RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22824, 7 March 1936, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

" The Jew of Borne." By Lion Teuchtwangcr (Hutchinson, 8s 6d). "The Maker of Heavenly Trousers." By Danlelo Vare (Methuen). "Fires In May." By Buth Felner (Harrap). "Widow's Oats." By Warner Fabian (Paul). "The Forbidden Biver." By Harold BlndlOßS '(Ward, Lock). " A Century of Detective Stories." Edited by G. K. Chesterton (Hutchinson, 6s). " Tough Company." By Carlton Dawe (Ward.

Lock). " The Moor Barn Mystery." By H. Laurence Phillips (Thornton Butterworth). " The Poisoned Goblet." By Arthur Cask (Jenkins). (Each 7s, unless otherwise stated.)

Josephus Lion Feuchtwanger's second long novel of Josephus, "The Jew of Rome" (from Whitcombe and Tombs), deals with the middle years of this strong and interesting character. It is, of necessity, less exciting in the sense of event than " Josephus." The fall of Jerusalem and ~\the conquest of Judea have no equally dramatic counterparts in the later history of Josephus, and we have more attention to the alter ego of the principal charac-

ter, Joseph Ben Matthias, the scholar of Judea* and are closely engaged in consideration of his domestic life, the problem in education of his son by his second marriage which is postulated in , the worldly aspirations of the mother. But the spiritual and psychological interest of the period, as-it affects the story of Jewry, gives to this book a particular merit for those who care to study the problem. The position of the Jew in a society which he does not dominate has never been more difficult and troubled than it was in the early days of Christianity and is again to-day. Dr Feuchtwanger's exposition of the problem, though it is fairly cast for the circumstances of his period, has a surprising relevance to its modern counterpart in Hitlerißed Germany, of which he has unhappy personal experience. It is his own direct acquaintance with it that makes his reasoned and scholarly statement so admirable and deserving of thought. In the second of the books which -may be received as Lion Feuchtwanger's major contribution to fiction he presents the background and characters of his work with a rare judgment and restraint, and there will be many readers to rejoice: that the story of Josephus is not yet completed. This volume commences with the death of the Emperor Vespasian, and when it' ends Josephus has still to survive Domitian and write his "Jewish Antiquities." In spirit and person he still has an exciting road to tread. Tho Author Lion Feuchtwanger was born In 1884 in Munich, receiving there "a dreary pedantic education," until he went to .the university,- lafertj Berlin, aa a student of literature and philosophy; He married in 1912, and went abroad with his wife to live an expensive, life on the Riviera while' their money lasted. Then Feuchtwanger took to free-lance journalism. He was in Tunis when war broke out, and he returned to Germany, where he served with the army. for a short time only. During the war he wrote steadily, and his work was consistently suppressed in his own country, including the afterwards famous " Jew Suss." His other works include a play. "Warren Hastings," and.a modern novel, " Success." , He was forced to leave Germany for political reasons, and his works are among those denounced by the Nazis. Peking Peace; Peace in the midst of turmoil, a corner of Peking that remains remote from violent happenings while the Russian revolution thunders almost at the gates, gives the setting and spirit of Dr Vare's "The Maker of Heavenly Trousers." It is something piquant to have a story written in English by an Italian (Dr Vare was until recently Italian Minister at Peking, and spent twelve years there), and it is at least equally so to find an author in any language who can make an exotic love story eweet without sentimentality, can introduce lotus-flowers and red-lacquered pavilions with charm divorced from the cloying properties of kinema interpretation. The tale is concerned with the love of a journalist for Kuniang, a little waif whom he befriends; it introduces the authentic touch of mysticism in the person of the beautiful Russian who has a strange affinity with Kuniang, and tells us much of the family of the Five Virtues that readers sensitive to sincerity and quietude will appreciate.. Alien in London Ruth Feiner's "Fires in May" telte the story of a German girl who comes to London when the Nazi regime is inaugurated. She first enters service with a middle-class family consisting of three spinster ladiec. Then a . tragic love affair, or rather, the consequences of it, send her to Paris. Her success as a playwright, when she returns to London, is in a large sense a flaw in the author's otherwise circumstantial and knowledgeable recapitulation of the life of nn alien in strange and inimical surroundings. But her love for the son of _ a wealthy family, and the act of renunciation she makes on his behalf, are sufficiently credible—unless the reader has that knowledge, or imagined knowledge, of the mentality of the modern German woman, which leads him to believe that she renounces nothing that she values. " Widow's Oats " The tradition, if it can be so called, of "Flaming Youth" has been maintained in "Widow's Oats" (from Whitcombe and Tombs). Once again Warner Fabian plays upon a theme which he has already exploited with some success—a revolt against the conventions, involving a derisive attack on what he is pleased to regard as the lag between the practice of morality and modern standards. In the achievement of his purpose he engages in a frank dissection of the physical and emotional reactions of his four principal feminine characters, all of whom suffer from a sense of frustration, an inborn discontent, because life, which has given them a great deal, has yet, denied them complete "fulfilment." If the success of the book is measured by the faithfulness with which it presents the supposed types the author may look for a greatly enhanced reputation. Judged by some other standards, however, it can scarcely assure him of resounding fame. " The Forbidden River " At the mouth of a river in Sierra Leone the factory and trading post of Merryls, Liverpool merchants, has almost entirely lost its commercial value through the hinterland tribes' refusal to bring their goods down the river. Lawless chiefs who force their vassals to trade inland that they may collect tolls are. aided by a terroristic gang of "leopard men," and it is into the heart of this country that young Bob Merry! and his companion and guide, Dane, penetrate to reopen the trade-ways. There are fights with fever, poison, and savage negro " leopards." In the end the natives submit, and produce is once more taken down the river. One

would be better pleased with a less halting style and less "reverse" phrasing than the author indulges in this book

Detective Stories Hutchinson's have now added to their series of " Century " omnibus volumes "A Century of Detective Stories," edited and with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton (from Whitcombe and Tombs). The amazing standard of value is maintained in this production, which contains over 1000 pages and includes 45 stories by different authors. Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Mark Twain, and Mrs Henry Wood—all of whom contributed something to the technique of the detective story—are represented, but most of the stories are by modern authors, including most of the popular writers in this genre. Anthony Berkeley, Earl Derr' Biggers, Thomas Burke, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, J. S. Fletcher, Hulbert Footner, Austin Freeman, Mrs Belloc Lowndes, Dorothy Sayers, and Edgar Wallace are only a few of the well-known contributors. The American writers Earl Derr Biggers (the creator of Charlie Chan, the Chinese detective of screen fame) is represented by "The Dollar Chasers," one of the longest stories in the collection and, probably, the most brilliant. The book should need no recommendation to lovers of mysteries. A "'Leathermouth " Novel

"Tough Company," by Carlton Dawe, relates another of Colonel Peter Gantian's exploits. His alter ego, Albert Floyd, introduces him to the Roma Cafe under the pseudonym of Joe Peters. Ostensibly he is a " tough guy " from South America. The story moves fast, and Gantian very soon discovers that Albert has made no mistake in saying that the Roma is the gathering place of as incorrigible a crowd as one could hope to meet. It is, indeed, only one of several places controlled by Steve Heemer and Clifton Cleddard in which gambling for big stakes is carried on with impunity. The heroine of the book is June Mountney—" Flaming June " —wife of a mouse of a man, a High Church Anglican cleric who will not divorce her. Through this crowd Gantian moves, uncovers the perpetrators of the Post Office robberies, and escapes death because Cleddard and Heemer are incredibly slow to strike. " The Moor Barn Mystery **

The body of a man is found in a disused barn. A tramp who slept the night there is naturally suspected—the, more because he runs away in a panic. The reader will quickly realise that this tramp is merely a red'herring and will look for the solution of . the problem . in another direction. The actions and demeanour of Chudleigh Parracombe are a puzzle, and when it is known that he has paid off with a huge sum of'money a debt that had been weighing him down, it seems certain that he is the culprit. The murdered man was known to have had a large sum with him-when he arrived in England from overseas. It appears, in a word, as if the whole thing were cut and dried. Then it is learnt that the money Parracombe used was never in the dead man's pockets, an'd a blunder on the part of the murderer solves the caa». Again Gilbert Laroi*

In "The Poisoned Goblet" Laroae marrieg Lady Ardane, a young and. very wealthy widow, who is the centre of a kidnapping case. Thus we have a detective who no longer needs to detect, and we have an author who has now no favourite detector. This particular story is very interesting, though far-fetched. Lady Ardane is being threatened. Her infant son is to be kidnappped. Her stepfather is averse to calling in the police, but through Naughton Jones, a private detective of an objectionable type, Detective Inspector Larose is brought in. We are given a number of cross-currents and, practically to the end, do not know exactly how many are in the plot, though the principal is evident early "enough. V. V. L.