and what they found. The work has been presented by the Friends of the National Libraries.

Boswell left his papers to tinea literary executors —Sir William Forbes, the banker-poet; the Rev. W. T. Temple, great-grandfather of the present Archbishop of Y'ork; and Edmond Malone, the Shakespearian scholar, who edited the third edition of Boswell’s ‘ Life of Johnson.’ These executors decided to publish no more of Boswell’s writings, and it was left to our own age to discover how much Boswelliana remains in existence and is worthy of print. In March Professor Abbott, of University College, Durham. announced the discovery of more than 1,000 letters written to Boswell, and 119 letters from Samuel Johnson to various correspondents, being part of the material used by Boswell in the famous biography. Professor Abbott also announced 287 drafts or copies of letters written by Boswell himself, only a few of which have been published. The correspondence between Sir William Forbes and Boswell, and the letters which W. T. Temple wrote to Boswell, supplementing the letters of Boswell published in 1857, are also included in Professor Abbott’s discoveries. The Boswell letters came to light in a eountty house in Scotland, once associated with Sir William Forbes. Professor Abbott was fortunate enough to discover that the Forbes papers had been preserved in the house. The Boswell items practically complete the biographer’s correspondence. A catalogue will be published later in the year, HAMLET AS CASE HISTORY The presentation of formal “ case histories ” in a new American novel suggests to Mr Gerald Gould this treatment of a ease from Shakespeare:— Name: Hamlet (jun.). Age: Ambiguous: appears to be the glass of fashion and the mould of form without having taken School Leaving Certificates. Sex •; Male. Birthplace: Denmark. Marital state: Postponed through social diffi. cultics. (1) History of the family. A. Medical: Average, with perhaps ten. dency towards cold funeral baked meats on part of mother. Uncle: Periodic poisoner. Father died in middle lifesuccumbing to a thick ear as determining factor. BOCKS FOR A DESERT ISLAND AY hat books would you take with you to a desert island? In various forms it is a question which has been put manv times, and for me at least it is one that never loses interest (writes ' Coloppon, in John o’ London’s Weekly’). Mr Martin Lindsay, who was cut off from civilisation for. three months on the Greenland Ice Cap, tells [us in ‘ Sledge ’ that his travelling library consisted of ‘ Vanity Fair,’ a small edition of the ‘ Oxford Book of English Verse,’ and a pocket atlas. His two companions also fell hack on the classics when choosing their viaticum. One packed Trollope’s ‘ Barchester Towers’ and “secreted” two minute editions of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘ Macbeth.’. The other took with him Jane Austen’s ‘Emma,’ and a week after leaving, the last outpost of civilisation he “ found ” in his rucksack Mr A. E. Housman's ‘ Shropshire Lad ’ and ‘ Last Poems ' bound in one volume. Mr Lindsay thinks that “to provide a complete diversion one needs something that is not only well written but also exciting enough to occupy one’s whole attention,” and lie suggests that Scott or Dumas would be a good choice for the lonely explorer. “ BUSINESS ENGLISH "

The Earl of Iddesleigh, speaking in London at the annual dinner of the Corporation of Certified Secretaries, replied to criticisms of “ business English ” made by Mr A. P. Herbert. Mr Herbert, he said, had dared to criticise such sacred words as “ ult.,” “ inst. and “ prox.” “ Our reply,” continued Lord Iddesleigh, “is that every profession has its own peculiar verbal traditions. We are proud of these phrases as a nation is proud of its flag. Mr Herbert suggests that these phrases would not look well in poetry. The answer is that we do not expect poets to write business English, nor do we expect business men to write poetry. “ What would Mr Herbert say if he got a letter which began—‘ We are in receipt of your communication of the thirteenth of the maddest, merriest month in all the glad new year Lord Iddesleigh added that Mr Herbert had now joined the House of Commons, an institution famous for its circumlocutory phrases. They mighty well live to see the day when Mr Herbert was found “ exploring every avenue. IRISH MANUSCRIPT PUZZLE Somewhere in Australia, probably near Melbourne, there is an old Irish vellum manuscript which is being eagerly sought by the National Library of Dublin. This ancient document, which is known as the Book of Clonenagh, was written centuries ago in a “dead” Irish tongue. So important is it considered from an historical point of view' (says the Melbourne ‘Age’) that Rev. Father A. J. Fogarty, who arrived by the liner Strathaird, 'has been given the task of tracing its whereabouts. With characterised racial cheerfulness he has come to Australia full of hope, yet not unmindful of the huge task that lies ahead. Unfortunately for him the facts concerning the valuable book’s passage across the seas from Ireland are but few, and he will be forced to assume a role in the nature of a private detective to achieve his purpose. For several hundreds of years the Book of Clonenagh lay in Ballyfiu, Ireland, and in 1800 it caine into the possession of Rev. Valentine Griffith, who was rector of Castle, town. Unfortunately for the Irish people the reverend gentleman presented the manuscript to his son-in-law, Robert Knaggs. who is known to have come to Australia in 1870. Since that time the National Library in Dublin has had only Iv clouded knowledge of the book’s resting place. The last information received stated that it was in the possession of James Knaggs, who was said to be “ an extensive sheep farmer residing somewhere near, Melbourne.” North, south, east, or west was not mentioned, but Father Fogarty is hopeful of success, provided, as he says, “ some charlady has not screwed it up and burnt it.” In addition to his interesting pursuit Father Fogarty will be engaged for five years in missionary work for the Roman Catholic Church in Australia-.