BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3915, 26 March 1929, Page 73

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Mr T. Fisher Unwin has resigned his seat on the board of Messrs. Ernest Benn, the publishers.

Miss Agatha Christie is at present in Baghdad, collecting material for a new book.

Mr E. V. Lucas on his way home from Colombo has been whiling away the time on board by writing a novel.

Mr Thornton Wilder says that he is going to write only one more novel, and then devote his time to playwriting. His “ Bridge of San Louis Rey ” is shortly to be filmed.

Colonel T. E. Lawrence, the author of “ Revolt in the Desert,” is coming to England from India, where he has been serving as “ Aircraftsman Shaw.”

In 1927, according to official statistics, over two-thirds of Portugal’s population of G,080,135 were unable to read or write.

Lady Haig is anxious to trace letters written by her husband, or details of incidents in his life, particularly in his early years, in order to furnish material for the official Life of Earl Haig.

The chalet in which Dickens wrote many of his books is to be sold,,provided it is kept intact in perpetuity. Originally standing in Dickens’s garden at Gad’s Hill, it was given by his sons to the sixth Lord Darnley and placed in his grouifds at Cobham Hall, Kent.

Mr H. G. Wells and Professor Julian Huxley are writing a new book together at Mr Wells’s villa at Grasse. ■-

Lady Maud Warrender has succeeded the late Lady Grey of Fallodon as president of the Tolstoy Society. *

Dr Maynard Smith, whose novel, “ Inspector Frost’s Jigsaw,” will be published shortly, is editor of the Church Quarterly and the author of several theological works.

.Mr Joseph Hcrgesheimer has written a story of the American Civil War, entitled “ Swords and Roses.” —

The Poetry Society, which withheld its gold medal last year because of the lack of merit among the competitors, entered its twenty-first year on February 24.

Mrs Thomas Hardy, the widow of the great novelist and poet, is living in the actual rooms in "London in which Thomas Hardy worked as an architect before he became famous.

It is hoped that the foundation stone of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, to be erected in place of the one destroyed by fire in March, 1926, will be laid on April 23, Shakespeare’s birthday.

Mr Robert Lynd’s book of essays, The Blue Lion,” is to be used as a text book of English in a famous Japanese university, and a large consignment has been sent. from England.

George Gissing’s reputation as a novelist probably never stood lower than it does to-day. Yet there is at least one sign of a revival. In a short while we are to be given “ Selections, Autobiographical and Imaginative, from the Works of George Gissing.” This has been compiled by Mr A. C. Gissing, the novelist’s son. It will be introduced by that most exacting of modern critics, Mrs Virginia Woolf.

Miss Margaret Kennedy (Mrs David Davies), the author of the “Constant Nymph,” -is off to Florence, where she hopes to finish, writing a new novel. Her work has recently been interrupted by the arrival of a baby daughter, named Julia.

Ursula Bloom, whose tenth novel, “ Tarnish,” has just been published, was married at 18, became a widow at 19, and is now the wife of Paymaster-com-mander Gower-Rob in son, R.N. At an early age she was adopted by Marie Corelli, who prophesied a great future for her.

One of the most remarkable diaries of modern times is that of Marshal Foeh, which is bound on great leathervolumes like ledgers. For manv years the marshal recorded daily events of importance in it in his bold* clear hand. It. should make an immense sensation —if it is ever published.

Mr Ernest Raymond, the novelist, has been invited by Mr Amery, Secretary for the Dominions, to go out to Vancouver to address the triannual conference of the National Council of Education. He will lecture on Literature, His latest novel, “ A Family That Was,” will appear shortly.

A leading lawyer in London, who does not wish his name to be published, has made a literary discovery of considerable importance. It is the complete manuscript of a Dumas novel about Garibaldi, only a few chapters of which were published in the author’s lifetime. The novel will be published in English at an earlv date.

Mr Forrest Reid, the Irish novelist and critic, has written a book which is loim overdue—a study of the work of Mr Walter de la Mare.- This will be published by the firm of which Mr de la Mare’s son Richard is now a director. They are, bv the way, to give us at the same time a new book by Mr Walter de la Mare himself —a collection of “ Stories from the Bible. Mr Reid, who is a close personal friend of Mr de la Marc, is one of the best living exponents of croquet.

Mr John Erskine, the versatile Professor of English Literature at Columbia University, has been on a pleasure vovage to Europe. When he is not lecturing, Professor Erskine spends his time writing such amusing quasi-historical fantasies as The Private Life of Helen of Troy.” He has now written “ Penelope’s Man,” which goes to prove that Ulyss.es was no hero, but just an ordinary man!

Surely the most remarkable idol of the modern “highbrow” is Miss Gertrude Stein, an American who lives, in Paris and writes English prose in such ingenious “patterns” that o-’--few claim to understand it. Miss Stein’s newest work is a book of essays . ... the illuminating title of “Useful Knowledge.” Perhaps it will contain an answer to the riddle of her style.

Messrs Methuen’s £250 prize detective story competition has been a great success. The judges, Mr A. A. Milne, Mr H. C. Bailey, and Father Ronald Knox—all authorities on the subject—who had an enormous number of MSS. to deal with, have awarded the £250 prize to Mr N. A. Temple-Ellis for “ The Inconsistent -Villains,” and the £l5O prize to Mr T. L. Davidson for “ The Murder in the Laboratory.” They are both the work of unknown authors.

One of the sensations of last year’s publishing season was the “ Diary of Tolstoy’s Wife.” Here we had the tragic account of the Countess Tolstoy’s marriage—she was no more than a schoolgirl at the time—to a man almost old enough to be her father, and of their life together up to 1891. A second instalment of this extraordinary document has now been discovered, and will be

published tinder the title of “The Countess Tolstoy’s Later Diary.”. It' covers the period from 1891-1897, and shows how the tragedy of Tolstoy’s marriage reached its climax.

A recent attempt in the series of “ Bob Novels ” to get back to pre-war prices has been a surprising success. In' five months a suburban newsagent in London sold 1245 of these shilling novels; a Richmond bookseller 4207 in 10J months; and a famous departmental store, with a space allotment of only 6ft by 4ft, sold 23,707 in ten months. This is all the more surprising since the authors included not merely such popular “ best sellers ” as Miss Agatha Christie and Mr Freeman Wills Crofts, but Miss Rose Macaulay, Mr Wells, Mr Chesterton, and Mr Francis Brett Young. A sign of the times!

Miss Clemence Daim sbo.-ked some squeamish playgoers a few years ago by writing a play called “ Will bnakespeare,” -in which our national poet appeared as the murderer of “ Kit ” Marlowe. Now comes Mr Charles Williams (surely the shyest of our modern poets) with “ A Myth of Shakespeare ” —a play in blank verse dealing with Shakespeare’s life as given in the accepted biographies, from his leaving Stratford, through his meetings with Marlowe, Burbage, Elizabeth, Raleigh, Mary Fitton, and many others, to his retirement and his last years at New Place.