THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21462, 8 April 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

ANNA PAVLOVA THE DANCER AND THE DANCE The chief reason for the appearance of this book is the wish of Pavlova herself. Her husband, M. Dandre, was during her theatrical life her intimate companion; he stood nearer her than anyone; he understood her thoughts and aspirations; he realised her disappointments; so that there seemed to Pavlova no one more fitted to make this intimate record. He dwells for the most part on the human side of her personality, but every aspect of her art is dealt with in more or less detail.

To have seen Pavlova dance is to have felt something of her exquisite abandonment, to have danced, though only one step with her, in spirit. It is to realise that dancing could be infinitely more Bubtle, more significant than words, and no matter how often one watched her, it was always with the eager undisguised enthusiasm of the novice. She is dead, but the memory of her is unforgettable, and any book that might renew that most perfect experience will be greatly in request. The story that M. Dandre tells is inspiring. He shows the hard work that underlay Pavlova's artistry. She was never satisfied. M. Dandre describes her constant practice, her eternal striving toward improvement. She seemed to dance as naturally as she breathed, it is bewildering to realise that this miracle of artistry was achieved by sheer hard work.

Of course only an artist of her own calibre could paint with words her picture, but her husband gives a sincere and faithful record of her life. There is a chapter devoted to her dancing partners, another to her world tours, another to her connection with Diaghilev, and her admiration for the art of Isadora Duncan. Although Pavlova was a firm believer in the classical school of dancing it did not prevent her taking a keen interest in new theories and ideas.

The book is profusely illustrated with photographs and holds much that will be of value to future writers on the ballet. It will give pleasure to those who have seen Pavlova dance, but how little it will mean to those who have never seen her. " Anna Pavlova,"- by V. Dandre. (CasBell.) GENERAL GORDON A MAN OF CONTRADICTIONS Because a man fighting against odds always makes a strong appeal to the imagination, because the contradictory ingredients in his make-up present a fascinating study, General Gordon will always be a favourite study for biographers and readers. As this year is the centenary of his birth, it is fitting that it should see new "lives" appearing. Mr. H. E. Wortham's book, "Gordon: An Intimate Portrait," follows and corrects Lytton Strachey's recent biography in the modern manner. Though Gordon's life was eventful enough, it is the cross-currents which dragged him different ways which grip the imagination first. Here was a man who could fix on a point ahead, make for it unswervingly, almost fanatically blind to anything that thwarted his purpose, prepared to suffer discomfort and hardship himself and impose it on his followers; like all such men able to inspire those followers with some of his own enthusiasm and devotion, who was yet a mystic, a visionary who acted on impulse, often against evidence or reason, who treated a vivid imagination as a sure source of inspiration and was prepared to be ruled by it. " Talk of two natures in one, he cries, "I have a hundred and they none think alike and all want to rule." He was an ascetic and something of a solitary, indulging almost to a fault in spiritual introspection, enough to quench executive force in most men, yet he enjoyed life to the full, was merry and full of laughter, decisive and quick in judgment. He confesses to being always frightened, this man who stormed Chinese strongholds armed only with a cane, yet with his steadfast belief in the life hereafter he was not afraid to die. A man always torn between his mystic influence which he called " Pillar," and his material interest, which he called "Agag." This is the portrait which comes through Mr. Wortham's pages. The biographer has kept his head and written an impartial study which reads with refreshing sobriety after some modern garbage raking. Here is no inquiry into the quantity of spirits Gordon consumed. Instead are essentials, the things that matter in Gordon's career, as befits one of the great figures of the Victorian age. The .problem .of why Gladstone and his Cabinet sent a man whose policy was known to be opposed to it on that last fatal campaign is discussed, and the three possihle theories clearly stated, but Mr. Wortham leaves the solution to the reader. "Gordon: An Intimate Portrait," by H. B. Wortham. (Harrap.) POWERFUL WRITER MR. "WILLIAM FAULKNER There is a power that is frequently terrifying behind the pen of William Faulkner, and in " Light in August." he uses it with weird and sombre effect. It has been said of tho author that " if some greater faith than he has yet found can master him, there is no telling to what far country Mr. Faulkner may not take us safely." This, undoubtedly, is so, for in spite of the tremendous vitality that escapes through his medium of expression the feeling remains that the strength of its full flood is yet to be known. " Light in August " cannot be called a pleasant book. It is too terrible for that. The characters, moreover, with but few exceptions, appear abnormal. This doos not mean that they are not drawn with a mastery of touch that bears every stamp of genius, but that they are so well drawn that, being abnormal, they become terrifying. And yet, oddly enough, exquisite pleasure is to be found in most of the descriptive work, and admiration cannot be withheld from any part of it. The scene moves between Alabama to Tennessee, and both scene and action are so diverso and interwoven as to beggar summary. Predominant in the action is the fateful course of a white nigger," who murders and in turn is done to death. Yet such a wealth of character analysis and description is lavished on the lesser characters that, while they hold tho page, everything else is excluded from interests. Prophecy is easy and dangerous, but Mr. Faulkner's present place in literature will urge many a reader to prophesy. "Light in August." by YTilliain Faulkner. (Chatto and S7induß^,