IN THE LIBRARY

Northern Advocate, 16 November 1929, Page 7

IN THE LIBRARY

THE CHOICE OF BOOKS

In the course of an address on the choice of books Mr J. F. Roxburgh, an English public school headmaster, said:

! Do not be so foolish as to think that a book is a,.great book because it is ah ugly bopk, or that because a novel is ignoble hs a representation - of humanity it must therefore be meritorious as a work of art. Ido not believe,you are in danger of thinking that, and, in any case, time and'the whole movement of thought are against the “realists”—as they call themselves. Always distrust a man who calls himself a “realist”

’—whe-

ther he is a French politician or an English author—and it is wise to be a little circumspect about too. Both the idealist and the realist believe that their dreams*"are true, but the idealist dreams of heaven, as.d the realist of hell. Distrust them both—but especially the realist. But there is another type of author writing today, and another type of ,book being published. Its inspiration is* a reaction against the noisy literature of ugliness, and its aim is to_let the reader quietly enjoy the taste of life—of, life as it really is, infinitely various but always lovable. I’do’not need to commend to you Mr Galsworthy, who writes on last century with an art that belongs to this. You know Conrad, of course, and I hope you know Mr Tomlinson, who has_so many of his virtues and so few of his faults. If you have not read “Gallions Reach” I envy you—you have a delightful experience in front of you. .Then there is Mr Walpole, who does not always write on Barchester themes,'but has given us “The Dark Forest” in one mood and “Jeremy” in another. There is Mr Mottram, and if you like something farther removed from everyday things, you can enjoy the fantasies of ,Mr David Garnett and the delicate, perfection! of his “Lady Into Fox.” ~Tf you /want something more fanciful still (here I am leaving fiction behind for a moment) and are tired of your Lewis Carrol and your Stevenson, you have the “Pooh” books of Mr Milne, and Christopher Robin’s Garden of "delightful Verses. The country is full of men whb are looking at, life quiet-, ly, humorously, and sympathetically, and writing of it with consummate art. And not this country only. Willa Gather is, an American and she writes of how “Death Conies for .the Archbishop” with a mastery of English rarely found in England. Thornton Wilder’s “Bridge of San -LuisRey” is, I believe, the besf book I haVe read;/since the war, and -The Cabala” is not unworthy of it.

“REBECCA” OF “IVANHOE”

Among the Jews of the United States the name of Rebecca Gratz is famous because of the charitable work, she accomplished in the first hajif of last century. To a larger is, interesting, because ,she was- the original of Sir Walter Scott’s, character of Rebecca in “Ivanhoe.” Rabbi Philipson, in his introduction to “The Letters fof Rebecca Gratz,”, tells the story of the connection; *. Matilda Hoffman, Washington Irving’s: fian-' cee, to whose memory after' her untimely death he remained faithful all his life, was the daughter of an intimate friend of Rebecca Gratz, whom Irving thus caiifle .to knpw weTTapd to admire , greatly.Sopn Hoffman's death Irving went .to: Europe and in 1817 began his friendship with Scott, who, presumably discussed, wtih hifn his plan for a novel 'with; Jews artfong its characters, and heard about the lovely and capable American Jewess whom Irving numbered? among jiis friends. When the novel; appeared in 1819 Scott wrote ing, saying: “How do you like your Rebecca? Does the Rebecca I hate pictured compare well with the origi-, nal?” Miss Gratz knew thatjhe had, unknowingly, furnished the pattern, for the picture, and, when asked if she had 'been the model, was accus-, tomed to answer, “They say so.”

OLD AND NEW BOOKS

“I hate to read new books,” wrote Hazlitt in his essay, “Oh Reading Old Books.”! I do not think the worse of a book for having survived the author a generation or two. I have' more confidence in the dead than the living. Contemporary winters may, generally be divided into two classes, —one’s friends or one’s foes. Of the first w(f. are compelled to, think tod well,.and of the last we are disposed, to think too ill, to receive much" genuine pleasure from the perusal, On to judge fairly of the merits of, either. . One candidate for literary fame, who happens to be of out acquaintance, writes finely, and like a, man of genius; but unfortunately has a foolish face, which spoils a delicate passage-—another • inspires us with the highest respect for his personal talents and character, does not quite come up to our expectations in print. All these contradictions and petty details interrupt the calm current of our reflections. If you want to know what any of the authors were who lived before oOr time, and are still objects of ankipus inquiry, you have only to look into their works. But the dust and stnoke and noise of modern literature have nothing in colnmon With the pure, silent air of 1 immortality.

(BY “THE BOOKMAN.”)

A LAST APPEAL.

LITERARY NOTES.

When she (Mrs Badman) drew . near her end, she called for her husband, and when he was come to her, £ she told him, that noijv he and she.-) must part, and said she, God knows, and thou shalt know, that I have been : a loving, faithful wife unto thee; my prayers have been many for thee; and as for all the abuses that I have re- ; ceived at thy hand, those I freely and heartily forgive, and still.shall pray for thy conversion,- even as long as I breathe in this world. But husband, I am going thither, where no bad man 5 shall come, and if thou dost not con-. vert, thou wilt never see me more with comfort; let not my plain words offend thee: I am thy dying wife, and of my faithfulness to thee, would i leave this exhortation with, thee;- ' Break off thy sins, fly to God for, t , mercy while mercies gate stands .1 open; remember, that the day is com-, ‘ ing when thou, though now lusty and ’ well, must lye at the gates ;of death, ] as I do: And what wilt thou then do, if thou shalt be found with; a naked . soul, to meet with the Cherubims '■ with their flaming swords ? Yea, what • wilt thou then do; if x Death\and Hell shall come to visit thee, and thou in / thy ,sins, and under ■ the Curse of the Law?—John Bunyan (“The -Life and .j Death of Mr Badman”).

i 1 ' 1 A TRAVELLING BOOK.

Few travelling books are better than a good anthology of poetry, in

which every page contains -something complete find perfect in itself. The . v brief respite? from labour 'which the self-immolated tourist allows himself cannot be more delightfully filled than with the reading of poetry* whTch;'?/ may even be got by heart.—Aldous Huxley, in “Along the Road;” , •'

The “Life of Viscount Gowdray.”. written by Mr J. A. Spender, is just .'ll published by - ; <1 ' 4 * /* Mr A. A. Milne has a fresh collection of essays appearing with Meth- ; uen under the title “By Wfiy of In-\!

troduction.” ! • 9 • • (■. ) i- ; John Murray will have J&e new, Vi two-volume edition of ‘‘The Life Benjamin Disraeli” ready tjiis month. Nothing is omitted from the l , original ■ six volumes, and George Earle Buckle • has carefully revised the work. » i t • . • • ■ ■ [; r Lady Cynthia Asquith for sev- . era! Christmases compiled books *with a “gru” in them. One, she called ,*; “The ' Ghost Book,” another “The Black Cap,” and now she has done i, “Shudders.” Its contents->>are new stories with thrills in them, all provided by well-known writers, The list , ‘ of these Includes Hugh - Waipole, Ei * F., Benson, Somerset Maugham, W. JJ. Maxwell, and '.Walter de la Mare. Thp Hutchinsphs/‘announce the volume, ' t ■ •'

Some interesting books are promised by the Longmans in an “English Heritage Series/’ which Lord Left J and J. C. Squire edit. J. B. Priestly ;| lias written one on “English Humour,” 5 ' and he, begins by relating humour to the Engiish mind and character. Then 'lj follows an account of its various. f | manifestations in the theatre, in art,' - 5 and in literature. Another volume ,1 is on “The English Public School,” •) and by Bernard Darwin. A * - » • • *;&

One of the most interesting figures fof the Middle Ages was Anna Comnena, Princess and first of women historians. Hitherto, however, she ' and her works have had no great attention in England. For that reason ■Mrs Georgina Buckler has written a study of her and them for the Oxford ; Press. Her life of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Commenus, deals with a period of the | world which has a permanent inter-' jj est, for it included the Crusade. V| Anna’s is also the only Greek account - we have of the Western Crusaders who passed through Constantinople. ••• ' • ' “I Will be Good,” , a book of mem- ? cries by Dion Claytbn Calthrop, ap- , peared from Cassel in September. The memories have mostly to do with everyday life in Victorian times and /j the title is a remark attributed to ■Queen Victoria when she was a child. .; Another Cassell book, by H. G. ; Wortham, is a study of three women who left their mark on the world— * St. Teresa, Madame de Choiseul, and | Mrs Eddy, of Christian Science, fame. ■ A modern biography of Attila the Hun, written by M, Marcel Biron and | translated by Mr Harold Ward, is | also among Cassell’s books. \

Rebecca West has got far enough ,| with a new novel she is writing to .1 name it “Harriet Hume,” one sup- | poses after the heroine. Michael Arlen puts five stories of modern life ;| into a volume which will have the | title, “Babes in the Wood.” W. B. Maxwell has done a tale, “Himself and Mr Raikes,” which concerns a highly sensitive young man. These ; books are announced by Hutchihson. |

* * • • Mr Philip Guedella, who is working on a life of the “Iron Duke,” has just had’ published a volume of essays, “The Missing Muse,” through , fiodder and Stopghton.