THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20668, 13 September 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

THE CONTEMPLATIVE HINDU.

PRACTICE OF YOGA

The reading and writing of biographies has become a fashion of late years, so there is little danger of an autobiography as forceful as Mr. Yeats-Brown's " Bengal Lancer" being neglected. It is as unexpected as it is direct, and opens fascinating doors to tho curious reader.

Tho charm of tho story lies in its manysidedness. As a Bongal lancer, Major Yeats-Brown's life is full of action. Pigsticking, polo and ponies all have thoir place most realistically, so that it comes as a surprise to find that the author, although typical in many respects, is not typical in that he has other interests outsido his soldiering. His book shows a clear picturo of an India that differs in many respects from the India of tho English. It is tho India of gurus, of Siva and of Yoga.

Early in his career Major Yeats-Brown becamo interested in Hindu religion. While two years a prisoner of war in Mesopotamia he had am'ple opportunity to practice Yoga, and it is his extraordinary and unconventional preoccupation with the Hindu religion that gives tho book its fas. cination. The reader, of course, wants to know much more than ho is told, and finally, he has to bo content with a visit to a wise man of India who politely wraps himself in contemplation. However, the words of a Brahmin repeat themselves in the mind after the book is closed. " There are no secrets to be discovered in Yoga, but there are many things to be learned. Yoga is not a medicine to be taken at a gulp, nor is it a dogma. It is a set of exercises. Yoga is a physical as well as a mental process, so it can be realisod only by the senses and never explained by words. You come from a culture that has mado a fetish of the brain. You como from a different climate. We are an old race and our religions, for they are many, are full of beauty and decay." The book is so engrossing that one is apt to take for granted the forceful beauty of Major Yeats-Brown's prose. His vivid descriptions of Indian army sport have rarely been more realistically done. One cannot but hope that Major Yeats-Brown intends in the near future to publish a companion volume to " Bongal Lancer." " Bengal Lancer," by F. Yeats-Brown. (Gollancz.)

H. G. WELLS MEDLEY.

THE LIONISED LAMB

There is a refreshing vitality in the books of 11. G. Wells, all too seldom met with of late. He has always something to say and is always clamouring to say it. Other writers, subtler, cleverer maybe, take a whole book to illustrate an attitudo of mind, a delicate change of view. In the course of a book, Mr. Wells would reform the world, and destroy a considerable part of it. His new book, " The Autocracy of Mr. Parham," is a genuine attempt to get away from his passion for reform, and to renew his art as a novelist. It ends in being a medloy of all the books he ever wrote. There is Wells, the genial creator of Mr. Polly; Wells, the inventor; Wells, the chemist; Wells, the seer; and, in spite of, and above all, Wells, the world reformer in full career. It is a book which contains a little for all his admirers, and therefore, it is to be feared that it will please none of them.

Mr. Parham is a prim, inoffensive, ineffectual, little professor of history, with an eye and a palate for the good things of life. It is this latter quality which makes him toady to a vulgar, high-power financier, an apostle of " big business," Sir Bussy Woodcock, nibbling at the tempting bait of becoming editor of a new paper the magnate is launching. Together they attend a spiritualistic seance, from which one man was suddenly missing. Counting heads carefully, Mr. Parham found himself to be the truant, and in his place was a very Napoleon of a man, a Mussolini, a world conqueror of the first order. In this fearsome guise, Mr. Parham abolishes Parliament, and assumes its powers and more. Tackling all the leading questions of the day, with living politicians thinly disguised, running tho gauntlet of Mr. Wells' vitriol, Mr. Parham manages to embroil Britain and America in another war over the Russian situation, a superwar, even according to modern standards, waged with a super-gas guaranteed to end war. In the midst of all this violence, Mr. Parham wakes up to find himself still—well, ib is tho old device resuscitated.

Unfortunately, Mr. Wells does not liko his little professor; ho deliberately satirises his class, which has never had his sympathy. Moreover, his attitude toward war is something of a paradox. Ho hates war, would end it, if necessary, by force! All who do not agree with him must be made to agree with him, which makes him a very warlike person. Nevertheless, his theories and thoughts, evon when far-fetched and propagandist, give one something to think about and chew over. Ho is, indeed, a triton among minnows.

" The Autocracy of Mr. Parham,'' by H, G. Wells. (Heinemann.)

" EGOS AND OLIVES."

DUNEDIN POET'S PRODUCTION.

It seems strango that a poet entitled to put so pleasant a name on the back of his book of verse as D. W. M. Burn, should choose instead the impersonal anonymity of " Marsyas." Nor does tho title " Eggs and Olives," with its suggestion of topical liors d'oeuvres, give any idea of the contents, for this is a book of verse inspired by a love of beauty and the worship of life. Tho poet belongs to tho classical tradition which uses his muse to speculate on the moaning ol life, to propound a philosophy, and rejoice in tho boon of existence. He is no youth in tho first rapture of experience; he seldom lifts his feet right off tho ground. His poetry lacks, perhaps, tho lyric note; be writes with his mind rather than his intuition. 110 admits to three passions—God, literature and England—which does not sound liko a man in tho ccslacies of youth. Nevertheless, his poetry has qualities of rhyme and rhythm which give considerable pleasure. It is simple, direct and sincere. Tnko for instance " Content:"—

The host of beauty is freo to nil. You may build you a palace, and hang its wall , , With troanurcß of art divine •„ I live in a cot, And envy you not: A bird on tho winflr, A Bone from the tree, A cloud in the sky, A flowor on tho lea, A shell on tho Band, A wave of tho Boa, ' Are enough for a heart like mine. Mr. Burn has tho courage to attempt two short dramas in verso, the more interesting being about the Judgment of Solomon, an admirable subject, strangely neglected by dramatists. It was surely a mistake to include so many poems about wars.

" Egg a nnd Olive*," by " Mar»ya»." (Coulla Somarvillo Wilkie, Ltd.).