EVENTS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5737, 4 November 1905, Page 4

EVENTS OF THE DAY.

SEX IN FICTION. Tho question why most people unhesitatingly (and sometimes, as it appears, wrongly) class somo novels as a woman’s and others as a man’s has been raised in England by a reviewer mistaking tho sex of a recent' novel, “Vivien,” by W. B. Maxwell. The critic assumed that it had boon written by a woman. When informed that tho author was a man, tho critic asserted that ho was still of opinion “that no man lias any business to be the author of tho novel in question.” That was a neat escape from an untenable position ; but tho main question remains. Miss Coustauco A. Bamicoat, a well-known Now Zealander, gives a woman’s answer in a letter in “Tho Outlook.” Sho points out that some novels are undoubtedly essentially feminine, some essentially masculine. Who could possibly mistake the , work of Tolstoy, Meredith, Hardy, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Balzac, or Bourget for a woman’s? Coming to ono of our best present writers, Mr Robert Hichons, would anybody take his work for a woman’s? Again, who could possibly mistake the work of tho Brontes, Jane Austen, or Mrs Gaskell for men’s work? On tho other baud, there are some novels the sex of whoso writer is very difficult to determine. Georgo Eliot’s work might well deceive anyone. Miss Robins’s novels havo deceived some, and also Lucas Malet’s. John Oliver Hobbes’s novels might have puzzled tho reviewer when they first appeared. But could anyone bo simple enough to attribute to a man Miss Fowler’s Elizabeth in “Tho Farringdons” ? Partisanship of women cannot be taken as an indication of the sex of an author, for somo of the finest types of modern womanhood, feminists in truly sano and nobio form, are found in men’s work, witness “Diana of the Crossways.” The" presence or absence of humour, Miss Barnicbat thinks, furnishes ono of the chief factors in determining the answer. Another almost infallible sign of the woman’s hand in fiction is the ovorpreponderanoo of tho love element in women’s novels.

THE CHOICE OF HEROINES. Tho most delicate test of the sox of a novelist, however, lies in the choice of heroines. A man's heroines are generally altogether too beautiful. A woman’s heroines are often what tho average woman is—just fairly nicelooking, neither divinely tall nor divinely fair, nor divinely anything. Sometimes they aro .absolutely plain, witness Jane Eyre. Olio of the most infallible signs of an average man’s work is an entrancingly beautiful heroine, who generally also contrives to be beautifully dressed. At any rate, a woman docs not make a penniless, or nearly penniless, girl dress as if she had a hundred pounds a year to spend on her wardrobe. Another sign, tho most certain of all, is that a man in drawing a very young girl almost invariably makes out that she has eaten far too much of tho fruit of tho Tree of tho Knowledge of Good and Evil, as much as he himself would have eaten at a similar ago, for instance, which is altogether absurd. This, says Miss Barnicoat, is one of tho last things a man novelist learns, though oven hero Maupassant in “Yvette” has shown a knowledge of Woman unequalled by Woman herself. NEW YORK AND BERNARD SHAW.

-The prohibition of George Bernard Shaii's play, "Mrs Warren’s Profession, by the New York police authorities, as reported in our cable news this morning, comes as a sharp set-back to the recent astonishing popularity of that astonishing dramatist. For many yearn Bernard Shaw, socialist, Fabian, novelist, musical critic, street-lecturer town councillor, wrote plays and, in the belief that they never would or could be acted, gave them to an expectant “°ok f °rm. One of his plays, Candida,” in one of those witty and discursive introductions that ho makes a habit of prefixing to all his plays, he conclusively proved could never bo acted, owing to the two facts that his hero was a seventeen-year-old poet, and that by the time an actor became an actor-manager he was too old and sophisticated to impersonate such a part. So Shaw wrote his “Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant,” and his ‘Plays for Puritans”; and was for many years content to address the world from street corners, in the musical columns of the London press, or by means of tracts on municipal matters. A few years ago America discovered that his plays could bo acted, and the very one barred by the author as impossible, the fantastic “Candida,” was selected for the first production. It was an overwhelming success, and others of his large selection of published plays followed. London took its cue from New York, and recently several of Shaw’s plays have been produced with success

in England. His latest play, “John Bull’s Other Island,” marked a distinct advance in his :u".. and placed him in tho forefront of living English dramatists. The play at which New York’s moral sense lias now so suddenly revolted is certainly ouo that would hardly commend itself as suitable for stage production. It is its tllemo tliat alone bars it for a mixed audience; though it cannot bo doubted that in writing what ho distinctly labelled an “Unpleasant” play, tho author meant t# inculcate a moral lesson.

A SUCCESSFUL SHOW,

Tho annual exhibition and carnival promoted by the Manawatu Agricultural and Pastoral Association was brought to a conclusion yesterday, when an immense crowd of people— l probably a record* attendance—as-* somblod on tbo show grounds at Pal- i merstou North. It was a prosperous) and contented-looking crowd, drawn from all parts of tho district, and overd further afield. The policy of tho association finds justification by result* which each year lift tbo Manawatu show into greater importance, and stimulate tho healthy rivalry that exists between its promoters and those who control th» affairs of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The officiate of tho association are, therefore, to b® congratulated on their achievements of fostering competition amongst exhibitors, and nt tho same time advanced ng the interests of their district. Tho exhibits have this year been of tho highest standard in quality, and it is gratifying to observe tho largo number of new exhibitors attracted to this! show. In a country such as this, it is impossible to over-estimate tbo impontanoo of tbo proper breeding of stockIt is, therefore, satisfactory to roe that by tho efforts of such organisations as the Manawatu Agricultural and Pastoral Society farmers aro taking a mono intelligent interest in tho quality of thoiit stock, with tho consequenoo of material advantage both to themselves and to tho colony.