A Literary Corner

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 12

A Literary Corner

(Conducted by

R.A.L.

"OH, MR LEACOCK”

If any one ever doubted that Mr C. K. Allen is a humorist—thit m spite of his veiy pleasant book, “The' Judgment of Paris,” which we recently reviewed—his introduction 10 this volume about Mr Leacock would settle that matter once and for all. Listen to this for example:—“From earliest infancy I have been blessed with, a particularly keen sense o! humour. The things I used to say to my parents at the age of five nearly kiilec them. My parento used to tell them to all the neighbours, and nearly killed them too. Then the neighbours nearly killed me.” Or what can be more strong than this:—“Though I have considerably aged since I was a baby, my sense of, humour is still extraordinarily lively. I don’t wish to seem conceited, but I can’t help noticing that it io much livelier than that of most , other people I know. When I unbend, as I 6onietime9 do, to tell a humorous story to * few chosen friends, not one of them enjoys it half as much as I do.. Frequently I have found that I’ve had to repeat it two or three times before they have got the point, arid even then they do not get half as’ much point.asI do.” And this is’ a good point : —“My publishers assume me that the public is nOt educated up to my books. They assure' mt that very few distinguished writers have been appreciated by generation, and are confident that I will achieve posthumous fame. Several of them say they hope I will achieve it as soon aS possible.” . Having thus established: bit claib. to be a master of humotfr the author set: Out at OnCe to criticise the fcd.okc of Professor Leacock. Hfe takes them all “au grand series,” apd , botWeci. every lino he says, “Oh, Mr LeacOck.” “What element of humour,” He cries, “people‘can see in this authqr I cannot imagine. And apart from what eeenu tc •me serious and ajarriiirig isr that be strikes at the very foutidtttidiis of society. I feel it My duty to want the public against him; the more So' because f have reason to believe that the public—the. uueducated puHlm which does not know good stuff wheh it sees it—believe in tho dtermined opponent of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.” In thi9 fashion he falls foul of tne' best in Leacock, quoting the choicest passages from variou. ot his books, replying seriously to the satire, and giving hif own version of things with the starched gravity of a pedagogue, and the ridiculous pedantry of : a tool. The fooling is simply glorious. Erijbyable is it also. But Leacock docs, riot sthrd in any need of any such help. Be that ah it may, the Leacock books will, benefit' largely by thie humorsquo treatment. The proiesso* niay teauire toning down sometimes, or rather Heipg taken with a grain jf Saif, as r/hen ho sing, the praises of the new American humorist. Bob* Btertcbley, not for calling him the most typical and the best American humorist, though that is saying a good deal, but for going so fa f as to say that the appearance or Berichley’s first book is an event in the history of literature not equalled since produced his “Pdfadise' Lost.”More than this, he say^: “I-Will gb far as to say that if Shakespeare-had been alive he would tedb ih Bob Bcnchley a friend' and xn equal.” At this point most of ua will be inclined to shout with our author, “Oh! Mr Leacock!” The professor of political economy may convulse the world with laughter when in lighter vein. But to find us another '"Jhakespeare—“Oh 1 Mr Leacock!” —(Copy from the Bodley Head.) “THE VICTORIES OF FAILURE” Mr C. J. do Garis comes before the public in better guise than he did on the last occasion. The public will receive his literary effort with the cordiality due to people who have the courage to rise superior to the slings and arrows of evi) fortune. Failure should always be th* prelude to at least renewal of effort if not, to victory. As a matter of fact in the world of men worth then salt, victory is often the result of the discipline of failure. The author asks why his two big failures should not be followed by success sufficient to stamp him as a snccesftil careei, and no one but .will wish him well for the manliness of his decision. , We are told by a friendly critic thdt no writer in Australia is better qualified to write “A Business Romance” than the author of “this novel.” Making every allowance for friendship, we fail to see that the book is a novel at all in any sense ,of the word. It may he a business mance —inasmuch as it is the career of a man of exceptional enterprise and business acumen, who arrives at a quite unexpected height of success from very small beginnings—as every, millionaire of history has done—and after aff failed badly through the machinations Of rivals. The strong special pleading by which these machinations are exposed to the world may or may not be tfue—* there is always the other side to be heard before judgment can h* pronounced—but there is nothing romantic about the matter. Otherwise you might extract romance daily from the \

records of the bankruptcy court. Write of the bankrupt as a genius beset by adverse influences which he met with a courage great as it was unavailing, and you have your “Business Romance” complete and yet your novel added tc the galaxy of the age. All the names in this romance are of course fictitious. While refusing the author a pseudonymous martyrplogium in the high niches of literarilffame, we have pleasure in acknowledging that his book is of considerable interest if only for the light it throws on the settlement of Mildura on the Murray, its large fruit industry, its methods of irrigation and its growing importance. The Mildura movement is a demonstration of what irrigation has for Australia ih the near future. A marvellously flourishing community is living there on the ground once regarded as absolutely barren. Such settlements can be multiplied at will. . Fruit need by. no means be their sole objective. Lucerne arid, crops of, every kind ;an he included in the schemes of cultivation With water. And as for the water bUpply, what, one asks, becomes of the .enormous. supplies of water brought down by the. inundations such .as. we read of every day during’tht. present most rairty season? The Australians' will learn to .conserve if. Thejt have in foct, made a beginning of which few men can detenmne'.the beneficial Odd. F<Jr.» cotter understanding of this problem intimately connected as it- is with the great iriigrititiii schemes' Viemg to-day, undertaken by Imperial F>°peratmn, there could scarcely be a better, book than that of Mr (Saris’* ‘ Victories of Failure. ”y-(Cepy from Wyatt and ' Wyatt, Collins, street; Melbourne). "FLORA Of IWfcUWr COOK” A 1 little hook it is, hut a comprehensive and most complete Study' of- the flora of our greatest mountain' region. Professor Wall has reason to be- proud of his' Work. In scientific frame work, it is perfect; in detail’ of species,, habiftats and relations with the rest et tho world it is- monumental. In’ interest it is fascinating.. ' The professor defines his field to the’ country immediately around the’ central mountain, and follows up outside the boundaries by way of accounting for exceptional members of- the flora. This leads him to the division between the western and eastern sides of the backbone range—the gorgeous west, with its rainfed forests and arid east, With explanations of the effect of climate, winds, rains, and droughts on the plant life of the regions. Concluding; With the relation of the flora of NeW Zealand with that of the rest of the world, he lights up a horizon Vast and of splendid interest. On this point he speaks for himself most eloquently:—, . “The conception of a greater New Zealand isolated for long ages after it's connection with either Malaya or Australia! had been severed, is not only a majestic thing in itself, but commends itself as a reM6nable hypothesis in full harmony with the known facts and explaining most of the strikingly distinctive features of oiir pfeseSf: :fima.; As wc approach modern, timp s it becomes easier—as we come -tVpoii ' firmer ground—to sum and account for the’ forces of Which the present' flora of the Southern Alps, ie the resultant.” ' To quote further would' be td' spoil the interest for the reader. We have dbne enough to shew the splendid character and aim of the Work.

To enforce tho lessons generally stated in the test the author hat divided his subject into ten excursions, and on i these he takes his readers along withhim in breathless interest and Comprehensive information. We will sum up,, in the author’s Words: “Taken as a whole, the flora presents a study jf the most entrancing interest, whether as acientists we look with admiration and Wolider upon the ingenious methods by which plants have been adapted to life under the very strenuous and difficult Conditions of the wind-buffeted cliff face at 9000 ft, and the shingle slip with its perpetual flood of stones submerging the plant and upon the strange forms, sometimes beautiful, sometimes quaint,; sometimes only grotesque, or astounding, assumed ’by certain plants in such exacting conditions; or whether as ordinary mortals, we simply look with feelings akin to worship upon the pure beauty of the mountain daisies and buttercups, the lovely euphrasies, the hosts of graceful ‘forget-me-nots,’ th; tall centians, the sweet-scented brata and car-’ damine of the barren rocks, and the Starry multitude* of the bog and the stream side. The Visitor to the Hermitage finds all this beauty poured into his lap: day excursions from the hotel itself will bring him into touch with all but a few of tht most aspiring species and a visit to the Hooker, MueTle, or Ball Hut at the right season lands him in the middle of a floral, paradise, where he can make companions, not for a brief hour only, but for long leisured days of the finest buttercup and the finest'daisy in the world, and a host of their less distinguished brethren.”. (Copy from “Lyttelton Times” Publishing Company.)