THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

TRAVELLER'S JOY FREYA STARK'S ADVENTURES A lovely and adventurous journey awaits those who travel with Freya Stark in "The Valley of the Assassins." jjhe is the perfect travelling companion, and compels her readers as Mary Kiugsley did with her South African experiences nearly fifty years ago. There is an extraordinary affinity between these two women. But for the small matter of time they might be sisters, for both are of a kind. Both, in the lace of their experiences, are ridiculously small and feminine, but their courage, humour and graceful acceptance of life or death calls forth a genuine anil spontaneous tribute from the reader. Persia is, of course, not for everyone, hut a copy of the "Arabian Nights,"' given to Freya Stark on her ninth birthday, awakened a longing which weary months of illness was to strengthen to determination. So in the fullness of time Persia was for Freya. She travelled single-mindedly for fun, but as she soon found out "to do things for fun smacks of levity, immorality almost in pur utilitarian so she found it easier to label herself to please officials. In 1927 she arrived on the coast of Syria and proceeded to learn Arabic and Persian before, in the company of an ever-chang-ing assortment of guides, she set out to find Assassin Castles and Luristan bronzes.

The writer has a deft pen which makes the most of an ironic sense of humour. Her contact with the Lurs, who pride themselves on stealing, her trip to the "thoroughly risky" country of the Ittavends and her treasure hunt are all recounted with a verbal economy that is vivid and exciting. She travels hopefully and makes nothing of the odds, which must often have been overwhelming. Her publishers claim that she has filled in the ou,tlinesi of the map of unknown Persia. For the casual reader she gives a lovely and unforgettable picture of the hills of Luristan' and the Valley of the Assassins. She writes simply, with obvious happiness, of those people and places that she has pleasure in remembering, and conceals the fact that her name in learned societies is a most important one. " The Valley of the Assassins," by Freya Stark. (John Murray.)

OPERATION IN HOSPITAL MR. STRONG IN GREY MOOD " Corporal Tune," by L. A. G. Strong, is not a book about a comic corporal, nothing to do with the army at all; it is a book about the body—a corporal tune. A very grey . tune, for the body is sick and the mind is sorry, very sorry, and makes an undue fuss over trifles, as such minds do. Novelists cannot afford to let the grass grow under their feet. Every experience must be turned to account, ev en an operation for appendicitis. That is what this book is about, a major operation on a man described in detail, before, during and —but there was no after. He was a wellpaying patient and an expensive fuss was made of him. Medical men and nurses went out of their way to soothe his feelings. Sisters buzzed and fluttered and, as stated above, he himself was exceedingly sorry. All this is slightly magnified, a favourite trick of the novelist, and one at which Mr. Strong is very skilful. It enables him to fix scenes and places, especially country places, vividly before the eye. They seem to stand out in relief, as if bathed in strong sunlight. But why, it may be asked, should Mr. Strong fasten on a woman, dead before the book begins, the stigma of bearing a child to a man other than her husband, unless something is going to be made of her frailty? To do it in sheer wantonness is clumsy and inartistic. Mr. Strong was and still is a novelist of much promise, who may some day write a *great book, but only if he ceases awhile from turning out novels with such workmanlike regularity and lets inspiration whisper in his ear. " Corporal Tune," by L. A. G. Strong. (Gollancz.)

POWERFUL IRISH PLAY

FOTJR WOMEN AND THREE MEN / " ' " Margaret Gillan " is generally regarded is among the best plays which appeared last season. It belongs to the Irish school, but although the characters happen to be Irish people s.nd the action takes place in Ireland, the human motives and passions Wl^'l which it deals are universal. Its theme is the tragedy of a strong, wilful woman married to one man, yet always in love with another, who looks past her to her daughter when death has removed the obstacle which separates them. Now the dead husband, who understood bis wife better than she knew, has left a will which frustrates ber at every point. When in addition her formur lpver is blind to her maturer charms, a demon of vengefiiluess is born in Margaret, and she starts to destroy everything which thwarts her. Love and Hate join hands until they become indistinguishable, and she schemes to ruin the man she loves. She is responsible for the death of ;her daughter and, finally, goaded beyond reason, she breaks out into a mood of high tragedy, which will need care to ' avoid melodrama.. As the cast consists of four women and three men, the play is likely to receive attention from amateur societies in spite of its grim and tragic atmosphere. " Margaret Gillnn." by Brinsley Macjrumara. (Geprge Allen and Unwin.)