LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 77

LITERARY NOTES.

• — The first complete English edition of ! Beethoven's letters is about- 1 to -be < pub- . 1 lisluxl by Messrs Dent. , „ , ,1 j — Sir Hubert Parry Jws- finished a 'bio- 1 j graphical study of Bach. The 'volume will be publiebv^d by Messrs Putnam. /' ' - ' I " — Mary E. Wilkins'a £1000 prize- Hovel, ' "The Shoulders of Atlas," is published byHarper and Brothers. — A book dealing with spiritualism is j called '"I>o the Dead Depart?" It has been ■ written by Miss Katharine Bates, who is an 'author it y on this occult subject. i — The anonymous author of '"'John Johns," now in its tenth edition, has lately finished a novel en tided 1 "The Methods of Mr Am-ss," which is to be issued in the autumn. • 1 — Mr W. Teicnmouth Shore, 1. the > wellknown Dickensian has for some time be<»n I engaged upon" a long work, "Cnarles , Dickons and His Circle," which Messrs SiSley wiM publish. ! — Sir Edwuird Carson so seWom figurss j in piinit as an autnor that special interest i attaches to a novol wiitten by the Hon. ' Georgina. O'Buon, in which ha has written 1 a '•foreword." The lxjok, to be callqj i "The Heart of the Peasant," will be published shortly by Messit, Sisley. — The Quebec tercentenary celebrations will arouse popular interest in the history jof Canada. Mt A. G. Bradley is engaged . on a volume calkd "The Making of Camtda 2 1 1763-1814," which Messrs Constable will publish. Mr Bradley will be remembered by his story of "The Fight ,with Prance for I North Am-e-rica," to which the forthoonaingJ book is, of course, «. saquel. , I — The great blind pc-at of, Syria, Abu'l J AJa, who has been called the Voltaire and ) Heine of the East, is about to be presented' i to English readers Ly Mr Heniry BaerloJn. His rendering promises to be one of the most interesting that has been made from Oriental poets since FitzGeraid'e "Omar ; Khayyam," who, as it happens, was born !44 years after Abu'l Ala. The title of the I book, which wiil be published by Mr John i Murray in his Wisdom of the East series, is j "The Diwan of Abu'l AJa." ; — It will be interesting to &&e whethoi j Mr Andrew Lang in his forthcoming bio1 graphy of "the Bluidy Mackenzie," Lord , Advocate in the Covenanting troubles, will j be able to reveree, or at any rate revise, the traditional estimate of that striking 1 figure in Scottish history. In hio 1 "Picturesque Xotes on Edinburgh," Steven- . son tells us how it was thought a high) 1 piece of prowess for boys to knock at the > Lord Advocate's mauseloum in ' Greyfriars churchyard and challenge him with: "Bluidy Mackingie, come oot if ye dar' !' but, adds Stevenson, Sir George (who, by th<v way. was the author of an essay ■on tolera rion) "continues to sleep peacefully among the many whom he so intolerantly helped to slay." With many fau'ts (unless, indeed bo Mr Lang will be able to explain them all away), Mackenzie rendered one inestimable service to hi« country — he founded the Advocates' Library. — A colour book on the Abruzzi country of Jlaly— the countrj after which the Duke of Abruzzi takes his title— is announced by ~NI<-s=t.s Chatk>. It has been written by Miss Anne Macdonnell and 'illustrated by Miss Amy Atkineon. The Abruzzi almost alone of" Italian provinces remains a land

: eeldonrr, visited by the .traveller,;.. If only 1 "(says ,^e 4Sacily jOhrohiole) 'on account of its "most unenviable notoriety for , Jawlessness, even for overt brigan<^gl. -For rhe same -reason, it is one of the most picturesque corners of the Peninsula. — r John whose "Marotz" h?[J been a very successful summer novel, is 7 by brrth a Yorkshireman, though he comes of strain almost as- mingled as that of Lafeadio Heara. He went to a. school near Cowper's Olney, and. later to Liehfield! Grammar School, famous, by reason of Johnson and David Gar.rick." " His course at Oxford was abandoned* when he espousedthe Catholic faith ; and he has Jiow beeni for many- years -in the army, -in which| he holds ''the rank of .Lieutenant-Colonel 1 .- Since- finishing "Marotz"- Mr- *• Ayseouge has. been engaged upon a still ..longer- novel, which "will probably' be- called -"Dromina." — "Rhys SLewis," one of the -^&ries of: Celtic plays to be presented at the Londow Court- Theatre shortly, has s been adapted' from the\* standard -.worlc"pf fiction ill the Welsh language.- Daniel Owen, f t3ie author, died a few years ago, and 'already a status of him stands in the main street of Mold', his natjve. town. lie wasja tailor by t^ade, thouign 'fie left this, ooc'upatior, for a -"shorty space -iwhen urged by friends, to "go for. ' ( the mjuristry." 7 In pursuance of,- this course > he w,ae fe§r sonae^ "bime a,stu'dent.at ■die Bala' Theological College. But--eveni&ally^he'"re-turned to the tailoring, and it "was in the j intervals of business (like the author of j "John Inglesaut'Xthat he wrote those vivid! j sketches of life And" character that hav*| given him s high place in Welsh litera- ' ture. „ . — yM. ,'Maeterlinck is* at present-staying j in Normandy, where Ke is working on the. j last act of a new drama, to be entitled! 'Magdelelne," says the Nation. "Despite y its Scriptural title the characters of th« ■play are philosophical entities rather than ' historical personages. Doubtless this trifling fact will ~ not 'prevent" the" Censor, j who* licensed 'Deat Old Charlie,' from pro- ■ \ hibiting'^this production of M.' MaeterlincSr j in "England. Those "who have' read the ; play describe it as marking an advance- upon, 'Monna Tanna,' both - in stagscraf^ and in 'dramatic power. It 'will be performed in. • Paris early in the winter." ' <■ ■ — The abolition of the old three-voluma issue at 31s 6d' has impoverished .(says tha •Sketch) the modern writer of fiction.- , For a perfectly trashy book, published! • under these conditions in the last century, . an author often received a truly nobl« re«.i compense. There .was that £400, . foe in- I stance, which Bull' was- Wiling to pay downij to Lady Bulwer Lytton, with* another £4031 io follow when 1250 copies had teen .disposed of. And her ladyship called that ''a.' beggarly offer." . Well, £400 down would* be though* a mighty good instalment nowa- j days by many a writer of far higher, ability , than Lady Bulwer Lytton could boast. Ther» ( is one lady whose novels .are widely readli 'who gets £100 down on account of royalties^ on her ;first 2000 copies," arid the publisher,! who gives it is one of the most liberal in! the business- And the book has to geoj 'into its' fifth edition (each edition consist* ( ing of 500 copies) before she draws another, i .penny, i-i, . . j ' — Between Jonas Lie, the Scandinavian, i novelist, who has just dded, and Johnj] Stuart Mill a curious parallel might be in- ( etituted," says the Pall Mall Gazette. "Atf this time, when., the woman's movement iffto the front,"-it is interesting t<f noto that; each ot^ these two 'men, groat 'in his ownt sphe.ne!. attributed his success to his wife.' Mill^w'rote in -'that fine dedication, oftt ;'L'iyer^t: 'To the beloved 1 and deplored!] •rqibm6ryTof her who was the inspirer, and 1 ' lin-pSwtJ-the author, of ,all that is best inn! ray'-wrifinee — ike friend .'and wife- whose . WalfSd^semee of truth "and right was my,: strongest .incitement, and whose approbahoaK j iwfcs 'my chief reward I—l1 — I dedicate this I ■vol^mej " ' Like all that T have- waritten for^ many years* it.- bejoxjgs as much to her^.aa ■ to me.' Jonas Lie wrote of the Rachel-; to whom he was married at 26, after seven.years' waiting: 'I do not loiqw, the book in which she has not boon my trusted! j guide as regards style, and, co to speaK,, my fellow-worker through every chapter; 1 erasing all extravagance, desiring this ot, that to be written, «nd, under necessity, even writing it herself. . . She mights well have had her name on the title-pagea of my books as my collaborates. . i, Now that we a-re entering on our sixtieth/ j year it seem to me it is time I told thai^ to all that is fifinesfc and bast I have written," she has h-er part.' " "Lie," says, the Times, "was a minute observer of social 1 and family life; but this naturalism is £?enerallv emancipated from frigidity by imagination and a cheerfulness which oomea' out best in his fairy talcs. Ho was born in 1833."