BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 23657, 17 August 1940, Page 4

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

A Literary Corner .

VERSES

SILENT SERVICE Now, multifold, let Britain’s patient power Be proven within us for the world to see. None are exempt from service in this hour; And vanquished in ourselves we dare not be. Now, for a sunlit future, we can show The clenched resolved endurance that defies Daemons in dark, —and toward that future go With earth’s defended freedom in our eyes. In every separate soul let courage shine— A kneeling angel holding faith’s front lino, —Siegfried Sassoon, in the ‘ Observer.’

THE TORCH

This is the Chapel; here, my son, Your father thought the thoughts of youth, And heard the words that one by one The touch of Life has turned to truth. Here in a day that is not far, You too may speak with noble ghosts Of manhood and the vows of war You made before the Lord of Hosts. To set the Cause above renown, To love the game beyond the prize, To honour, while you strike him down, The foe that comes with fearless eyes; To count the life of battle good, And dear the land that gave you birth, And dearef yet the brotherhood That binds the brave of all the earth. —Henry Newbolt, in his poem ‘ Clifton Chapel.’ '

THOMAS HARDY

ACCIDENT THAT HELPED TO FAME * It is a century, since Thomas Hardy, one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian era, was born at Upper Bockhampton, near Dorchester, in a little thatched cottage standing on the elope leading up to Bockhampton Heath; and it is 75 years ago since he appeared in print for the first time in 1 Chambers’s Journal,’ dated March, 1865. ■, > No one could have imagined that the article in question, which was called ‘ How I Built Myself a House,’ was to mark the advent of a writer destined eventually to attain a world-wide fame. At that time, indeed, he was studying architecture and writing a little verse now and then in his leisure hours. That early training in architecture is traceable in much that he wrote, in his Ipve for old buildings;* and the accuracy of. the architectural "in his descriptions of buildings in His novels. Also, I think (writes Clive Holland, in the ‘ New York Times Magazine ’), in the “ architecture” of his prose works and of. ‘ The Dynasts.’ His,first novel was published in 1871 and was called ‘ Desperate Remedies.’ It was a sensational story_ which was really neither good of its kind nor successful. Not all the copies of the first edition were sold, and some unbound coupiee were eventually disposed of as waste paper I Only a year passed, however, before ‘ Under the Greenwood Tree ’ appeared, and Hardy had “ arrived ” as a novelist. Though no bestseller, the story enjoyed a fair measure of success and was praised by the reviewers, and was described by one critic as “a rural painting of the Dutch School.”

A small event has sometimes a great influence. Frederick Greenwood, at the time the editor of the ‘ Cornhill,’ happened to be waiting for a train at the bookstall of Charing Cross Station, looking for something to read on the journey. His eye was caught by the title ‘ Under the Greenwood Tree.’ There was his own name, he afterwards said when speaking of Hardy, staring him in the face. He decided to gamble on it. He bought a copy of the novel and liked it so much that he asked Hardy to call, and, after an interview, arranged for him to write a serial for the magazine he edited, and 1 Far From the Madding Crowd ’ was the result. It is generally considered one of the best three of the Wessex novels, as well as one of the most, if not the most, dramatic. ; , Over and over again people—critics and others—have that Hardy was not only a pessimist, but also an atheist. At the end of a long friendship I held the same opinion that I gained during the earlier daysnamely, that he was a sincere agnostic, hut was also a diligent and, perhaps, frustrated searcher after truth. At all events I do not think in the end he discovered what he sought: and that fact, together with his great disappointment that he had no children, mii.y account for the bleak outlook he had on life, and the sense of futility that pervaded many of his characters.

HOW TO READ A BOOK

Solitary reading is comparable to solitary drinking, Professor Mortimer J. Adler, of the TJniversity of Chicago, author of ‘ How to Read a Book,’ tolfl members of the American Booksellers’ Association recently. Professor Adler advised the booksellers to_ take the initiative in developing reading groups to read and discuss the same boohs. “ Solitary reading is not as much fun as bookish conviviality,” he said. “ There is too little talking about books with others who have read the same books. I say a great pleasure and a great source of fruitfulness come from reading books with others and discussing them. The variety of approaches to the same book opens up understanding.” Professor Adler asserted that reading books was tbe ideal form of adult education, for which he said he appreciated the need “ because as a teacher I am deeply aware of the failure of the school system.” Too often those seeking adult education, the speaker added, make the mistake of patterning it after schoolroom practices or the lecture habit. The latter, ho said, is a failure because it involves a passive audience, which enables “ the lecture notes of the professor to become the lecture notes of the student without passing through the minds of cither.”-

T. E. LAWRENCE'S LIFE AT PLYMOUTH

Another hook on Lawrence of Arabia seemed impossible, or, if possible, undesirable. But here is a new one, and a good one. It adds considerably to the published record of a remarkable man, and, when I compare it with my own memories, it is entirely convincing (writes John Brophy, in ‘ John o’ London’s Weekly ’). It presents Lawrence as Aircraftman T, E. Shaw, on and off duty, and reveals the great tracts of his personality which were entirely normal, common to decent humanity, the plain man enclosing the small, fertile kernel of genius. He is seen picnicking,, playing with dogs and children, even mending a scent spray. The book should go a long way towards making Lawrence understood. 1 The author, Mrs Clare Sydney Smith, is the wife of the (Royal Air Force officer who commanded the Mount Batten Station at’ Plymouth where T.E. was stationed for many years, where he was busy and happy, and whence he used to make those startlingly swift journeys on his motor bicycle to London. Her book, ‘ The Golden Reign ’ (Cassell, 12s 6d) takes its. title from the name T.E. applied to his period of service at Mount Batten. THE FLIGHT FROM PUBLICITY. It is the story of a deep, informal, and affectionate friendship between Mrs Sydney Smith, her husband, and her daughter on one side, and T.E. on the other, a friendship which began with two casual meetings in Cairo soon after the Arabian campaign finished, and was taken up after 10 years when T.E., as an aircraftman, was more or less smuggled back from India to avoid publicity. Mrs Sydney Smith knows the whole inside story of this cinema chase by newspaper reporters ancF photographers, and tells it amusingly. At Mount Batten T.E. was at first put on routine dutieSj but his C.O. soon realised that, even in the ranks, his abilities were worth using. He did confidential office work_ for a time, and then began the period of experiment on motor boats. Mrs Sydney Smith reveals that a new Brough motor bicycle was awaiting him on his return, a present (made anonymously) by Mr and Mrs Bernard Shaw. Similarly, his chief work for the R.A.F. developed out of a present, a 100-b.p. speedboat given to him and the Sydney Smiths jointly by Major Colin Cooper. It was 'christened the “ Bisquit.” T.E, taught Mrs Sydney Smith to manage it, and they had many pleasant trips together in and around Plymouth Sound. T.E., in his thorough-going way, learned the mechanics of the boat by taking the engine to pieces. That stimulated him to think out improvements for the regulation R.A.F. boats, and out of his ideas gradually developed a new type, for which he wrote the official text book, and which even the Admiralty eventually took up. _ On this basis T.E.’s new profession was founded, which gave him contentment almost to his last days. In addition, he drew a deep happiness from his friendship for the Sydney: Snath family, and those who: are interested in British psychology wjll find it a fascinating study to estimate the quality and strength'of the affection here indicated obliquely rather than demonstrated in conversations, minor adventures. and many letters. This book should put an end to the legend that T.E. was a woman-hater; it was only certain women who made him embarrassed or resentful, and Mrs Sydney Smith was not among them.

JEWS AMD THE THINGS OF THE MIND

A London bookseller recently issued a catalogue of more than 2.500 books and letters, assembled under the title • The Jewish Contribution to Civilisation.’ . ■ _ . In a fine introduction Stefan Zweig observed that this appears to be the first attempt of a bookseller “ to give a Bibliographical survey of the entire contribution made by Jews, of all nations to philosophy, literature, art, music, and science.”. The record is restricted to creative works in the course of 2,000 years, titles dealing with the Jewish question having been eliminaTho success of this astonishingly large compilation (says Philip Brooks, in the * New York Times ’) is due largely to the unwitting collaboration of the Nazi Government. This is not to disparage the pioneer quality of the list, but its definition of a Jew is simply based upon the Nuremberg race laws and is therefore, as broad in its inclusiveness as it is narrow in ite implied prejudice. Each author whoso works are represented is introduced by a biographical account. Much of the matter is controversial, and the note on Columbus extends to over a full page. The entry purports to show that Columbus was of Jewish origin, that nearly all the associates in his enterprise were Jewish, and that the famous letters in which he announced his discovery were addressed to his Jewish patrons, Santangel and SanCh The presence of Montaigne’s « Essays ’ in the first Paris edition and the famous Florio translation is explained partly on the grounds that Montaigne’s mother came from a family that had sought refuge from the Inquisition in Bordeaux, and partly because Florio was of Jewish, extraction.

MIRROR OF BRITAIN

A barrier against British books being bought in many foreign countries-is being "swept away by the Export Books Scheme, a plan allowing foreign book-

sellers to stock books about Britain and the British Commonwealth without the risk of copies being left on jffieir hands unsold. Already some 6,500 titles, representing many aspects of national and Commonwealth life and culture, have been made available to foreign booksellers, and the lists will be constantly extended to include new books. From these lists foreign. booksellers will place their orders according to the likely tastes of their customers, and at the end of a specified period the publishers will credit the retailers with the cost of untold copies. These volumes will then be bought from the publishers by the British Council, a cultural organisation for presenting the British point of view to foreign peoples, and the books will be distributed in the course of the council’s work. The lists of books have been compiled by experts in the various _ subjects, which are so diverse as British law, rural economy, the Englishwoman, architecture, the County of Sussex, music, art, and British ships and seamen. Other sections deal with individual countries in the British Commonwealth and with the Commonwealth as a whole. , Booksellers in some foreign countries find it impossible to pay for their stocks in sterling; in such cases arrangements are made for payment in local currency.

WOMEN DICKENS WROTE ABOUT

‘ Some Dickens Women ’ is the inviting title of an article by Audrey Lucas in the summer number of the ‘ Yale Review.’ Were Dickens’s good women dull, the bad ones incredible, as is commonly said ? That is fairly fair, but we must remember that Dickens was bound by a literary convention. As a rule women of no or doubtful virtue were not tolerated in print. Thackeray’* Becky Sharp was a brilliant exception. Miss Lucas even wonders that he “ got away” with her. This propriety in print didn’t reflect the Victorian age, which was like any other and full or scandals. Miss Lucas finds a pleasant amusement in going through Dickens’s novel* and classifying. the women 'characters. Her own distribution includes the heroines or innocents: the “ fallen,” such a* Lady Dedlock; the borderline of those wbo remain virtuous, but by temperament or circumstance come nearer than is comfortable to the edge. To this last class belong, for jnstance, Rosa Dartk and Lizzie Hexam. There are also the comic, the most delightful, but too numerous for Miss Lucas to exhibit. Then there are the “ waifs and strays.’ 1 such as Jenny Wren and the Marchioness, Mrs Richard Swiveller that is, and Miss Havisham. - Of Dora and Agnes, Estella, and many others in the Dickens gallery of feminine portraits Miss Lucas writes with acute intelligence, whethei you agree or quarrel with her. If we dare to reproach her (says an editorial in the ‘ New York Timps ’) it is because she doesn’t give more space to Betsey Trotwood, and among these figures we look in vain for a minor but memorable one, the charwoman that told Mr Mortimer Knag, who had just given the order “ Hold your tongue, female,” that, “ with respect to being a female, sir, I should wish to know what you consider yourself?”

NOTES

Mr William Gerhardi and Mr’ HugS Kingsmill may have earned'the'gratitude of the future historians hf our age by exchanging a series of letters in which they deliberately set out to give an informal picture or the contemporary' world and its celebrities. _ The unusual book, that has resulted will be published byTlale with the title ‘ Era* balmed For Posterity.’ '

ifr Louis Golding makes an illuminating confession in his travel-autobio-graphy, ‘ The World I Knew,’ just published by Hutchinson. Some of the novels ? he wrote before ‘ Magnolia Street’ earned so little, he says, that they did not even pay for typing exEenses. Among them was “ the best I ave ever written, or will ever write, which sold 200 copies, and then was S’ d for waste paper.” Has no pubhad the courage to reissue it?

The blue, purple, green, and . whit* of Mr Paul Henry’s Irish landscapes are well known. He has now collaborated with Mr Sean O’Faolain in producing a book about Ireland called ‘ Irish Journey,’ to be published this month by Longmans. It records “ sen- " timental-humorous ” impressions of a recent tour.

Peter Davies hope to publish in May a long first novel. ‘ The Bridge of Heaven.’ by Mr S. I. Hsiung. author of ‘ Lady Precious Stream.’ ' About the same time we may expect a hew novel, ‘ Gipsy, Gipsy,’ by Miss Burner Godden, whose * Black Narcissus ’ was an inter* » national best-seller last year.

The number of words in a book remains the basis on which its price i« computed under the new voluntary agreement between, publishers and tha chief lending libraries. The agreement, which came into force recently, establishes a sliding scale of prices ranging from 7s fid for a novel 75,000 words or under to 9s fid for a novel of 120,000 words or over. The objection to this is that it tends to penalise the _ writer of "the long novel, for the libraries will naturally prefer to buy their fiction at 7s fid. ’

_ Miss Georgette Heyer. whose earlier historical novels were cloak-and-sword romances, did some solid research work before writing ‘ The Spanish Bride,* which she determined to make historically and technically accurate. Per heroine was the wife of Brigade-major Harry Smith, one of Wellington’s staff officers. In later life (Miss Heyej’s story does not take him so far)'Smith became Governor of South Africa, and the town of Ladysmith was named after his wife. Miss Heyer also writes detective stories—under her own name. In private life she is Mrs G. R. Rougier. At one time she and her husband, i who had been a well-known Rugby footballer, kept a sports shop at Horsham.