CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

NEW BOOKS. ' '..'.."'. «>. ;■■" " " .'. BX CRITIC. '"■','; While the world is interestedly Watching the negotiations between the Allies of the late war, negotiations which, owing to the differing temperaments of the Gallic and the Saxon, are continually threatened with complete break-down, it is, perhaps, as well to read a sympathetic account of France at the close of hostilities'. Everyone echoes the opinion that if the Allies won the war, Germany won the peace. Owing to the precipitancy in closing the conflict, America is largely blamed, whether or not with justification, for this; and American writers may have the right to explain. One of their authors is accredited with an open mind and a respect for England. His book is now before' us. ' -',:'"!'■'

OWEN WISTER AND EUROPE, " Neighbours Henceforth" (Macraillan, London) is the promising title oE Owen Wister's book. What does he make of things He travelled right . through Prance, a year after the war; and his impressions have all their usual freshness and philosophy. His book was written too soon to give enlightenment on the situation to-day; but he emphasises this truth, that America can no longer play a lone hand, but must do team work with Europe. She can never break away again : We shall play the part of creditor gracefully if Europe, plays the debtor's part gracefullythe signs are good. I can remember that it was a rare thing to hear foreign news discussed by Americans of any class. It is now the subject of daily conversation, not only in marble hails, but in street cars. In the Back Bay station in Boston there is a bootblack who comments on France and Germany and Mr. Lloyd George as he polishes my shoes; when I was an undergraduate, I could have walked the length of Beacon Street with its leading citizen and never once touched upon foreign affairs. Its most significant chapter is "By Their Fruits," wherein he gives figures for German finance —successful; recalls Velleins Pateroulus who wrote of their "cunning in ferocity, born to be," he recalls their, present industry— will cheat you yet,' those junkers" can hardly overpraise their team work or over-damn the wabbling incoherence of some of their adversaries into whose feeble hands, Foch, the soldier, delivered them in November 1918.

" Orchard"— Warwick Deeping {Cassell, London) — romantic, charminglywritten story of the Civil Wars between the Stuarts and the Cromwollians. Falconer, happy in the possession of a very beautiful home, falls in love with Rachel Charney who comes of noble but rough stock. She behaves imprudently with ont> Windebank, and her father insists upon her marriage to Falconer. Discovering her aversion he allows her to return home. War 1 * breaks out, and ho follows the Royalists. Meantime, she grows to love her husband. Her former lover from being a Colonel under Charles, renegades to the other side because Rachel is witness to his murder of another admirer. He carries with him her burning words of contempt and when opportunity gives the Cromwellians Orchards, the beautiful home of the Falconers, he uses his position to terrorise the household. His soldiers demolish the beauty, destroy the gardens and orchards, ill-treat the ser. vants, and Windebank is demanding Rachel herself when a faithful friend", Fanny Jukes, shoots him. Close upon the heels of this, Falconer's troop arrives, routs the Cromwellians. But duty calls him back to headquarters and ho is killed at Copredy. : .■/_.. .-, r :._•.-;. .' "- -,-"" "Three Soldiers"— John Don Pasos (Hirst and Blackctt, London).—ln this well-filled novel the author writes what constitutes in some respects an indictment of the conduct of that part of the war which was managed by Americans. The mud, the squalor, the discifcnfort—are i these responsible for Fuseli returning, diseased and distracted, instead of, as he fondly hoped, promoted and glorified? Does the author hit at the polyglot nature of the American 'army? His picture is realistic, and should certainly inform Americans that neither their men nor their management was perfect. But there are two ways of looking at most things; and John Don Passos has left «a no illusions. - " Carnac "—by Gilbert Parker (Hodder Stoughton, London).—Quite a good story of Canada, but marred by evidently hurried writing. It reads as if the author had allowed himself a very short time to work out his tale. It is of the younger son of a successful, mill owner, tarmac, who will not settle down to commerce, but dabble;; with art. Loving Junia, he, when half-drank, is married to a' designing girl. Entering politics, he finds himself a rival to his own father—the author then proceeds to cut Carnac out of the net. The marriage is annulled; the unacknowledged father dies: 'Carnao marries Junia, his mother recovers from her severe illness; and the mill becomes the youth'B property with Tarboo as his manager. » The; Lighter Side of School Life "— (N. Foulis, London).—lan Hay's ■ capital contribution to the literature of school life in England. Amusing and interesting all the way. " Secret Drama "—by Isabel Beaumont, (Melrose, London).—lf the reader can get beyond ' the inartistic and freakish covec*—why do 'artists {perpetrate s this kind of cover this £250 prize : novel will hold their interest. It is a tragedy— that of the mother waiting for years for her daughter's return, only to find Marie ultra-modern, unloving, and vulgar. She is de«mci\-it<3ly anxious for Mario to marry; 'fearful Jest another tenant of her rooms may attract Marie's man, and her anxiety is reflected in the attempt of her half-witted relative Bessie Hammond, to poison the supposed rival of Marie. In being a picture of a number of women sharing the same! house, and reflecting modern iews, the story is clever and compelling. : t / "London Vlgnettes"-by Sophie ; Cole (Miller and Boon, London).— authoress has a decided gift for retelling the stories of . quaint places in London. She can make a visit to that very dull institution Madame Tussauds', an interesting one; she introduces a ghostly accompaniment in the shape of Mr. Lemure r* spirit of the past/and with him wanders among the haunts of old London, explaining and describing very prettily. Her "vignetbiis',' include many 'ess well-known coiners of the city. "The House of Discord "—by Mary and Thomas Hanshew (Hutchinson, London).—A detective story in which an electrically wired spinning wheel fires a bullet straight at a man's' heart, and a vendetta of seventeen years' standing is responsible for a wob of intrgue. The smart detective has very familiar manners, and ■is very easily taken into the bosom of the aristocratic old Scottish family, but if you overlook these defects, an hour's amusement is provided. ""' ■" " The Hidden Force "—by Louis Conperus (Cape, London).—Translated by A. T. de Mattns. . this novel by a Dutch author is full of excellent material concerning life in Java. The governor, Van Oudjick, with his beautiful, indolent, and capable, upright man, Van Oudjick falls, and is distracted. Something in the air, the climate, works against ■ success in the white. Among the collection of Dutch officials and their families, the best type is Eva Eldersma, who remains ' energetic and-continues to hold social receptions, insists upon regulation evening dress, and is thoroughly European. She, in the end, returns to Europe, the resident, a broken man, knows that he can never leave Java. The novel is powerful, and written by a master. " The Lady of Lambourne"—by Chester Keith (Allen and Unwiri, London) —is a story of mediaeval times,, dealing with the adventures of "star-crossed" lovers. ' " Time O'Lilacs"—by S. C. Nelhersole (Mills and Boon, London) — a volume of short stories, pleasantly told.

"The Nineteen Hundreds "—by Reginald Auberon (Allen TJnwin, London), Reginald Auberon is refreshingly frank. He tells his read era that none of the incidents ;in his book are imaginary." The stranded gentry are much more interesting than the landed gentry—the" nobodies," the minnows" are emphatically in ; the majority of any imaginable period; and it is they who are really representatives of it. " t don't know," he boldly writes, any of the noonity intimately enough" to write about them. "I have however,- (and just to show that I do move in good society) been on nodding terms with the sons of two peers. One of them had been in a lunatic asylum and the other ought to have been." But though he .impresses upon one that .his book is all about Nobodies, he writes of such people as Canon Barnett, Arnold Bennett, Cyril RangeGull (who has spent the interval in writing pseudo-religious bilge, "When it was Dark, etc.," under the pen name of Guy Thome, and William le Queux like— "'Shockers' under : his own"), Oscar Wilde, Mrs." Langtry. Under her aegis he was an actor. While going over the " Imperial " with her he came to a door marked " Push " in big letters. "A very impoitant word," she said. " Never forget, it while you are on my staff. It's not 1 push and go; but 'go' if you don't push." Herbert Tree. Martin Harvey,, the Irvings,, Bran Stoker, Carnegie. " Not to agree with him (Carnegie) was an act of lex majeste, and as such, almost to call for police interfencc— domineering old man with no thoughts removed any great difi-. tance beyond the acquisition, of moneyand power. Also I never came across any-: oody so full of questions." Of the late Lord Northcliffo he alleges that he "would actually appear to be sufficiently naive to imagine that the Mail can bring out a Sandringham hat (and expect people other, than music-hall comedians to wear it), sei* small children to erect Daily Mail sand castles all round the coast, and at the same time find the class for whom he really wishes to cater prepared to put up with" these puerile vulgarities and regard the newspaper descending to them as dignified. It has never been done yet, and it never can, never will be done. He adda a sample of the Chief's " morning strafe." "To-day's paper is about the worst ever published. The society column seems to be written by a footman and intended for housemaids." ," The general articles on page 6 are worse than usual. I note that one deals with wine, one with beer, and two with cards. Tell the man looking aftei this feature that booze and bridge are riot the only items that interest our readers." _ "The second leader is quite appalling. It misses the whole point." "There is quite a good news story at the head of column 1, page 3. Let me know who wrote it, and tell the others I regard it as a model." ~... "The woman's page is full of clever touches.'* "Who is the ignorant fool who refers to total failure of the macaran crop Does he think the stuff grows? Etc., etc" "But the bitterest criticism wna reserved for the occasions when the Mail missed a piece of news given by. a rival organ. Furious telegrams and trunk callsand when a trembling scout reported that the great man himself had arrived, the staff would scuttle away like frightened rabbits to their lairs. But Mr. Auberon gives great praise to Answers"—the paper which turned its proprietor into a prominent peer of the realm, built up a colossal fortune for himself and his brothers, and laid the foundations of a success for a considerable number of otherwise ordinarily equipped individuals. It caters for its vast public intelligently. The volume has certainly a style of its own, it may possibly ' deserve to ' be- . called "Flippant Reminiscences.".

" The Hustle Of Silk"—by Cosmo Hamilton (Hurst and - Blackett; ■ London)— very pleasant story, delicately told.. Lola" Breezy, the daughter of' •a. suburban watchmaker, is interested in the fact that her' forefathers came to England as the de Breze ; family. Her aunt ~is; housekeeper With Lady Flo Falleray, ;a, giddy society woman, whose husband is a rising politician. Lola has become obsessed with an admiration for this man of affairs and she manages to become Lady Flo's personal maid. Hearing that Falleray is going to dine at the Savoy, she dresses herself in a frock given her by Lady Flo, and arrives at the hotel, unescorted, meets Peter Chalfont," whose friend has disappointed him, accepts the offer of *us company, and persuades him to introduce her to Falleray as Madame de Breze. She repeats this adventure, once meeting her mistress • herself, and carrying the game through so well as to win the admiration of Lady Flo. By this time, with careful observation, she has learned what she wants, how to speak and behave like a society woman. • She seizes an opportunity to go to a house neighbouring Falleray's country retreat, meets him, wins his love. He is prepared to leave his selfish wife, but one of his party interviews Lola and explains that the party cannot stand for a scandal, .and must not lose Falleray. whereupon she renounces what she has won, and goes back- to the watchmaker's shop.