THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21165, 23 April 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

UNIVERSITY PERIODICAL. PROMISING PUBLICATION. A gaily-clad little publication, " The Pheonix," has appealed from the Auckland University College, printed with industry and enthusiasm on a handpress. Its contributors ai;o a coterie of young people of similar tastes and aims associated with tho colleges of the Dominion. Periodicals of this kind usually serve as a safety valve for the ebullient opinions of youth. Most young people who are .worth their salt are in revolt against something or other. They think that the world is trying to oppress them, and get much comfort from the thought. Nor is it likely that their inherent good sense greatly objects to elders who tolerate their fervour or envy their enthusiasm. The lavish shower of famous literary names of the moment with which the pages of this new paper are besprinkled is freed of literary snobbishness and showmanship by the lively enjoyment which the opportunity to toss them about so nimbly has given the writers. Those who look askance at Mr. Middlcton Murry's taste in making such capital out of Katherine Mansfield's private and intimate documents will be disagreeably surprised to find tho vogue which the " New Adelphi " and its editor lias mong these serious young men. In fact, it is tho tendency to be unduly conscious of the literary fashions of the day, which is the chief cause for disquietude with the new periodical It is merely a tendency at present and one hopes " The Phoenix " will not keep its eyes too closely fixed cn old world influences to the loss of its own personality. Tho principal contributors to the first number are Charles Brasch. James Beitram, R. W. Lowry, J. A. W. Bennett; a sprightly short story by Rilda Gorrie—which, because of its unacademic air, is perhaps the most hopeful thing ill the book—and a gesture of welcome from D'Arcy Cresswell. It may be that at present the contributors are running over a shade too much with intellect, but as long as " The' Phoenix " holds to its present policy of keping its pulse sensitive to modern trends of thought, while being not unmindful that tradition has its value too, one can hold out a welcoming hand and predict for it a useful future. This launching is a perilous thing—smiles will come later. "The Phoenix," Vol. 1., edited by James Bertram. (Printed By R. W. Lowry.) " SALE BY AUCTION." HOUSE WITH A CURSE. The suicide of Cecil Cass, a chemist's assistant, living in a small Yorkshire town, gives Geoffrey Dennis the keynote for his book " Sale by Auction." The story is unfolded with considerable skill, 80 that the reader, in the limited space ef the first chapter, throws in his lot with the interested inmates of the town. Cecil Cass' suicide appeared motiveless as far as the village vras concerned. Ho was happily married and on the verge of a business partnership when the end came. His home, Red House, had been inherited by his wife before their marriage. It was a house that had a bad name, a house with a 'curse on it. Cecil Cass was found on his bed, in tho very room where the curse originated, with his throat cut. ,

The village . was agog. The heartbroken wife immediately decides to dispose of her house and everything in it. In the month that,- precedes the sale the private lives of several of the interested and interesting neighbours are revealed to the reader. Mr. Dennis' insight and understanding of small-town types is a delight. His auctioneer is a masterly and unusual piece of work. The actual day of the sale arrives, and, in spite of the general interest,, the reader is never for a moment, unconscious of the curse that lies over the house. The final suicide that ends the book lifts the curse, for Mr. Dennis states that this is a tale of forty years ago, and the inmates of Red House have lived happily ever since. Mr. Dennis is the winner of the 1931 Hawthornden Prize. " Sale by Auction," by Geoffrey Dennis. (Heinemann.) NOTABLE GERMAN WRITER. / 'A SLAVE OF CIRCUMSTANCE. Joseph Roth has been acclaimed by German critics as among his country's most (significant writers. " Job," the book under review, reveals him as a novelist with a quite remarkable power of revealing by a series of simple strokes an objective sti,dy of people who, while ever held at a distance, are paradoxically brought into intimate contact. Mendel Singer was a pious Polish Jew, born to be the slave of circumstance, a man who never opposed the will of fate, which therefore chose to make a sport of him. With no talent, but a simple faith, Men<iel was among the oppressed-poor, with a wife whose love he had outgrown, a wayward daughter, one son a conscript, another a deserter, a third an epileptic. By some turn of chance the second son, who hid fled to America, prospered and sent for his family to join him. Fearfully they went, all but the soldier and the epileptic, whom the priest had told "them never to leave, and with whom because of his misfortunes they had a deep tie of affection. But because of his affliction he cannot emigrate and with many regrets must be left behind. In 1 lie new land it seems that prosperity is tn smile on this patient Job, but fate is not so easily tricked. His sons are killed, his wife dies, his daughter becomes insane; Mendel's simple faith is shaken and lie renounces, his God. When almost too late, when bent and old and past the enjoyment of it, fate swings round and gives him a gr<rat happiness to take with hiiri to his humble grave. " Jrb," by Joseph Roth. 'I ranslatcd by Dorothy Thompson. (Heinemann.) " POPULARITY'S WIFE." THE PERFECT PIER ROT. Tn " Popularity's Wife," Rachel Ferguson has written something that is delightfully fresh. Tier rp<-ent!y-pu'>]iMied Look, '' The' Brontes Went to Woolworths," showed the originality of her mind, and readers of her first novel will he interested in hei second venture. " Popularity's Wife " is an entirely successful book, and as such is an advance in Miss Ferguson's talent. She writes like nobody else, and the freshness and spontaneity of her wit are a delight. Mary ArLuthnot, the squire's charming daughter, made a runawav match with Dion Saffvn, a handsome and charming pierrot. Miss Ferguson tells the story of their life topether. Dion, the perfect pierrot, is always surrounded by a circle of admiring women, and Marv, who gives him his head, is deeply , hurt by his affairs. It is cleverly, convincingly and amusingly told, but it is essentially a woman's hook. (Popularity's Wife," by Rachel Ferguson. (Benn.)