NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15849, 20 February 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

HY CRITIC. It is interesting to note that among all the great and stirring feelings that come as waves over the whole of a nation there still remains the old and primitive one of simple living and loving. For the human mind is capable of only a certain amount of tense national emotion. If there were not the smaller and more commonplace things of daily intercourse, the suspense and excitement engendered by the other would inevitably result in grave mental crises. Nature intervenes here to protect us from ourselves. Thus it happens with our books. We have been keyed up by the rapid march of colossal events, and our intervals should be filled with stories that are, emotionally speaking, less exacting. And so we como to the reaction — the simple annals of living.

" What a Woman Wants"—by Mrs. Henrv Dudenev (Heinemann, Ixuidon : Robertson. Melbourne)is quite effective n.=i an antidote to all the feverishness of this year. Its title appears inartistic. Apparently what a woman wants are a husband and children ; suffer and work she never so much in payment of the fulfilment of her desires. Sordid is the story and somewhat inconsequent. Sarah Dudenev is but following her generation in unrest and dissatisfaction with conditions. (One presumes that her story was ready for publication before the outbreak of war.) Her previous book dealt with illmatched people, and evidenced a similar discontent. But this one has not an artistic setting. Its atmosphere is squalid, without, anything to relievo it. She pictures an insanitary cottage, with an elm tree shadowing it, and so close that when the wind blow;-, the roots of the tree under the house threaten to upheave the wretched structure. On the sofa a consumptive man has died, but it is still slept on. A son drinks most of his substance. The mother sells " teas" to stray trippers, and her earnings are hidden in a wall. Chrismas. her daughter, helps her, and accepts her sordid lot. Suddenly the mother dire, ard Chrism as is unable to keep the little hoard from Andrew, the brother. He becomes miserly, and adds to the hoard. At last he dies, and Chrismas sets out for London. Her sister Ruth, turned away from her mother's door when in need of comfort, has become an actress and married a young peer. Another sister, wife of a commercial traveller, has become sruburban and " superior." Chrismas is wooed by a man who robs her of her £400, and she turns sadly back to the little village and the insanitary cottage. Then there comes a sailor, who, one Sunday night, had made casual love to Chrismas. and who bad for years constituted her secret romance. He is a widower, lame, find has a child, unattractive and peevish. But he considers Chrismas, with her cottage, her "teas," and her old love for him, worth proposing to. " It's you I wants," she sobs. "There's nothing else for women.''

A few months ago many might have scouted Mrs. Dudeney's idea. Now—well, one wonders ! In any case, Mrs. Dudeney knows how to present her story. It may be squalid ; its people may be dull clods, but they interest one extremely. "By the Waters of Sicily"—by Norma the Waters of Sicily"—by Norma Lorimer (Stanley Paul. London)— is most fascinating. It is not entirely descriptive, it is not altogether a novel. But it is a most delightful compound of both, so that you are not sure which you preferthe love interest or the quite delightful pictures of Sicily and the life in that island. There is the village which is off the beaten rack ; there is Villa Politi near Syracuse, where is a German professor whom, from his constancy to a raincoat, they name Herr Macintosh, and where they watch the excavations and the treasures of a buried city. There is Castrogiovanni, where they dislike their treatment. and hasten on. and there is Palermo. Most natural and girl-like is Doris, and most conventional and sedate is J.C., who is the writer of the letters to Louise in England. His ,'oberness and conventionality do not prevent his being much attracted by Doris, and a very pretty and dainty story does Norma Lorimer make of it. All the more does the setting, which bears the impress of accurate description, add to the charm, and a most desirable combination results. So that if you wish to get a»practical idea of how the peasant lives in Sicily, of how the tourist fares, and of what there is to see and to explore in that fascinating island, you will go* it very pleasurably in "The Waters of "icilv."

" Cleared for Action"-—by Howard Steele (Fisher. Unwin' 1 - i > a collection of poems written in .a breezy vein, and with a strong national sentiment running through. The general trend of his subjects aXiheres to the Kipling model, getting down to the stokehold and enginerooms of the ships. " The Dice of Love"—by Edmund Bosanquet (Long, London)tells, a veryseamy kind of tale. Mrs. Kyrdagh is a par\enu, unable to rise to the instincts of her well born husband. She dates from his college days. Her son is of the Mime stamp as his father, and if Mr. Kyrdagh bad not died suddenly when he did, there would have been a similar mesalliance for the impulsive son. But since Mrs. Kyrdagh inherits all the property, her son becomes penniless and dependent upon her. She. while yet a. recent widow, proposes to marry an oTTJ friend, and her son makes good, marries the girl whom he loves, and receives from his godfather the gift of the family home, then bought in at a high price from Mrs. Kyrdagh. ... "The War and Democracy"—by R. W. Watson and three others (Maclndian. London)—i* an admirable review of the causes which have plunged Europe into war. It goes deeply and far back into history. " lhere are still large sections of the community who fail to realise the vasTness of the issues at stake, the formidable nature of the forces ranged against us, and the true inner significance of the struggle. All that is worth living for depends, upon the outcome of this war. The word 'citizen' has acquired a ' new depth and significance for the men and women of our generation."

1 lies*, remarks are quoted from a pre | face signed by the four collaborators in I the writing of the book. The various j chapters have been distributed among ' them. For instance, Mr. J. Dove Wilson has contributed that of The National Idea in Eurojie . Alfred E. Limmern. of i New College, Oxford, has written on Ger- j many; "'lhe Issues of War" has been I contributed by R. W. Watson, and ! Arthur Greenwood has written the tion I on the "Social and Economic Aspects of I the War." ! I " State Marriage and Christian MarriagV—by R. H. Hobday (S.P.C.K.. London) is an addition to the controversy that has ratted round the Ne Temere decree. Its author is the vicar of Brooklyn, Wellington. A second matter of discussion in the essay is that of marriage with a deceased wife's sister. " The Song of the Guns" is bv Herbert Kaufmann (Either, Unwin). Here is a verse fiom Kaufman's modest volume, which will appeal. It is entitled. " Wilhelm the Mongol" :—-

Some say that there s a Mongol strain in Prussian blood ; That when there burst from the fell East that yellow flood Of flat-fneed devils, sprung from hell's own womb, And Attila left Rome behind, a tomb; The Hunnish tribesmen railing in the West. Left many a Hunmsh babe at German breast. This is sheer legend. Yet, if the tale be true. How proud to-day were Attila of you! The authors other versei has a characteristic swing, and is pervaded by a keen and Strong military spirit. " The Prevention and Control of Monopolies"—by \\. Jethro Brown (Murray, London) —treats of economic questions. Syndicalism, strikes, nationalisation, and kindred matters are dealt with in a succinct and scholarly maimer.