TO BALI WITH VICKI BAUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

TO BALI WITH VICKI BAUM

Lau&liter and Tears

By j.f.b.

LIFTED intact from the pages of Balinese history, preserved J with scrupulous attention to detail, and set down with the utmost skill and delicacy of touch, "A Tale from Bali" will be hailed by many as Vicki Baum's grentest book. It is a story of the old Bali, before the coining of the Dutch, when the Balinese lords held sway o\ei the forefathers of the chaiming peasants who still inhabit that moat romantic of all islands. Falling in love with Bali, or rather with a few faded photographs of the island that came into her possession during the war years. Miss Bauni set her heart on a visit there, but it "was not until 1935 that this dream came true. Later, after she had returned to America, there came by mail peculiar legacy from an old Dutch resident of Bali, voluminous notes and a partlv-written novel, and from these, as well as from her own observations, she has written an outstanding story. Peasant Life Remains

Better than she has ever done before, the authoress had drawn the characters of the Balinese, whether it be 1 ak the humble peasant, Puglug his inmnsitive wife, Baka the dancer, <>r Aht the vonii£ lord. The old life of Bali, 01 much of it, has gone; 110 longer do the lords defy the Dutch, and burn their widows, but the peasant life remains, and it is this that is so shrewdly deisland paradise, where never a harsh word is spoken and where the happy peasants, plump and goldenbrown. laugh their way through life, is the usual travel-agency picture of Bali; Miss Baurn's picture is different. She shows the happy peasants, and she also shows the leprous ones, the laughter niul tears, the petty intrigues, and the intense pride that is part of the makeup of the humblest Balinese. Her picture lives because it is real, and it is the more attractive. The cliild-liko nature of the average Balinese. his courtesy, cunning in a simple form, love of nature and animals. and abovo all. his faith in the gods of his fathers, are subtly conveyed to the reader, without being enumerated in tedious form. Wonderful Pen Pictures Bali comes to life as the story progresses, until imagination plays strange tricks, and the tinkling of the gatnelans, the whirling of the frenzied dancers, the ecstasy of the crowds watching the cock-fights and the fervour of the people as they go forth to i» national sacrifice. rather than bow before invaders, can be heard and felt rather than merely understood from tlip printed page. Much has been written about Bali. Nearly every author and journalist who has had a few hours ashore, and many who have not, have seen fit to record their impressions; surely none has absorbed more thoroughly and gained a truer insight into the spirit of tho country's life than Miss Baum. Her book is of value both as an historical record and as a detailed study of national life. "A Tale from Ball,"* hy Vickl Baum. (Geoffrey Bles.)