A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8782, 11 July 1914, Page 10

A LITERARY CORNER

(R.A.L.) THE WAN DEREK'S ’ NECKLACE. Sir H. Rider Haggard. (Cassell and Co., London, etc.) Is there Romance in Agriculture? Aro tho two compatible? One answer is -that tho author of the Aeneid wrote the very best poetry of tho farm extant. Another is that tho Master Boot of tho Scots, and in some respects of tho world, wrote tho immortal Saturday night of the Cotter. Another is the Ettrick shepherd who has done work tho like of which, in neatness, facility and rhyme, is not to be found often in the world. Other answers there arc scattered like stars over tho firmament of letters. Lot us bo satisfied with one of them, even though it touch not poesy. Sir Rider Haggard began as a romancer," shot up to a heights that commanded, dropped to earth to write of farms and farmers and things bucolic and statistical in England and Denmark, rose to a height ot authority which make men turn towards him whenever it is a question of how many microbes may be accommodated on the point of a butter knife,. and earned him a knighthood. But he always found a place between his cow hyres and his laboratories for a section of the world he had created in the regions of romance. From that section volumes continued to como forth with no stain of earth, and no hint of bucolic clumsiness. Under ,two flags, as it were_, his life became a romance of two worlds.

His latest romance is this book about the Wanderer’s Necklace. It is dedicated to Sir Edgar Vincent, and the dedication is dated November, 1913. Now Sir Edgar is the chairman of tho Empire Commission, and Sir H. Rider Haggard is one of its most practical members. They wore here in the said year 1913 about their business of propping up tho British Empire. It is probable then that this book was then actually on the stocks. Wo remember how sharp were the questions the author put to witnesses who appeared before that. Commission ' with an exaggerated idea of their mission. Wo can never forget how his direct searchings convinced soma bewildered Liliputians that they were not really Gullivers. We recollect how wide was his demand for information by books, by men, by figures, by records. •

It is interesting to learn now that it that time he may also have had the MS. of this book with liim. We can imagine him taking a day off now and then to open his box of marionettes, sot them agoing to bis liking. and drown the whirr of the Wheels of Progress, with the scratching of the Pen of Romance. Perhaps he enjoyed this pleasure most at ton, seeking “the seclusion which a cabin grants.”, . Men thought .of him on such occasions as buried in the study of the greatness of colonial destinies, and people and lands, while he was tracing tho wanderings of his hero, and putting his complicated adventures into a shape to be understanded of a delighted people. The Wanderer is just like all "the others wc have admired from the days of the mines of Solomon to the present. There is the same enthralling simplicity of narrative, the same stately style, the same pivotting on •strong character, and the same variety of incident. Much of this is pugnacious. There are few who can picture a great fight so well as Rider Haggard. Of his contemporaries there is only Conan tloyle, and he, I do believe, is the superior, perhaps in combats of men, and in combats of men with beasts certainly.

For example there is in this Wanderer story, a combat with a hear; a sea light between Vikings of old in the Baltic Sea, in their quaint ships grappled together; a pitched battle between a few hundred Norsemen and a whole army of Byzantine Greeks—a Homeric contest of personal valour, military skill, and splendid display of noble virtues. *

As Rider Haggard does not always confine himself to the ordinary world, his excursions into the unknown on this occasion need surprise no one, though they can not . escape criticism for a tendency to spoiling the enjoyment of the reader who likes his romance confined within the • hounds of probability. But if the thing is well done the most prosaic of readers may he carried away, especially in these days of credulous scepticism. -A world that will hang enraptured on the accents of “Julia’s” Bureau revealing vague trivialities will not. quarrel with the story of a hero and heroine who, after a flourishing career, depart this life, only to return and meet again centuries later to he happy for ever after. It depends—except perhaps with the Julia devotees who will believe and revere anything with a remote pretence of being an inhabitant of the 1 other side of Jordan —of course largely on how it is done.

Now in this story this is very well done. Tho Haggard wand sots hia people into their long last sleep, each clasping one-haff of a marvellous necklace, the like of which is seen never on earth, duly wakes them up, .sends them spinning through the most'thrilling adventures, and finally brings them together, where their respective half necklaces are found .to fit exactly.

There is a dramatic treatment added, very effective, by which the story divides itself into periods. In Norway the Viking youth flourishes, Until smiting the 'head from the statue of Odin —a very powerful scene —ho disappears for fear of the revenge of the Odin priesthood. In Byzantium he enters, a matured soldier, as the valiant captain of the Norse bodyguard of Augusta, Empress of the Eastern world, who falls madly in love with him, and being repulsed through the subtle influence of a buried memory, contrives a life for him of the most astounding adventures; in Alexandria and Bagdad ho and the heroine, met meanwhile, attract the attention of various Moslem potentates, among them our dear old Haroun-al-Raschul, who has » really marvellous scene with tho pair; in the Eastern Empire again, where adventures come in the old profusion, and death threatens with the customary imminence, driving tho pair back to their native Nbrth, where they resume their disturbed life in peace, honour, and comfort, with shell necklace reunited, and the homage of a race of glorious subjects. The dramatic touch to which I have referred is the separation of these periods. Each period is complete in itself, and each of the blanks between is supposed to manage tho succession of them. The process saves weariness by .suppressing deajil. A book of entrancing romance this—-

of thrilling variety—abounding in loftiness, of bravery, and chivalrous honour. Full is it of contrasts, for example, the hardy Anakim of the North, with their simple lives, sterling character, and many virtues; tho meanness, vice, and hypocrisy o, tho .Byzantine Greeks of the later Empire, tinselled, rotten, despicable; the earnest Moslem, early _ fanatic, earnest and cruel. It is with these materials that the story is woven "with tho old skill. Tho creator of “She, of “Quatermain,” ' of “Umslopogaas, and the other great adventurers has not lost his cunning. It is therefore a refreshment of the spirit dip into these new pages of his. TV hoever dips I will stay to the end. I THE SPIRIT OF THE CHILD. Tullie C. Wollaston—(T. C. Lothian. Melbourne.) This is an earnest, charming, dainty, and poetical, A sentence of the preface helps to launch it: “In a day of cheap cynicism, wicked levity, and vulgar advertisement it is refreshing to find a quiet and mmny optimism and a deep gratitude for the gift of life.” There we have the key—optimism. It ia a good key, to success in nil things, and, what is more, to the comfort that is due to want of success in .any. The scheme of the book is a series of letters from a father who is travelling from his beloved Anstraliatho Felix of that ilk—to his wife and their children. Some of these narrate an idyllic love story, refiueo, delicate, deeply touching, of rare construction, and of course it is the story of tho father and mother of this letter scries. It enlists the reader, delights him, harrows bis mind to the verge of despair, and therefore gives a special brightness to his soul with its happy ending. The' other letters dwell on the beauties of forests and gardens, trees, flowers and scented shrubs, birds (a groat monograph ot the magpie)—opals (very fanciful and comprehensive), with pleasant, hopeful verses affixed as it were to each. One realises the nobility of the encalypts of Australia, the glory °f the wattles, the tender grace "of thewild flowers of the' continent, with the scent of the modest, “boronia” over them all. • The originality of the descriptions, the refinement of the ideas, and the wholesome health of the sentiments make ua tho hook’s_ great charm which Is added to by incidental verses which are as fully poetical as they are peculiar and true. The illustrations aro a powerful attraction, particularly the coloured pictures of some young eucalypts, which are a great revelation of beauty and daintiest grace, and the printing is just splendid. WELCOME REPRINTS. “A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST,” Etc., Etc. Gene Stratton Porter—Hodder and Stoughton. I know four delightful books by this writer. Do you ? “ The Girl of the Limberlost ” was a joy; the “ Song of the Cardinal ’ ’ was a. glory; the “ Foot of the Rainbow ” was a ray of refinement; and “ The Harvester ” was the very originality of quaintness. I have just got the reprints in shilling form. They are not shilling shockers,' glory be 1 And thanks to the publishers, who ought to neap richly of this venture. The spreading of such culture as this deserves reward of the best. “ THE ADVENTURES OP LOUIS BLAKE.” Louis Becke (N.S.W. Bookstall Company, Ltd.). We all know our Becke. We remember bis connection with the celebrated •‘Bully Hayes,” with whose exploits he has filled' many, many an interesting chapter. But of the biography of Mr Becke we have felt a desire to know more. This book supplies that want. It also supplies food for those who are always hungry for adventures and thrilling enterprises. “HAIL AND FAREWELL” (VALE). George Moore (Heinemanu, London). The last of the Trilogy. Tile Moore people will go wild over it. Bohemians will go into the ecstasies which are special to Bohemia. Artists will feel reminiscent of their young days, but they will say the thing has been better done by Thackeray and Du Manner. Men of letters will laugh some about the new sohool and more about George Moore. The judicious will wonder why this book was over written. moreTreprints. From Jbhn Lang, London. Florence Warden’s “ The Square,” l Richard Marsh's “ Miss Arnott’s Marriage,” Nat Gould’s “ The Favourite.” These we have’ before us, a welcome addition to a much-wanted revival. “ HAVE YiT>TeVER READ?” Annual Report of the British and' Foreign. Bible Society (The Bible 'House, London). The book is founded on the annual) report of the society for 1912-13, and* is illustrated and very informative. If you want to know the good work done from Chino to Peru in one year, read it. You will be impressed.