A CHINESE NOTE BOOK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27385, 10 May 1950, Page 2

A CHINESE NOTE BOOK

Literature

Writings Of Rewi Alley Leaves From a Sandan Note Book. By Rewi Alley. The Caxton Press. It is welcome news that the publication of Rewi Alley’s poems, “ Gung Ho,” some two years ago was so well received that it prompted the compilation of another volume. Mr H. Winston Rhodes, to whose efforts the public largely owes the appearance of “ Gung Ho,” lias chosen and edited the selections, prose and verse in Leaves From a Sandan Note Book. Alley’s work attracts attention for two reasons. The co-operative movement with which he is in association is an important one and it is particularly, interesting to have an account of it from him. Secondly, from the literary viewpoint, the personality of an unusual individual is strongly conveyed in Alley’s writings. He himself has tended to dismiss the poems especially as of value only as a release. Such spontaneous expressions must have had that effect on him but by their directness and sincerity they can convey a message to others. The contents include carefullygleaned “ thoughts,” a few articles written for publication in journals with a limited circulation, and the poems. The latter are the most remarkable. for in them there are the most vivid glimpses into the life of China and into the everyday affairs of Alley’s own doings. He finds in the river Huang Ho a symbol of China itself Looked at from the hills, seemingly so placid. Sparkling with sunlit rays, or in winter Bright with crystal ice. Yet always underneath swift waters That push irresistably onward. Again in one brief sketch of 400 or 500 words Alley tells more of China’s much‘heard-of bandits than has usually been given in more elaborate productions. A peasant lad bent under his carrying-pole supplied the answer to the visitor’s questionings—- “ We are all bandits.”