LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 47

LITERARY NOTES.

• . • The two writers of the old school who still hold their own are Pierre Loti and Anatole France. Both have lately published two books which must take rack with thu finest; examples of modern French literature. • . ■ Still another club has been formed for the benefit of ladies who write, Ib has beea organised by the students of the English School of Journalism, under the name of the "J Pens Ciub," and will have its headquarters in Cnandos strees, London. • . • Dr Sven Hedin, the eminent Swedish explorer, who recently descrined betora the Royal Geographical Society and othsr institutions his remark&ble travels and adventures in Central Asia during the last tbree years, is engaged on a record of his travels. It will be published next OctoDer by Messrs Mechaen and Co. •.• Iv is said that Daudet's literary remains include a number of short stories, and at least one long novel wiiich was only recently completer;. Another work of an autobiographical naiure which tne author long had in mind was well in hand at the time of his death. These will bo published when the arrangements can be made, along with a selection of D*udet's letters. In the msausime, M. Lson Daaaet is said to be contemplating a " Lire " of his father. • . • A cheap edition of " Thackerayana : Notes and Anecdotes " was ibsued by. Messrs Chattas and Windus in January. It is illustrated with a coloured frontispiece and hundreds of sketches by Thackeray from his school books and other sources. The same ■ publishers also promise shortly " Records of | Old Times : Historical, Social, Political, j Sporting, and Agricultural," by Mr J. K. ] Fowler. A large paper edition, limited to 75 copies, is being prepared or this book, which will have some full-page illustrations. • . • The subtlest, tha most truthful, the most; powerful atudy of a human soul, or, indeed, of any cumoer of i&olated human souls, will not suffice of itself to make a great novel ; for the purposes of such a novel the souls have to be clothed with bodies, or, in other words, to become men and women ; in their intercourse with and action upon each other they must bear themsel?es as men and women of the actual world, obeying those iafiuences of motive and conforming to thoss laws of probability ! which, within certain limits, are the same for sinners and for saints alike. — Literature. • . • Chaucer is the laßt, and in certain respects tne greatest, of the medieval poeta of Europe. . . . In an age preoccupied with ideas and images, Chaucer, by extraordinary good luck, had the originality to devote himself to character. . . . For { what he has left us, fragmentary and teata- [ tive though it be, our gratitude should be I unbounded. This is by tar the greatest name in our literature until Shakespeare is reached. In the last 10 years of the fourteenth century Chaucer not merely provided us with a mass of enchanting verSß, but he lifted the literature of hi 3 country ous of its barbarous isolation and subserviency, and he placed it in the foremost rank. — Edmund Go-ise. • . • The pictured edition of the New Testament now issued by Nelson and Sons should appeal to a larger circle than the usual child's picture Bible. This volume is not a mere library book, but is of a handy size to carry about, both type and paper oeing excellent. The pictures, which number over 200, are for tha most part reproduced from photographs of localities in the Holy Land introduced in their appropriate context. Take, for instance, the picture of Nazareth at page 149; the reader can judge for himself from the photograph of the general characteristics and surroundings of the village. Tne present edition, we learn from the teims of the royal license to princ it, is limited to SUOO copies, but it will not surprise us to learn that tha demand for this beautiful and handy volume v/ill far exceed the limit. • . • Colonel J. Trotter, R.A., was recently a member o£ a commission appointed for Frontier Delimitation in West Africa, aad an account of his experiences will shortly appear through Messrs Methuen and Co. in a volume entitled " The Niger Sources." Another important work dealing with Africa promised by this firm is called " Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger," by Lieutenant Seymour Vandeleur. Ib is a narrative of service in the Equatorial Lukes and on the Upper Nile in 1895 and 1896, as well as under Sir George Goldie— who is writiog an

introduction to the book — in the Niger campaign last year. The capture of Bida and Ilorin, also the French occupation of Bousss, will be fully described. Both works will have a map and illustrations. • . • Wnen Jowett confessed to Tennyson his ignorance of Hebrew, the poet austerely rebuked the priest for not knowing his owa sacred writings. The larger number, we are told, of the Ohosen People themselves to-day is in the same evil case, the classic Hobrew of ths Bible being a dead language to the ordinary European Jew, who speaks and .undnratands only Yiddish, a corrupt jargon of Hebrew and modern European dialects Mr Marcus Bs^gnaaun, a Jewish missionary of the City of London Mission, has translated the old Tesracnent into a form of Yiddish as pure as he has been able to make it by purging it somewhat of its baser associations, and a version of the Scriptures in a tongue uuderstanded of tbe people will be \ available for the boat of Yiddibh-speakiog Jews so soon as funds are forthcoming for ' its distribution. — St. James's Gazette. .' Mr Jarome X Jerome, whose letter to the editor of an English literary weekly dealing with a current fiction about himself will be found below, was recently (says Literature) the recipient of a very pleasant New Year's gift Sf. Petersburg. Midatn Jarinizoffi has sent him j a big New Year's card covered over on both sidaa with the names and addresses of Russians, along with an inscription expressing that it is a testimonial from Mr Jerome's " siccareat admirers in St. Petersburg." No fewer thaa 111 carries are given, including authors, tirarnaik.t.4, actors, arcists, and others. Tue lady who forwaidtha eif t &aya : Certainly you understand ifc would be simply impossible to send yoa in that way the expression of sympathy from all jour admirers iv St. Petersburg ; if all of them knew of tha device and would ba allowed to join us, than surely there would bfl uo place for thafjOhmtma-* card in your house. A* it is, I had juit to mant : on about it among our frieuds, and ta^ idea insbantly flew through many circles, aud r«achec( the theatre, and in a few days I received more c*rds than I could use in trying mob fco be to:> plamp with our feelings. Please notice thsfc every one knew the strict and inevitable confSi'ion — perfect sincerity. You ran sco from all this how right we were to tell jou in the summer tb'it the moral success of your books is enormous bore ; all thef-e persons (and several hundred more ia St. Petersburg) have th^m and love them, notwithstanding the general small amount of bookbuyt-rs with ns. Such an act of international courtesy to aa English author may be worth mentioning at a moment whea tbe Russian bear and ths British lir.a are iepres«nt»d as almrsl ready to fly ?fc each other's throats ia the Far Easr. The following is the letter referred to above : — Some two year=t ago much injury was caused me by the nsjustifiaWe connection of my name with a now tief^nefc magazine called the Minster ; and to hhia day — so cleverly wa3 the fiction srsr^ad — I and fliffiiuity ia persuading angry creditors and other dupes that I never was responsible, in whole or in part, for that ill-fated venture. Under strangely similar circumstances a rumour is now being industriously circulated that I am abonfc to start; a new weekly journal May I, Sir — not entirely in my own interests — aek your assistance iv counteracting this falsehood ? I ara neither directily nor in irecfely — not as proprietor in wfcoln or in part, not as editor, aot as contributor, not even as wellwisher — concerned with any such venture. When next I am connected with any new journalistic schemes ray name will appear with a plainness admitting of no doubt. — Jjsr-.-me K. Jerome, January 1.