THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

AN IRISH SAGA.

BRILLIANT FIRST NOVEL.

I The words of a reviow should in some manner match the book, yet tho better the book the less a reviewer should need to say concerning it. "This is a good book, read it." Those words should cover all that is necessary, and there are few enough novels published these days that would warrant such praise. Kate O'Brien's Without Mv Cloak " is one of them.

As a first novel the book is brilliant. The -writer has all the gifts of the novelist. One has only to read the opening pages to feel the certainty of her touch. Bhe has a genius for writing that gives exceeding pleasure. Sho has chosen for her theme a story of Ireland in the late nineteenth century a story of middle-class Ireland which has much in cbmmon with middle-class life in any country. She tells of the family of Considine who were in business. They were a large family but tho business was a. flourishing one, and although John Considine, the head of the firm, had been the son of a widow who kept a pork butcher's shop, his children had all the advantages that money and education could give them. Kate O'Brien s 6tory includes the entire family, all of whom, with the exception of one son, live in the town of Mollick. All their interests are ftfmily ones and their strength lies in their number. Separately they would be unimportant ; as a family they were a power in the town. It has been said that once a son marries he leaves his own family and his life centres around that of his wife's. No Considine man could ever do that." A Considine wife was drawn into the family and by virtue, of her husband she became an integral part of it. "When Joan Considine died Anthony Considine became the head of the family. Anthony, and later his son Denis, cany the major part of the story on their shoulders. Denis, who has little of the -Considine spirit, is kept within the iamily because of his intense love for his father. In spite of himself he agrees to enter the business for which he has no real interest. This is later the cause of a violent reaction on his part—a reaction which is perhaps the weakest part of thg book. It is impossible to read " Without My Cloak" without being reminded of tho Forsyte Saga. It is obvious that the authoress has been greatly influenced by Galsworthy's book, but only because hers "was something of the same type of mind. Galsworthy's touch was infallible, but if Kate O'Brien has failed a little with the character of Denis it is not important. The book has many moments of beauty, a, feeling of spaciousness and splendour for which m&ny readers will sigh in gratitude. " Without My Cloak," by Kate O'Brien. (Heinemann.) BEST SHORT STORIES. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN. A comparison of the two collections, 'i The Best Short Stories of 1931: 1,, English; 11., American," shows up the greater vigour and freshness of the latter. The English temperament does not fit well into the short story. It is too phlegmatic, too cool and unhurried. The more volatile Latin temperament, or the more vigorous American, enable their writers to get more quickly into their strifle, .and achieve an effeqt in the short space available. The English writers seem to write with an eye on the rules of the game. They are satisfied to achieve technical excellence by stripping the story of all excrescences which fashion or rules say it must not have. In doing so they sometimes strip it of life, often strip it of gaiety. Three-quarters of the English stories are about village life, and the side of English life which literature has turned uppermost is the sombre side. Thus the English short story of the last five years is all too often a depressing affair. There is nothing in the English .volume to compare in liveliness with Dorothy Parker's " Here We Are," an account of the railway journey of a newly-wedded pair, their adoration broken by swift quarrels and reconciliations, their blundering bashfulnes3, and jangled nerves, the tension of what they have gone through and what is still before them. Nor can the English volume show anything at once so original and successful as Allen Read's " Rhodes Scholar," a triumph in the use of suspense. Not all the stories maintain the excellence of these. There are three from a new periodical, " Story," which are Eaid to have gone the rounds of the American magazines without success. It is just a question whether the editors were not right. For the most part, however, whatever the technical excellence of the English stories, directly one brings the general reader into Lhe matter, the American Volume scores heavily. "The Best Short Stories of 1931: 1., English; 11.. American," edited by E. J. C v ßrien, (Cape.) CONVERTING THE HEATHEN. COMEDY OF GOOD INTENTIONS. A comedy, or maybe a tragedy of good intentions might well have been the secondary title of .Mr. Joyce Gary's boo|c •" Aissa Saved." It deals with tho efforts to civilise and Christianise the natives of Nigeria by three ambassadors of the white race, a missionary and his wife, and b. district officer. They succeed iri making a portion of the natives profess to ► tubrace Christianity and western morality, but the efforts- of these disciples to convert their fellows results in copious bloodshed and startling cruelty, far worse than the state oi spiritual darkness in which they were born. Mr. Gary displays a nice sense of humour when showing how tho simple natives used the good intentions of the superior whites, flattering them, and then flatly disregarding both wishes and commands except such as benefited themselves. Moreover the converts, setting aside the native methods of falling into sin, adopt tho civilised methods with all the eagerness of devotees. Thus the end is frustration, with the balance jjust about where it started. " Aiss» Saved," by Joyce Gary. (Bean.)