LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3270, 15 November 1916, Page 55

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICES,

"The God's Carnival." By Norma Lorimer. London: Stanley "Paul and

Go. (3s 6d, 2s 6d

This is a brilliant, up-to-dato Sicilian story, full of the passion and iire of the soutn, and it is undoubtedly the best thing that Miss Lorimer has, as yet, given to the public, although its two immediate predecessors, "A Wifo Gut of Egypt" and " Desert Altars," were extremely fine. In "The God's Carnival" we have a double story, with an interval of 20 years dividing them. Part I shows us Sicily as it was 20 years ago before tourists and trippers and Germanising methods had destroyed its beautiful child-like simplicity, exquisite sense of natural beauty, and care-free joy of life. It enshrines a perfect love-idyl, so tender and passionate, so simple and sincere that it may well take its place beside some of the world-famous love stories. Don GiusepjJe, the hero, has the soul of a poet and the heart of a child, and "the Glorious Lady of his Mind," to whom his steps are unerringly directed in her chili northern home, is never unseated from her home in his heart, but remains ever as closely united to him in death as in life, the bond making him ever more and moro tender-hearted to the

"little poor things of God." So that he is often called " the little poor man of laosmina." Twenty years pass. The son of Giuseppe and tne gentle Ursula is a man, whom his lather iias sent—after the death of his mother—to be educated in her country, Germany, there to learn all those practical, business methods which are to correct the slovenly, careless, happy-go-lucky methods of the south, and enable the modern Sicilian to hold his own against the "peaceful invasion" of his Teutonic neighbour, fully bent upon the exploitation of Italy. Enzio —for so is the boys called —returns home early in 1914, a Greek god in appearance, of the purest Sicilian typo, and a German at heart. He is welcomed with joy by his father and friends. Among the latter are a delightful mother and daughter—Mimi Madre and Mimi Jiambina. The mother is a brilliant actress and singer. And here the author takes occasion to give to her readers a most realistic and beautiful description of "the Revival of the Agamemnon of iEschylus at Syracuse, 2400 years after it was brought out in the same rock-hewn theatre in the presence of its author." Every detail is reproduced as far as may be. Mimi Madre is the Cassandra. Here the different actors hi the modern drama are brought together. Old friends recognise each other, and the young people are immediately attracted. Another tragedy fills the air, of which Mimi Madre is the unconscious Cassandra. Even before the outbreak of war the clouds are beginning to gather. The. lovely young Sicilian girl falls madly in love with Enzio; but he will not allow himself to respond; he has another and more terrible task before him. Love is not for him or the simple joys of home. He is already the bond slave of Germany. The tragedy deepens and the final catastrophe is almost a relief. The story is splendidly told ; it is full of swift .surprises, dramatic situations, beauty, romance, and poetry. Its tragedy is as fierce as the sunshine, its romance as exquisite as the starry nights of Sicily; and at the same time it lays bare with no uncertain hand the elaborate machinery by which, for 20 years, Germany has Bought to rivet the chain of Teutonism on Italy, and the passionate enthusiasm with which the declaration of war was received by a people naturally devoted to liberty.

"The Supreme Desire." By Gertrude Page. London, Melbourne, etc. : Ward, Lock, and Co. 3s 6d, 2s 6d.)

According to Miss Gertrude Page, "the Supreme Deiire" is that which "keeps the soul alive." No matter what the desire, if it be real and strong, its pursuit saves a man from that "deadlv apathy which paralyses the soul." " For one man that desire mav be embodied in the search for tho North or South Pole; for another it may be the last word in prowess at some favourite game; for another it is some long-dveanied-of invention; for another some coveted honour or seat among the mighty. What matter the goal, the end, the aim, the ambition, so long as it makes and keeps life real. It keeps the soul alive." Such is the author's dictum; but it seems to us that the nature of the Ideal must "matter" very much; for if the aim be unworthy it is more likely to destroy the soul than to "keep it alive." "The Supreme Desire" of Miss Page's hero is to win the love of a charming young Irish girl, whom he meets on an Atlantic liner, and with whom he shares a romantic and extremely trying adventure in Montreal, when the two are found in one room at midnight on the occasion of a fire, which nearly destroyed the hotel. The girl is indignant and refuses to entertain the only reparation possible, and her indignation so piques the man that he, who had hitherto cared for nothing but his own pleasure, becomes an ardent and passionate lover, who will by no means take "No" for an answer, and serves for his lady like a knight of old. In this story Misa Page leaves her favourite hunting ground in South Africa and takes her readers to Canada and Ireland.

"The Moods of Ginger Mick." By C. J. Dennis, author of "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke." Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Dunedin: Messrs R. J. Stark and Co. "The Australian and Other Verses." By Will H. Ogilvie, author of " Fair Girls and Grey Horses/' etc. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Dunedin: Messrs R. J. Stark and Co. In the Sentimental Bloke wo were introduced to the Australian larrikin as a ]over; In Ginger Mick wo meet him as A patriot, for Mick, the best man at the ■wedding of the Bloke and Doreen, hears the call of war, "dons the khaki clobber,"

and takes his share of the fighting at the Dardanelles. Some of his moods and his doings, both before and during this enterprise, are translated for us by the Bloke into that strange argot with which Mr Dennis's earlier work made us familiar. Many of those who waxed enthusiastic over "The Sentimental Bloke" may be inclined to Tesent the appearance of "Ginger Mick" as an attempt at duplicating the previous effort; but, taken by itself, and putting aside the first volume altogether, there is no doubt that we have in this second book of verse an exposition of human nature that is racy, sentimental, humorous, and pathetic, and could be given to us in no other way than that which Mr Dennis has chosen. If you attempt to render the thoughts of the Australian lairrikin in the language of what he would call " culchered " society, you lose the larrikin altogether. It is the very incongruity of the sentiments expressed and their medium of expression that gives the verses a certain piquancy, and these slang verses have also a vigour and directness which a more polite language lacks. There aire, for instance, many definitions of friendship in the English language, but you will hardly find one that gets nearer to bedrock than

I never slung no guff to lUJick, he never smooged to me ; But wo could smoke, an' 'old our jor, an' be reel company. Mr Dennis has certainly the power of seeing things and of describing what he eoes in picturesque language, witli a touch of poesy in it, and that is no bad test of a poet. The vignette of Australian slum life given in "In Spadgers' Lane" haunts one uncomfortably, and the reflections of Ginger Mick and the Bloke on "' 'eroes," patriotism, and the war generally are none the less worth studying, because they are somewhat out of the ordinary. A pocket edition for the trenches will be appreciated by many. Will Ogilvie's verses are in quite another style—a style made familiar to us by the work of many other Australasian poets. The first poem, " The Australian," originally appeared in Punch, and was suggested by the words of a British officer, who called the Australian soldier " the bravest thing God ever made." The rest of the verses are grouped under four headings—" Sunny Country " (verses dealing with Australia), "Steeds of the Mist" (written in England and Scotland), "Happy People" (a section containing some very dainty verses in child-life), and, finally, several patriotic poems under the title of " War! ' One of the finest of these is "A Song.of the Old Men," who envy the youth of the present day their chance to Fling your torch on the altar flames,

And ride with the Great Adventurers. Mr Ogilvie .seems at home equally when singing of England and when singing of Australia. "The Signpost," for instance, is reminiscent of some of the Englandloving poems of Kipling, and such younger writers as Alfred Noyes, while his Australian verses give vivid pictures of life in the west among men who spend their days cattle-droving and horse-breaking, and their nights beneath the stars or in the weird loneliness of the bush. After all, however, it is easy to write poetically of this type of Australian, "lissom and iron-thighed," a member of " the lean, brown band " who have helped " to shape Imperial destiny." Mr Dennis has achieved a more difficult task in making us see the poetic touch in Ginger Mick, who "used to 'eacl the pushes in the lane,'' and %vho, when he went to war, did not hear —how could he?—"the bugles of the Motherland," but only "the call uv stouch," and yet did his duty in the end as fairly as those—we fear, Mr Ogilvie, there were in reality very few of them—who went forth " by youth's grave purpose willed." A pocket edition for the trenches is available.

"Heart of the West." By 0. Henry. " Secret Service." By Cyrus Townsend

Brady. "The Witness for the Defence." By A. E. W. Mason. "Terence O'Rourke." By Louis Joseph

Vance. "Jerry." By Jean Webster. "The Catspaw." By William Hamilton

Osborne. "The Blue Buckle." By William Hamil ton Osboirne. " Iron Trail." By Rex Beach.

" Peter Ruff." By E. Phillips Oppenheim. London, Melbourne, etc.:. Hodder and Stoughton. (Cloth; pictorial jackets; Is net each.)

Here we have nine reprints of excellent novels, most of which have already been reviewed at length in this column; all of which have received the seal of popular approval, and have been welcomed by the reading public. " Hearts' of the West " is a good sample of the work of one of the world's greatest story-tollers, whose books have sold, and are selling, by hundreds of thousands. " Secret Service " is founded on a very popular play. " The Witness for the Defence" was said by the British Weekly to be "the best novel of the season." " Terence O'Rourke " is a breathless Irish yarn of love and adventure. " Jerry " needs no other recommendation than tho name of the author of "Daddy Long Logs." "Catspaw" and "The Blue Buckle" are two excellent tales of love and adventure. "The Iron Trail" is the story of the building of an Alaskan railway, and is certainly one of the most thrilling and powerful tales ever written. "Peter Ruff" is a delightful, sensational story by ono of tho most popular writers of the present day. The man who buys one or all of the nine cannot go wrong.

" Tho Man Who Knew All." By Marie Connor Leighton. London: John Long and Co. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.)

A story of mystery, imagination, and horror. More than one murder and two passionate love-stories engage and hold the reader's attention, while the detective element, the cases of mistaken identity, etc., supply a perpetual comedy of errors in

violent contrast to the more serious 2"><irt of the drama, which turns on the con fiicting personalities of two cousins, who each lay claim to a great heritage which only one can receive.