THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

• • * WISECRACKS"FUN WITH THE NATIONS Theodora Benson and Betty Asquith have a lot of sly fun with the nations in " Foreigners." They score chiefly off the English, the poor, solid, longsuffering English, because they have collected all that is known about each nation; not what the specialist knows — that would be dull and unexciting—what the man, or more often woman in the street knows, popular conceptions, in fact. Properly handled, these make a slashing two-edged sword. Being often false, and" mostly contradictory, they can be used with deadly effect against those who hold them. But behind tho modicum of truth they contain a lot of fun can be poked at the various nations.

These two ladies are expert swordsmen. There is no better way of showing their .quality than by quoting some sword thrusts:

" They (the English) admit they do not understand the Irish. This is a terrific concession, because, though there are many nations that the English do not understand, that is simply because they do not care to. They could iinderstand any nation well enough if they took the trouble."

" The French are very clever. They are both intellectual and intelligent. This is, of course, most undesirable. Brains generally imply something false, unsound and shabby, and it is well known that it is character that counts." " An Irish woman calls tho pig and her husband 'himself' indiscriminately, which is rather democratic and un-class-conscious."

" Give a plain, sober, God-fearing Englishman the ghost of an excuse in the shape of a Scotch great-grand-mother and he will be dressing himself up in kilts and even learning the bagpipes as soon as look at you." " Tho Welsh are thieves and liars. The Welsh can sing. The Welsh, and this is a very salient thing about them, have Lloyd George.'' "In Russia, malefactors are con- ' sidered from a psychological, medical, social and ethical point of view that brings out the best in tljem, even if it happens that they are executed." " In Greece all that they say is Greek to you, which is rather a comfort, because it is less discouraging than countries .like France and Germany, where you start so hopeful." " No natives ought to be imitated, especially if they havo no sense of sin and hardly any clothing." "'Negroes havo delightfully simple, happy natures, and slash each other with razors."

" Australians have cockney accents, and cheat at cricket."

" Canadians have not got American accents, but you can't tell this by hearing them." " Jews thrive under persecution. This may throw some light on why it is iniquitous for Christians to persecute Jews."

The difficulty is to know where to start and when to stop quoting. It is all equally good. Clearly a book not to be missed. " Foreigners," by Theodora Benson and Betty Asquith. (Gollancz)*

CRAZY CAVEMEN THE TERROR OF PURSUIT It is upon us—a plague of madmen. Mr. Garnett Gegan began it with " Beany-Eye," a homicidal maniac, and now Mr. Louis Golding follows with " The Pursuer," in which the chief character has a mania of pursuit, and in case that is not enough, Mr. Golding throws in a couple of lesser lunatics for good measure. It began at school, when one boy chased another down the road, and when he. caught him he merely looked at him, but thereby the pursuer was infected by such a hatred of tho other and such a delight in x terrorising him and the pursued was so overcome by the thing behind him, that it was. to become the ruling passion in both their lives and was to clash with and overthrow both their careers, their loves, their very existence.

Each .was to attain success in business, but the pursuer would drop everything to appear behind the other and look at him, and the pursued was unablfl to concentrate because of his preoccupation with flfeeing from those looks. So he murdered him.

So far from bringing relief, this merely aggravated tho terror, for now was the added terror of being found out. Next he packed up his daughter, who, ? strange to say, was compliant, and fled to Paris. The terror went with him and pursued him round Europe till it marooned him on a small island off the Sicilian coast.

It foiind him even there, and drove him to an attic in Berlin, whence ho never emerged again. There the murdered man's son, who had given his life up to this piquant chase, found him, fell in love with the daughter, and—? What did he do, and how does it end? Who knowsP Who cares? But it does become clearer why an increasing number of intelligent people are giving up reading novels.

" The Pursuer." by Louis Goldine. (Gollancz.) AS OTHERS SEE US A NEW ZEALAND NAVY WIFE v r— •' . ".Wanted a Son," by Hazel Adair, is both light and slight, but commenrls itself particularly to Aucklanders, since the heroine, as wife of a naval lieutenant who was stationed for a timo in New Zealand, shows us ourselves as an Englishwoman sees us. It is amusing to find oneself becoming defensive and self-conscious because a visiting Englishwoman finds Remuera snobbishly residential and expensive. However, the heroine had no social ambitions and one hears no more of Remuera, for she and her husband install themselves in a bed-sitting room in a little boarding house in Devonport. It was all they could afford, since his pay was a mere £4OO and she only had an allowance of £200! It is soon apparent that Auckland is only a shadowy background to the story. The authoress, who has quite a flair for story-, telling, is much more interested in plot and personality than place. The story concerns four sisters. They have no brother, nor did their mother and aunts have a brother. By the law of averages they are all likely to bear sons, so they vow a girlish vow to satisfy their maternal instincts as soon as possible. Three of the girls marry in due course, but to none of them is granted a child, and each faces her personal tragedy in an individual manner. The youngest girl takes matters into her own hands, and that takes facing also. However, time makes its adjustments and the story closes on a happy and hopeful note. iMoif) anted a Son *" 1,7 Hazel Adair " 'Hatch-