BOOKS AND WRITERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19892, 10 March 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)

BOOKS AND WRITERS.

The second volume of " A History of English Literature" (Dent) by Emile kegouis and Louis Cazamian deals with the work of modern times, and possesses for the English reader the added interest cf the detached and outside view. Pro-, lessor Cazamian regards the early Victorians as engaged in " The search for JJalanee" while the last fifty years have Been the appearance of " New Divergencies." He praises Meredith especially for his heroines, observing that "the imagination which has created them has added to the treasure of human nobleness some of its most graceful and most brilliant visions." Hardy, the writer regards as inspired in his descriptions and backgrounds, but 'not so happy iu his characters. He says; (' However interesting they may be—f.nd many among them are original figures with strong, unforgettable features —the characters of Hardy do not bear the stamp of a faultless art. They are laboriously constructed, arid from the outside; their creator is not under the immediate spoil of intuition. In this field ho is the architect rather than the poet ; the building is sound, but its -frame and joints are yisible."

Riidyard Kipling, according to the samo critic, has " incorporated himself with tho moral destiny of the British race." He is s master of the short story and his verse will have a lasting hold on the public, f for into their brutality, cynicism, or prosaic vulgarity these poems infuse the favoured or intoxicated essence of a vision of things which lacks neither grandeur, nor heroism, nor beauty." Professor Cazamian finds our present-day literature "instinct with a spirit of moral iudepfndenco and social criticism" led by Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells. Among the literary "individualists" aro mentioned 'Arnold Bennett, Conrad and Galsworthy, * the latter being very highly praised both 6s dramatist and novelist.

The reading public will recall tho sensation made by the publication of some of the " Intimate Papers" of Colonel House, that powerful though unofficial representa- \ tive of Woodrow Wilson. Now Benn is publishing two more volumes of the ■" Papers," which are said to bo equally interesting. They record Colonel House's political activities from the moment America entered the Great War and throughout the Versailles Conference. A closing chapter shows the unavailing efforts ho made to persuade. President Wilson to compromise, with the American Senate as to tho League of Nations' Covenant.

* * ♦ * * New Zealanders have a kind of proprietary interest in the enterprising von Luekner who escaped from Motuihi in December, 1917, and was captured a fortnight later by H.M.C.S, Iris. The story of his picturesque exploits is retold by Mr. Lowell Thomas in a book " Count Luekner, the Sea Devil," soon to be pub-

lished by Heinemann. The author testifies that, for all his hero did, ho never < took a human life nor drowned .1 ship's cat, '. ■

Miss Kadclvffe Hall's novel " Adam's . IBrped," which won the Femiria-Yie iHeureuse Prize, has been awarded the James Tate Black Memorial Prize for -1926. The value of this prize i» £250 ■i and is given to " the best novo],, or book of that nature, of each year, judged from a literary "standpoint., but takifler the word 'in its fullest and widest meaning." The Professor .of English Literature in Edinburgh University is sole adjudicator. •*** * * *

'An amusing story is told in a recent English' 1 weekly «f Mr. Alfred Noyes, who is at liresent in Canada. While he was in a Toronto bookshop, ho heard a peal qf laughter from his wife at the other end of the shop. The assistant had come up to her furtively and whispered; " See that gentleman over there! That's Alfred Noyes, the poet. I daresay if you bought one of his books he might autograph it for you." " Yes," sho replied. " I expect he would j you see, he's my Jiugband." » • * m< *

'• Sir Norman Rae. a Bradford " wooi lord" has, with a friend, Mr. J. E. Sharrnan>, put' delighted antiquarians and Bronte lovers in particular, says the Sunday Times, under a further obligation by securing for all time the safety of Oakwell Hall. This beautiful 0.3 Elizabethan manor house at Birstall, near Leeds, is the " Ficldhead" of Charlotte Bronte's " Shirley." The property, which cost £3OOO, is to be vested in the local District Council, and a public appeal for an endowment fund has been issued. * » * * •

Bernard Shaw has never visited [America and cannot be induced to make the experiment. Mr. Alexander Harrison recently informed 'a New York audience that " G. 8.5." gave as his reasons, a fear of Ellis Island and a feeling that he could never endure the sight of the 6tatue of liberty. But Shaw himself once gave another to the Fabian Society. " There are a number of ridiculous regulations in the United States which have prevented me going there," he declared. ' In a number of States there is a law that if a man shall do anything to arouse passion in tho heart of a virtuous female he is liable to a horrible punishment. If I went there I should never dare to buy a new hat. Old as I am, oven when my face and figure have ceased to attract, r. new tie might work havoc and entail dire consequences."

'■ Captain Java," a new novel from Harraps, is by " Louis Moresby." This is one of the names which veil the perRonality of Mrs. Beck. Her stories of . Eastern mysticism are announced as by L. Adarrrs TJeck, while her brilliant series of novelised biographies which includes " Glorious Apollo" and the " The Exquisite Perdita" are written under the pseudonyn oF "E. Barrington." " Captain Java" is said to be a tale of the eea.