BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 241, 10 September 1932, Page 9

BOOK NOTES

EDGAR WALLACE,

“My Hollywood Diary,” by the late Edgar Wallace, is the unconscious revelation of an extremely likeable character. it consists of letters written daily to Mrs Wallace on his voyage to America, and during the .sojourn from which lie was never to return. It abounds in references and messages to his children, all under their nicknames, a sure sign of domestic felicity. He is anxious that Mrs Wallace should join him, but does not press her as, with the time available, the strain of the journey would scarcely be worth while. He is constantly doing kindly actions without realising that they are kindly. He encountered a young Englishman who was .miserable at being separated fiont liis wife. Wallace was at pains to arrange for them to have a talk by wireless telephone. He was a homelover, and regrets that he shall be away during the Master holidays. “But I shall be back for my birthday (loud dicers).” His prediction was not fulfilled.

Wallace liked the Americans, and they liked him. But despite all the feting and compliments, lie remained a sturdy patriot. At first lie was impressed by the great waterways, hut by and by they began to jar on him. “To-night we cross the Missouri and that, I hope, will be the end of all this river nonsense. After all, the Thames takes a lot of beating.” He had heard dreadful tilings about Hollywood, but as far as he could see it was quite reputable. Might is thrown upon Wallace’s methods of work —for which he was a glutton. He had no vanity, and gladly fell in with the suggestions of publishers or producers. or his own second thoughts. One Sunday, beginning in the afternoon and leaving intervals for meals, lie had done 10.000 words by 10. OU p.m. In six days, lie mentions, lie wrote a scenario, a short story, and 20,000 words of a new story. This explains his prolificness. Although his pen was facile it was not feeble. His worth as a writer should not lie underrated. He did not aim high, but he gave pleasure to millions, and, in their class, his plays and novels have few superiors.

WANDERERS IN A MIST

Heinz Liepmann’s “Wanderers in the Mist” is divided into two parts, the first describing peasant life in prewar Russia, the second revealing Herr Liepmann’s “wanderers” in north German cities during the early years of peace. A peculiarity of the hook is the author’s sensitiveness to environment, for the first section of the novel appears to be modelled upon the Russian masters, while his German origin becomes apparent only when the scene changes to Berlin. This abrupt alteration in stylo and method, might have proved more successful had Herr Liepmann also forsaken his knack of confusing the Issue by running one incident into another before revealing the significance of what has gone befoie, and allowing his characters to wallow in misery whenever they feel so inclined. Scenes of extraordinary. violence are enacted from time to time, especially among the Russian characters, and it is not altogether easy to understand what is causing these people to behave so unreasonably an unusual complaint to make against a book by a German writer. Feodor is the most important ot Herr Liepmann’s wanderers. As a boy in Russia lie suffered from the harsh treatment accorded to his parents by the district’s landed proprietor. As a young ex-serviceman lie went to Uer"lin deeply troubled because ‘happiness” had so far eluded him, and gradually coming to the conclusion that his desires could only be fulhlled in a world in which the individual counted for more than he does in modern society. Vet Feodor’s personality could never raise him above the general level, and he was doomed to be swept along haplessly with the “collective consciousness.” One takes leave of l'eo dor as he stands over a corpse in a Berlin street, waiting for the police to nrrest him on a charge of murder, because, he moodily explains, only criminals who are punished can evei free themselves from their conscience.

“TEA.” In “The Book of Tea” Mr Okakura Kakuzo, late director of the Japanese Academv of Art, says that tea began as a medicine, and grew into a, beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements, and seven bundled years later Japan ennobled it mto a religion of aestheticism. In 1610 the Dutch introduced the first samples to Europe, and it has since then spread its fragrant aroma throughout tho globe, [n its triumphal progress it encountered opposition. In 1285 a Chinese Mims ter ot Finance increased the taxes on tins commodity, and was very l )ro pery turned out of office In England, lie etics like Seville, 1678, denounced drinking it as a filthy custom, while Jonas Hanway, 1756. asserted that men seemed to lose their stature and comeliness and women their beauty through the use of tea. It survived these assaults. Imbibed in judicious quantities tea can produce a rapturous ecstasy. Tung, the poet, lias written: ine first cup moistens my moutn and throat; the second cup breaks my loneliness; the third cup searches my barren entrail. . . • The fourth cup raises a sli'dit perspiration—all the wrong oi life passes away through my pores. At .lie fifth cup 1 am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms ot the immortals. The seventh cup—all, but i could take no more!” That is scarcely surprising. An appendix by I rolessor A. L. Sadler, of the University ot Sydney, contains interesting information about the etiquette and observances connected with the procedure of teadrinking in Japan.