ADDITIONS TO “EVERYMAN’S”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22742, 30 November 1935, Page 4

ADDITIONS TO “EVERYMAN’S”

CONRAD’S ROGUES AND SAINTS Everyman’s Library: “ The Golden Book of Modern English Poetry," edited by Thomas Caldwell; " The Nature of the Physical World,” by Sir Arthur Eddington; " The House of Prayer," by Florence Converse; " The Philosophy of the Good Life," by Charles Gore; "Lord Jim" by Joseph Conrad. Volumes 921925. London: Dent. Each Ss. In the circle of the sea where he found his genius Joseph Conrad became the master of fiction and prose. His books and short stories show an incomparable intensity of expression, a vividness ot description, faithfulness to detail, and perception of humanity—all characteristics of “Lord Jim." Nevertheless, as a classic for “ Everyman’s Library,” one imagines that a better representative of Conrad could have been reprinted, for it must be confessed that the book begins excellently, but as may be expected in that which was conceived and begun as a short story and then elongated into 300 close-type pages, later becomes wearisome and the narrative tenuous and

rambling. Jim, afterwards known as Tuan Jim by his natives of the Malayan river, is _ a likeable young fellow, invested with the aliveness of Conrad's characters. He takes a job as first officer in a pilgrim ship—also a “coffin ship"—bound for Mecca from Singapore. In the watches of the night there is the merest shudder as the ship passes over some submerged object, the only watertight bulkhead moves and bulges with the force of inrushing water. Jim sees the end. There are not half enough boats for the 800 pilgrims sleeping in the holds. Every moment the five white officers aboard expect the ship to plunge; there is terrible suspense; the pilgrims sleep on. In desperate haste four of the men get a boat out to save themselves, but Jim, loyal to hie duty, refuses to leave. One man dies of heart failure. “‘There were eight hundred people in that ship,’ he said, impaling me to the back of my seat with an awful blank stare. ‘Eight hundred living people, and they [the renegades in the boat] were yelling after the one dead man to come down and be saved.’ “Jump, George] Jump! Oh, jump! The squall came up, the ship began a slow plunge down, Jim thought, to the bottom; he found he had jumped into the boat. Thus Jim lost his honour, and began a ceaseless wandering existence to escape the terrible ignominy of his unconscious act. The book takes us through all the nuances of the hero’s psychology, so that we understand everything perfectly. The story of “Lord Jim” is, on the publisher’s figures, the most popular of all Conrad’s hooks, and should gain a new generation of readers in this new edition. R. H. S. Other New Volumes

Ten other modern copyright volumes added to “Everyman’s Library," in accordance with the new policy of Messrs Dent include one work of outstanding interest, Eddington’s “The Nature of the Physical World." Eddington’s interpretation in ordinary, non-matheraatical terms of the two great revolutionary theories of modern science, the theory of relativity and the Quantam theory, has brought the plain man into touch with philosophies undreamed of, and this book must be regarded as a basic work for all who would apprehend the trend of modern experimental philosophy. The late Bishop Gore’s study of the evolution of “The Good Life ” from pagan conceptions through the great religions of the Eastern and Western worlds, is a work that presents this brilliant wrtier at his best, so far as the ordinary reader is concerned, \yho might find his more purely theological studies perplexing and tiring, while “ The House of Prayer,” of Florence Converse. may commend itself to those who seek a simple yet reliable approach for children to the Liturgy of the Church. The other new volume, a cheaper edition of a well-known verse anthology, will be considered in these columns later.

A Plumer Biography "Plumer of Messines,” by General Sir Charles Harington, G.C.8., G.8.E., with a foreword by the Archbi.shop of Canterbury, is to be published by John Murray. The author was Lord Plumer’s trusted chief of staff of the Second Army, and he gives a particularly faithful account of the great General, and describes the progress of his career with remarkable insight. He enters into no controversy over the Passchendaele Campaign of 1917. but, with unequalled knowledge of the facts, he tells the story of the Second Army.

An Innovation Messrs Blackie advise (hat an entirely new method in book production has been introduced in a work by one of the foremost scientists of the day. Dr Max Born, entitled “ The Restless Universe.’' This original feature is an ingenious scries of “ moving pictures,” tracing the actual course of certain phenomena in the life and structure of the universe. The illustrations also include a series of half-tone plates and about 120 line drawings. The whole book has been designed to show the ordinary man the meaning of some of the most epoch-making discoveries of modern science.