THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20252, 11 May 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

LEGEND OF A HOLY RELIC. "THE COAT WITHOUT SEAM." " The Coat without Seam," by Maurice Baring, gains its title and the thread which holds it together from the legend about a Holy Belie, the Coat without Seam, the garment which the Saviour wore before the Crucifixion, which has been jealously desired and preserved in many lands throughout the ages. By some strange chance, Christopher Trcvenen has all the momentous changes in his career ushered in by hearing some new chapter in the history of this Holy Coat. In France, in Russia, in Italy, in Turkey, ho brushes against the legend, and forthwith his life is twisted and broken. Finally, as he lies wounded on a battlefield in France, the relic itself is used to bind up the wounds of a dying spy. Christopher, himself mortally wounded, realises that his life has been a Coat without Seam, which he has ruthlessly torn into shreds, for he has always been his own enemy. His sensitive nature, his obstinacy, his inabdity to compromise, and his sympathy with lost causes have led him to throw away G\6iy chance of success. Twice he broke away from women ho loved and was to many because of some fancied grievance. Each time professional advancement offered, his chivalrous but obstinate pursuit of an impossible course has snatched the chance away.

The book has the merits and faults of Mr. Baring's previous work. Ho is a rare cosmopolitan, who deals with capitals as a juggler with balls. But he is of that class of cultured Englishmen who make a fetish of good form, and one of the canons of good form is to do nothing superlatively well. His charactets all simply prattlo through life, theorising and talking a great deal, but achieving nothing. The book in tnbutaries, but has no main stream. There is the sacerdotal rivulet, the love rivulet, the political rivulet, which never join to any broad river. Nevertheless, in the development of the principal character thero are some illuminating passages of rare insight. " The Coat without Seam." by Maurice Baring (Heinemann). LIFE IN A BOARDING HOUSE. THE " PAYING GUESTS." There is nothing makes such good reading as the things which are already known and familiar. A man at the races invariably turns first to read about the races he has already seen. Mr. E. F. Benson's " Paying Guests will doubtless be well received by that large section of the reading public who dwell in boarding houses. Some jokes never die, and boarding houses and their inmates, both paying and paid, are classed with motheis-in-law as fair game. The essential thing is to treat this well-worn theme in the well-worn manner. Mr. Benson makes no mistake here. There is the peppery retired Indian colonel, of- course; the chronic invalids with their much discussed ailments, the fluttering inconsequential female, and rather daringly he has omitted the decayed gentlewoman. At the half-way mark they were all behaving gratifyinglv true to type; the women were scoring off the pompous heavy-handed colonel and gradually bringing him to subjection. Here it is as well to leave them, because there is hardly enough solid matter to hold together a full length novel. However, it ends quite satisfactorily. Mr. Benson long ago abandoned all pretensions to make a mark in literaluie. lie settled down to be an industrious writer of good reliable fiction, and ho has succeeded very well. " Paying Guests." by E. F. Benson (Hutchinson). NEGRO PSYCHOLOGY. THE EVOLUTION OF A SOUL. In " Manilla's Daughters," Mr. Du Bose Ileyward traces the history and development of the negress through three generations. The class consciousness of the Afro-American, is at present awakening considerable interest and study both in America and in Europe. Negro art, negro music, and negro already hold n- deservedly definite position. It has been said that it takes three generations to make a gentleman. Mr. Ilevward takes three generations to evolve an artist from a Charleston river negro. Mamba, a negress on the downhill side of fifty, dominates the story. With the future of her baby grandchild in mind, this old negress begins her struggle to achieve a background that will be useful in the future. With indominitr.ble courage, and the aid of a beautiful contralto voice and a lost set of false teeth, she achieves even more than she attempts. Her grandchild Lissa, who stands for the promise of the future, becomes a famous singer and the darling of New Harlem. It is, however, Mamba who holds the interest. The reader is scarcely conscious of Lissa. Beside Mamba, the white characters in the book are negligible. The author treats of every aspect of Afro-American life, and give's the reader a most engrossing study of modern negro conditions and aspirations. " Manilla's Dnueliters," by Du Bose Hcyward (Heinemann). OLIVE SCHREINER'S FIRST NOVEL. WRITER'S CHILDHOOD DAYS. " Undine" was begun by Olive Schreiner when she was the age of sixteen. The manuscript has been preserved by her oldest and best friend, Mr. Havelock Ellis. After her death, the manuscript, which was incomplete, was handed to her husband, who found the missing chapters among her papers. It is now published lor (he first time. The chief interest underlying this novel is the fact that most of Hie earlier chapters are pure biography. We see Olive Schreiner as a lonely, queer, intense little girl, in her home in the Karoo. It is intensely interesting as a study of the development of youthful genius. The writing and construction of the hook is uneven and immature, but the power of her genius, the blazing sincerity of her emotions, carry the reader unquestioning from beginning to end.

Olivu Schreiner is (he outstanding literary genius of South Africa. Her " Story of an African Farm," which has hitherto been considered her first novel, and which made known her gtfnius to the world, was published in 1878. She died in 1920. " Undine," by Olive Schreiner (Benn).