A SHEAF OF FICTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

A SHEAF OF FICTION.

"BRIGHT .YOUNG THINGS."

" Vilo Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh (Chap man and llnll}.

"Beyond Hie Swamps" by Robert Tarnaci'o (The Bodloy Head). "Pirates" 'by " Taffrnil" (Kodder ar,d Stoughton).

"En Garde" by Samuel Morse (Cassell)

" Vilo Bodies," by Evelyn Waugh, deals with the doings of that small but significant section of post-war London society self-christened, quite inappropriately, tho " bright young things." Their motto is "If a thing's not worth doing it's not, worth doing well." Applying this idea to life tliey have cast, aside courtesy, gratitude, enthusiasm, in fact all tho decencies that distinguish the uncouth normal human being, and drift through life in' a pitiful travesty of Alice 'in Wonderland without even zest for their own aimless vices. For this group of poseurs, patriotism, so a recent critic declares, heads the list of unmentionable things, the possession of parents is regarded as banal, and the son of a distinguished man must live the stigma down. There is much that is uproariously funny in Mr. - Waugh's book. Tho production'of the all-British film is a glorious piece of fooling, but on the whole the humour is of the disquieting sort, which is flung like a frail plank across tho abyss of hopeless pessimism. Certainly, tho " bright young things" are enough to account for a gloomy view of life. Fortunately, however, they are not immortal and the world will survive their demise.

. " Beyond Tho Swamps" contains the germ of an excellent idea, but the author's pen is not sufficiently practised to develop it to tho best advantage. 11.M.5. Imago, known from her size as tho " Midge" was, toward the close of the war, patrolling the coast of Africa when a violent storm accompanied by an earthquake and tidal wave landed her behind tho coastal range in a "placid blue bay with'the flat roofs and cupolas of a citiy shimmering faintly in the morning mists on the opposite shore.' Here live tho descendants of an ancient Roman colony which by another convulsion of nature had been cut off from the sea nearly 2000 years before. Fortunately one of the Midge's officers is a Latin enthusiast and soon picks up the rather debased form used in 'Silentiuin. Tho adventures that follow this clash of ancient and modern civilisation contain plenty of excitement and tho hook is furnished, like all good books of tho kind, with a fascinating map. The author, who speaks of " the last day of the Ides of December" is not such an infallible authority on ancient Rome as a writer of such a story should be; still, for his brilliant idea and his pluck in tackling tho difficulties involved in it lie deserves to find an appreciative public.

" Taffrail" —tho pseudonym of Commander Taprell Dorling, D.5.0., R.N. became very popular during tho war as a writer on naval life and adventure. " Pirates" is a story of China in recent years when the lack of a settled government l/as encouraged the spread of piracy both on the tortuous Chinese rivers and on tho high seas. A retired naval commander takes charge of a Chinese cargo vessel bound for Shanghai, only to find there is something suspicious about her cargo. In a typhoon on the China Seas the Hua An is wrecked on an island owned by a Chinese noble who has been educated at an English public school and university. Other characters include Toney Luttrell,, the commander of a tiny gun-boat and Ann Crudcn, a girl of mystery. " Taff tail" is at his best whero the action is hottest and at his worst when he. seeks to import "love interest" into his very haphazard plot.

In "En Garde" wo aro back in the atmosphere of Stanley Weyman. Marked cards, duels, mysterious strangers, emissaries of Cardinal Mazarin and the Queen Mother. Above all an imperious and wayward heroine who almost, till tho last page showers insults upon tho gallant but misjudged hero —all the old familiar properties take us back to the Gentleman of Franco and his compeers. But tho author lacks the magic charm of his model, or else it is that the day has passed for this ruffling type of fiction.