THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21520, 17 June 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

READINQ SHAKESPEARE THE GREAT ADVENTURE Mr. Logan Pearsall Smith has written "On Reading Shakespeare," a book that holds a store of delight for the common reader. Ho ranges himself most cunningly on tho side of the non-reader of Shakespeare. Are not all the masters perhaps a little overwhelming? And Shakespeare, being a kind of national institution, makes one hostile and suspicious. Ho readily produces a dozen such reasons, and then admits them to bo " high-sounding excuses, in which my dread of the difficulty of tho task seeks to hide its head." In what eager acquiescence the common reader runs by this author's side? Has he not put into words all the half-formed thoughts of tho mind, most perfectly understood all the timid withdrawals? Little wonder that ho gains his readers' confidence, and then, beguiling thorn with tho felicity of his language, he lots them glimpso through his own eyes tho beauty awaiting them in Shakespeare. Then they are indeed "kidnapped into heaven." As the author says, " Now, what am I to do about it? Tho mere first lines of certain plays, for instance, If music he the food of love, piny on— When shall we thrco meet again— In sooth, I know not why I am so sad—open for mo portals into realms of beauty and fear and strangeness, and, as I recall the impressions of my former visits, a kind of longing, a homesickness for that world of the. imagination grows on mo." Likewise, what is the reader to do about it, but fumblo among tho books on that neglected bottom shelf for the volume of Shakespeare, for the moment unaware of the grave risk he runs of becoming obsessed by the subject as so many others have been, or, at least, becoming a student or blind admirer. Mr. Pearsall Smith does not profess to bo a specialist. "It is uot, amid the shouting theorists you will find me, but babbling, amid the imbecile adorers, my praise," he says, as ho turns his back 011 the hubbub concerning the Enigmas. Yet ho is no blind worshipper. "Of all Rreat artists Shakespeare was the most completely devoid of artistio conscience." It is, however, in tho two splendid chapters on " Tho Great Reward. Poetry; and Character " that Mr. Pearsall Smith shows his strength. This small book is only one of tho many hundreds written about Shakespeare, but likely enough it will stand as a landmark to many readers. "On Reading Shakespeare," by Logan Pearsall Smith. (Constable.) AN ORDINARY MAN SPECTRE OF UNEMPLOYMENT

An ordinary little man is Pinneberg,/ the hero of Hans Fallada's book, "Little Man —What Now?" but an agreeablo, happy, little man, ready to be pleased with the world and what it brings him. Very soon it brings him a wise little wife, and ho works away at his jpb of soft goods store salesman in order to build up a home for his family. But a family costs money, and almost at once the lack of a surplus begins to prey on his mind. For the Pinnebergs are very human people; they have their foolish bursts of extravagance, followed by shifts to "go without." Still, they get a lot out of life, and, in spite of reverses, find humour and savour in the daily round. A baby is added to their honso-i hold and brings joy, but also expense and embarrassment. The weekly bills are met, but only through the dispensation of miracles. Then Pinneberg begins to worry and loses his nerve. He muddles a sale or two, get 3 behind in his monthly sales quota, and is dismissed. The Pinnebergs are on the dole, and the dole is insufficient. The wife must go out and get a little mending while the man stays behind and minds the baby and does the chores. They shift to a hovel in the country to save rent, and there, remote, Pinneberg sits around and lias nothing to fight against. " He can only wait—what for? Nothing. Wait—and that's all ho has to do." Then one day, his clothes stained, his face lined, his collar fallen off, he met a policeman and realised that the police wero no longer behind him; they •were against him. His degradation was complete. " Poverty was not merely misery—poverty was an offence, poverty was evil, poverty meant that a mnn was suspect " —and so, forsaken by all but each other, we leave this ordinary little man and his wife.

This may sound a sad and moving story, and undoubtedly it is, but it is told with a lively spirit and humour which remove it from the minor note of despondency. Pinneberg, like many another ordinary man, lias a vein of poetry in his make-up. He dreams his dreams and has his irrevocable standards, poor things it may be, but his own. His brave acceptance of some of the facts of life, his stubborn resistance and resentment against others, his wife's ultimate trust in him, lift the text to a very beautiful plane nt times. There is no phaso of their life left unexplored. Tho reader shares their joys and fears, pleasures and economies, feels with them the grind and menace of increasing poverty, and the simple comforts which mnko endurance possible. The most intimate details of the household are laid bare. " Little Man— What Now?" written of necessity on a diminishing note, might easily become a kind of anti-epic of unemployment. Nothing to equal it lias been published in the form of fiction. The translation by Eric Sutton seems wellnigh flawless. " Little Man—What Now?" by Hnns Fnllndn. Trnnplatert from the Oermnn by "Eric Sutton. (Putnam.) BODIES IN A LAKE A COMPETENT " THRILLER " Several competent mystery stories already stand to the credit of Charles Rushton, and " Terror Tower," his latest " thriller," certainly does not detract from his reputation. _ In the Devil's Mouth, a dark and sinister lako in tho North of England, two headless bodies are found and a Scotland Yard inspector, enjoying a tramping holiday on tho moors, sets to work to solve the mystery of their appearance and to save the county police from the results of traditional obstinacy. Tho identity of the murderer is never verv thoroughly concealed and the author makes only half-henrted attempts at herring-drawing. - However, tho investigation into the mystery of the murders is worked out with considerable ingenuity and a thrilling climax is provided. Unfortunately, Mr. Rushton makes tho error of introducing several characters far too late in bis story and weakens it by introducing an entirely unnecessary love interest only in the final chapter. " Terror Tower.". by Charlei Eushton. fflerbert Jenkins, Limited.)