THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20378, 5 October 1929, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

AN INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY,

HENRY VIII. AND HIS WIVES.

It is difficult In make a licio of a muchmarried man. That anyono having once escaped the snaro should willingly put his head in again argues him a foolish follow, worthy only of ridicule. Solomon's great wisdom left him .some shreds of reputation, hut Bluebeard's fearsomenesi is only laughed at; and Ilenry VIII., that great and mighty king, owes all his famo to his six wives. To liavo murdered two divorced two, pensioned one oil, and, grown old full of disease, to ho still toying wit h Iho idea of doing away with (ho sixth, argues a man, ho ho king or commoner, to ho mastered hy an ideo fi.\eo as tragic as it is ridiculous. IJereft of this claim to notoriety, Henry was a boisterous, violent, headstrong egoist, whose chief redeeming feature, was his recognition that there were better brains than his own to advanco his interests. •

Air. ilacketl is an American, who for tho most part has followed with commendable rest-rait the impartial stylo of modern biographers of tho European school. Here and there, more particularly in his lighter moments, tho dignified flow of proso is marred by an. outburst of high-spirits, manifesting itself in some raw colloquialism Nevertheless ho has done Lis work well, 110 writes easily, arranging the (low of his story logically and interestingly. 110 admits to being fortunate m having access to such tremendous bulk of correspondence and documents of the period, that he has had to invent not one dialogue. That ho has sifted such a mass with such a 1 wellordered result says a great deal for his industry and selective ability. Though Mr. llackett. devotes considerable space to tho political background against which move tho imposing figures of Wolsey, Sir Thomas Moore, Cr.mmer, and the political intrigues with Spain and France, ho yields to tho certainty that chief interest will centre round tho six wives, and focuses on them the attention of tho greater part of tho book. Nor can it bo said that ho prejudices (lie reader against Ilenry, whom ho portrays as a gallant, chivalrous boy, acting as squire to Catherine during her long courtship by his elder brother Arthur. It is not easy to see at what point tho revulsion of feeling in tho reader sels in. Probably it is during tho reign of that gay, proud spirit, Anno Boleyn, who refused the .attention even of a king, except on her own terms, and thereby caused, or at least hastened, tho formation of the Established Church of England. Certainly it is completo before her r.o foul murder. Then the gamo is under way, and there follow tho precarious courtships of the pliable Jane Seymour,, tho amusingly dotached Anno of Cloves, the warm-blooded, high-spirited Katheryn Howard; and finally -the pitying, motherly affection of Katherine Parr.

Henry, who comes into the history a healthy, well-favoured boy, goes out of it a pathetic, even a comic figure. "He was buried at Westminster, though not as he had planned. His council named a Protector, not as ho had decided. Out of tho wreck of all his marriages, tho foinalo child, Elizabeth, whom he despised and rejected, took tho scoptro ho meant for war-lords, and raised it to heights of which poets sing. The Cromwell whom lie had beheaded would have a descendant. in 101 years, almost on the anniversary of his own death, Oliver Cromwell would behead tho King of England. Strong passions breed strong passions." in spito ot some faults of style, the book is an excellent one about a period fo eventful that, its comparative neglect by biographers is somewhat surprising. " Henry the Eighth," by Francis Hackctt (Cape).

AN IMPRESSIONIST EFFORT

THE MYSTERIOUS " COUCOU."

" Coueou," by Evelyn Pember, is a book written after the fashion of some impressionistic painting, wliero the patches of colour are laid on apparently higglcdypiggeldv, and it is only as tho work advances and a comprehensivo view is obtained, that tho pattern takes shape. The method has its advantages and disadvantages. When a whole armful of characters arc suddenly flung on the stage without introduction or label, it is sonio time before they disentanglo themselves begin to function as individuals. But tho reader is conscious of a little added pleasure when at last light begins to dawn, and he unravels the puzzle. It avoids too, tho tedious business of static explanation. It is a method, which owes something to Virginia Woolf„ and can bo used by 110 oris, who is not a true artist. Evelyn Pember is to be congratulated on scoring a brilliant success. Her characters come through clear cut, drawn with remarkable economy of words, even 11 if! dog, who " ran in a vulgar way, sideways, with one hind-leg tucked up." Everyone knows that dot? at oi.ce. Tho entiro action ' placo in a hotel in Provence, hero u.. usual collection ot pleasure seekers in need of distraction is gathered—an English family, a tutor, two delicate old ladies, a Frenchman and his paramour, a scholar, a dark and a fair young woman, and in tho distance —over in tho distance—Coueou and her three young men. For tho heroine of tho look never speaks, never comes close, yet she pervades tho whole story, giving it life and meaning, like some bright thread running through a texture, which gives it tone and distinction. Her elusiveness is a perpetual tantalisation; it seems that any minute she must step down and join in the game, but all that, is vouchsafed is a burst of gay laughter among tho trees, a scuffle and a race in tho dark, a brilliant patch of colour far up on the mountainside, a remote shining liguro as .she sat at dinner on her last night alive. Then a fleeting glimpso of tragedy, and Coueou depa/ts as unconcernedly as the had come, exquisitely, mystoriously. leaving behind a senso of delicious wonder.

" Coueou," by Evelyn Pcmbcr (Con stable).

AN IRISH STORY

VIVID AND RACY BOOK

Jim 'Fully is a most, refreshing writer. His books arc always individual. His narrative, simple, direct and entire.y without embellishment, is intensely vivid and unlike that of any other writer one can call to mind. Tho only other book that is well known is " Circus Parade," a story of lifo in a travelling circus. Ho now gives " Shanty Irish," which deals with tho fortunes of Irish families who emigrated to America in the nineteenth century. It reads as though it were biographical. ■ Tho chief character in the book is old Hughio Tully, " born with tho gift of words, ho was never without a talo to tell." Then there was his son, " a man of some imagination; he loved tingle of warm liquor in his blood." Ho was for 50 years a ditch digger. Ono of tho best incidents is the jtory of the drinking match betwjen old Hughie Tully and a wooden-logged stranger, homo from the wars. Mr Tully hn:< a strong sense of the dramatic, and blend? humour with pathos in a way, Tho book is \yrittcn in a most vivid and racy Irish dialect. " Shanty Irish," by Jim Tully. (Knopf.)