THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

AN OUTSTANDING BOOK. . ■ , :-f— \ THE THIRD CENTURY. B.C. The publication of Naomi Mitchison s latest book " The Corn King and the Spring Queen" is an event in English literature. Nothing so -richly imagined, so deeply felt has been written by an English novelist in the last decade. It compares favourably with "Kristin Lavransdatter," Sigrid Undset's masterpiece, and in much the same manner possesses the mind of the reader long after the book is finished.

Tho power of the book is extraordinary. The reader is enthralled from the first page. Ho lives for the time being in the third century, 8.C., in Marob, in Scythia, a place which Mrs. Mitchison confesses is not historically true, and in Sparta and in Egypt. Marob is. the kingdom of the Corn King and the Spring Queen, Tarrik and Erif Der, who are the outstanding characters in the book. They are baruarians. Erif Der in common with most of the women folk of her race, dabbles in magic. Afc her family's instigation she uses her magic on her husoand and he is only saved from death by the timely interference of a Greek philosopher who is awaiting a ship to carry him from Marob. He influences Tarrik greatly, to the extent of accompanying him to Sparta. So Tarrik becomes mixed up with the decline and tragic fall of Sparta. King Kleomenes, Sparta's last king, attempts to restore the old order of life in His kingdom. He fails, escapes with a few followers to King Ptolemy of Egypt, and finally makes a tragic end. All these facts are historically true, but Mrs. Mitchison'a pen gives them warmth and life. The massing of carefully verified contemporary detail is amazing. According to the dates given tho book has taken five years" to write. It is a slow, full book, of more than seven hundred pages. It is as full of philosophy as it is of history and romance, and will demand rereading. " The Corn King and the Spring Queen." by Naomi Mitchison. (Cape).

ENGLISH PROSE. USEFUL LITERARY BOOK. It would be difficult to imagine a more useful book for the literary student of limited access to a complete library than "Foundations of English Prose,", by A. C. Ward. In the compass of 250 pages he contrives to mention every English prose writer of importance from King Alfred to Katherine Mansfield, and to give a sane and sound estimate of each, together with a chronological table and a separate index of authors and works. He rightly devotes most space—nearly 100 pages—to the novel, by far the most important of all literary forms. But he finds room for' chapters on essays and letters, biography and autobiography, adventure, humour and parody. An idea of Mr. Ward's method' may be gauged by quoting his reference to some well-known moderns: "The later developments of Realism in the twentieth century English novel are manifested by Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, who have endeavoured to explore the' human consciousness and to express its illogical and discontinuous workings. *They have made much; use of the ' interior monologue ' as a means of revealing man's communings with himself, and through a,variety of devices, have made it clear that the novel is far from exhausted and that the capacity of life to provide material for the novel is also far from exhausted. It is still too early to attempt even a partial valuation of the utra-realistic ' stream of consciousness ' school, which appears so far, however, to have shown an insufficient regard for the requirements of literary art, and, in particular, an unhappy neglect of the principle of selection." That seems an eminently fair estimate. Mr. Ward's courage and sincerity is shown by his declaration, with which many readers in their hearts will agree, that one of the most disappointing of autobiographies is Lawrence's " Revolt in the Desert." Mr. Ward stands judicially balanced between tradition and change, valuing both, cleaving to neither. " Foundations of English Prose," by A. C. Ward. (Or. Bell and Sons.) 'SAOHEVERELL SITWELL. AESTHETE AMONG THE MASSES. When Sir. Sacheverell Sitwell at last steps down from his medieval castles and rare art treasures to the common earth he takes no half stlrides, but genuinely surprises one by the unsus-. pected lengths to which his investigation leads him. His book, " Far from my Homo," is named romantically enough, but it is concerned with lower middleclass people in prosaic surroundings. All of them are being buffeted and oppressed by fate; ex-servicemen hard put to it for a livelihood who farm themselves into a street-band as precarious as it sounds; a poor family on their familiar, accustomed, but jealously guarded holiday; a girl leaving home to be married; all slight in plot, but containing a kernel of misfortune which sets Mr. Sitwell's sympathy flowing outwards. He pities them almost too easily, yet never identifies himself with them. His is the detached interest of the professional observer, with sensitive pen. His effects are as delicately cut as the lines of a rare etching. The result is to give his stories. the tenuous air of pale aristocracy, instead of the warm humanity usually associated with the lives of the poor. His treatment is unusual and interesting rather than convincing. " Far from my, Home," by Sacheveroll Sitwell. (Duckworth).

WHALING IN THE ANTARCTIC. MODERN METHODS DESCRIBED. Herman Melville has made the whale a literary animal, and in doing so has set a standard by which all his successors must be judged. Mr. A. G. Bennett's " Whaling in the Antarctic" does not challenge comparison with its classic predecessor, yet it is a very complete and informativo book, with no great literary pretentions. It gives a plain straightforward account of every side of modern whaling, a history of the industry from its start, and an account of th® species and habits, not only of whales, but of every known animal which exists in the Antarctic. A fe t w of the, chapter headings give an idea of the scope of the work: —History of old time whaling, modern whaling, zoology, migration, species of whales, land whale stations, snoro and floating factories, social life, hunting the whale, and the human element. It is' interesting to find that Mr. Bennett thinks the present death rate ofwhales exceeds the economic limit; but as public opinion, except in far distant Norway, is not directly interested, it is difficult to introduce legislation tj,o control it. Modern whaling methods have so completely revolutionised the industry that a chronicler was due, and Mr. Bennett, an inhabitant _of the Falkland .Islands, is admirably informed. "Whaling in the Antarctic" by A. G". Bennett (Blackwood). .