CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

. NEW BOOKS. ,'.■; ♦ - - BY CRITIC. Biographies and memoirs continue to come from the press, and, may be said' to have the honours of . popularity with the better-class fiction of to-day. A recent writer has made forcible comment upoi. the modern form of autobiography which so often retails the conversations and reproduces, even to the photographed handwriting, the letters of men and women still living. No memorist has received more criticism than the wife of one ot England's premiers, and she might very easily have been deterred from continuing the work which she had set for herself. But her motto, ascribed to the suggestion of her' step son-in-law, is the Persian proverb—"The dogs bark —Hie caravan passes"—-quite sufficient to show her indifference' to that section of hoi readers who have disapproved. AUTOBIOGRAPHY—MARGOT ASQUITH. "The Autobiography . of Margot Asquith"— ll.— (Thornton Butterworth, London)—lies before us—a strange mixture of affectionate motherhood,adoring wifehood, and bird-like interest in national affairs. Candid comment on her friends, whole-hearted support of her husband's politics; these aie the principal topics. One critic has asserted that "in mere form and texture her first volume might be envied by the greatest of contemporary writers. The first thing to note is that the book is literature." Not all her readers will give assent to this remark as applied to her second volume. The book may live, as Winston Churchill suggests, "in the bibliography of the Victorian era" —it may live as memoirsfor memoirs of every kind are the most useful form of historyeven if the future historian has to dig deep and hard to separate the diamonds of fact from the rubble of gossip and the author's construction, interpretation, selfopinion, and the like. But literature-^ '. Literature of the best type leaves a satisfied, artistically pleased mind. Mrs. Asquith's volume reminds one of a jumble sale —a curious mixture of personality and "affairs," with no particular harmony to make one desire to re-read a single sentence or paragraph, and with the net result in one s mind of a mass 'of trivialities of no particular consequence. She has met many people, has apparently written to great men concerning imminent public matters. The tone of their replies suggests, to an impartial mind, that courtesy prompted them to write their answers. They worded them care fully, often non-committally. One's reservation is that if they thought that the fac-similes would ever be dealt out to an inquisitive reading market, they would certainly have made their replies over the telephone. 'One cannot subscribe to the suggestion that Mrs. Margot Asquith has added to the glories of literature, though she has provided interesting reading matter for a dull evening, for her work is fragmentary/ and lacks the artistic finish and completeness.

MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. " The Making of Australasia "—by Thomas Dunbabin (A. and C. Black), London) —is one of a series of histories relatto the growth of the Empire. It is a brief history of the origin and development of the British Dominions in the South Pacific. A somewhat hurried account, is given of New Zealand, as a smaller country, but the author considers that "with a continuance of steady progress the future of New Zealand as the 'Britain of the Southern Seas'' should be assured." As contrasted with Australia, he judges New Zealand- to be the more conservative in her ideals. \ " Happy India," by Arnold Lupton (Allen and Unwin, London). The subtitle ."As it might be if guided by modern science.?*'; He explains that, having read about Indian famines'and statements as to the generally half-starved condition of a large part of the Indian population, he travelled from* north to south and east to west. From what he ; has seen, heard and read, he considers that under the regime of men'■; of science there would be abundance for even the poorestV classes; granaries filled in good seasons','■ would provide food for both men and cattle during seasons of drought, the poor labourer would have money for simple pleasures, and all classes might join in a prosperity that would make India a happy - country. He suggests that a party of ten members of Parliament, dividing themselves into five separate parties, should travel about to every district, see the resident governors and commissioners and talk to them about the affairs of their people. He states that out of the very poor return from his land the Indian peasant has to pay rent, a salt tax and other taxes, that his land ha.'i no manure 1 and that there is no firewood for fuel. / • .

"Diet for Wo&en," by Cecil Webb Johnston (Mills and Boon, London).—Another contributor to a.set of most sensible handbooks on health published by this firm. There is nothing very • startling in itonly the now oft-repeated advica to cut out the mid-nibbles, to cut breakfast; to drink plenty of water and to simplify the remaining two meals. Delete milk : from the diet—the writer 'condemns milk as a food for all but young childreneat -fruit as part of, not a supplement to, your meal, starve if you have a cold, but drink plenty of cold water. If you would reduce yoar weight, don't sleep too much. Never eat unless you are hungry; don't take alcohol, don't smoke, don't be lazy; eat very little salt; don't drink with meals, don't sleep ■in the daytime, don't eat fat-producing "foods; eat as seldom as you can ;■ substitute saccharine for sugar. Moral for married couples: If you want to be happy, give up breakfast . . . . For a person to get out of bed after a good night's rest and. immediately proceed to gorge a big breakfast, is wrong, morally, economically and hygienically. Only the man or woman who rises at six in the morning and does two or three hours' hard work has earned a meal. ;--'j. : "'•;.': ';''■ '■•"../■ v -". ""'■'. ' : .> •'■

/ ;"; .- ;.H(rnoHj?;?v'?^-:;-:;; 5^vV To Tell You the Truth," by Leonard Merrick (Hodder and Stoughton, London). For a reason best known to the ■: many authors who have written panegyrics to Leonard Merrick, his stories are referred to as " works." The present volume of short stories more nearly deserves the term than most of his longer novels, for in imitating certain French writers, and moreover in placing his scenes in France he has produced an excellent set of stories, terse and picturesque, which are good reading. " Alas That Spring," by Elinor Mordaunt (Hutchinson, London).—As may be guessed from the title the spring brought love to Henrietta Rorke when wooed by the impulsive young Lord Shaen. Compromised in innocence, the elders demanded a marriage which gave unhappiness to the girl. Her husband was unfaithful. She sought release in the lake. " The Finishing Stroke," by E. E. Twogood (Hurst and Blackett, London).— The detailed story of an oddly assorted family: stepmother, cousin, brother and sister. The brother marries a beauty without soul but with money, the cousin becomes blind and will not disclose his love, the girl almost accepts a Frenchman, the stepmother reveals herself as a mother above all things ; but finally love triumphs and the waters run smooth. - " Tyler of Barnet," and " King Lear at Hordle " (Collins, London;' Whitcombe and Tombs, Auckland), are the work of Bernard Gilbert who brings a new vision to his stories of country life in England. He is very realistic, even to tragedy, but his characters speak of the ordinary things of life. As he remarks, " What distinguishes the English peasant is humour— shrewd, good-natured fun, solid personality, the sidelights on neighbours, the sly pokes in the ribs, and the loud guffaws. In the village everyone knows everything about everybody and nothing is hid." It is the democracy of the Feudal system of which we obtain such wonderful glimpses in Chaucer, Defoe and Burns.

AUTHORS AND THEIR VIEWS.. ——• ' . ♦ : ;'^v. MOTHERHOOD AND EDUCATION. "You may live on haddock's heads and think you natter Christ: or call yourself or your Order a Free Mason, a Free Forester, a Free Thinker or by any other name : You may wear the Green or the Primrose, and dress your baby in blue and vow her to the Virgin, but a true mother must arm herself first and then her child if she wishes to challenge the world. There are parents who believe in bringing up their children without education or religion. Some say, 'Don't speak to me of schools where 'they take scholarships, no child of mine shall be pushed." Give me old Eton where they will make a gentleman of him'and others who are angry with God or superior to Him. I have known the offspring of both these patents and can onl> say that nothing children can be given later in life can compensate for the disadvantages of such a beginning. A child is unlucky if it is not taught early by its mother or nurse that the object of life :s to go to Heaven, and that if we are good, when we die we go there. You may or may not believe in Christ, but He never said a negligible word. The road to the Cross is softened for Roman Catholics, they rest on their way to worship the Virgin and Child ; but for us there can be no rest, and only one way."The Autobiography of Margot Asquith. ... REPOSE. "Miss Fleming did not throw out worrying suggestions as to the feasibility of puttinggolf or roller-skating. She did not propose, the first thing' after breakfast, to rush out and try the tennis courts. She did not want to eat her lunch at distant viewpoints. 'She has the secret of repose," Bernard told -his sister. 'Only to look at her makes you feel restful. Most women, now, have no repose; they fuss and hurry; they are always doing things. Miss Fleming has no taste lor. this- perpetual racketting, she isp't always making something; she isn't needing to spoil something. She sees that it may be enough just to be yourself; just, to be." — Finishing Stroke," E. E. Twogood.

FRENCH POINT OF VIEW. "In England you mind too much what people will think. You ask always, does it look well ? You like comfort but you like better to impress the neighbours. Look, too, at the unhonourcd status, of the artistthe magnified regard of England for what is practical and useful. According to de Vilny, the liberty allowed the girls and the jeunes gens of England and their many diffused interest* had one remarkable, effect they helped to explain the looseness of the family tie! Why, in England a family, as a Frencuman reckons a family, did not even make its home under \ one roof. 'All those great London houses' he cried with a wide gesture, which was intended to include the homes that lay between the Langham and the outer suburbs, 'all these great houses everywhere, nearly evei.v Enalish family with a house for herself." And how many do I see which gives room to the grandfather, the grandmamma? I will not speak of the belles-soeurs, the aunts. The English family has more children, you say? In' France a ■ jeune menage has perhaps one child, perhaps two. C'est vrai, it makes a difference. still—!' _ '■■'■■■:; ■'.■ 'The English family is not one' he declared. 'Each person stands alone. Children do. not take counsel of their parents, they do not think as the parents think; they think each for himself.' '"—"The Finishing Stroke," E. E. Twogood. . .. PAWNSHOPS IN PARIS. "After you have paid the principal and the interest, you are given a numbered ticket, and then you go into a large room, and take your choice among uncomfortable benches and wait your turn. It is something like cashing a cheque at the head oftVe of the Credit Lyonnais, only at the Mont-'de-picte, the people sit on benches, . waiting for the most desperate articles. There may be a fashionablydressed woman who rises to receive a jewel case, and on the other side, some piteous creature who clutches at a bundle. Th* goods and chattels descend in consignments, and when brie consignment has been distributed , the interval before the next comes down threatens to be endlessThe officials behind the counter converse in undertones and you meanwhile" have" nothing livelier to do than to listen to the rain and wonder how hard up your neighbour may be." , "Ariband's Two Wives," Leonard Merrick.