BOOKS and BOOKMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16364, 11 June 1927, Page 10

BOOKS and BOOKMEN

MB. WELLS' NEW NOVEL. THE STRIKE AND ITS CAUSES. I FAMOUS STATESMEN CRITICISED Mr. 11. G. Wells has written a new novel, "Meanwhile," in which he has attempted to do for the coal dispute and the general strike what, in "Mr. Britling," he did for the war. "I believe," said Mr. Victor Gollanc7 t , managing director of Ernest Bonn, Ltd.. who are to bo the publishers, in an interview with a representative of the Observer, "that this novel will create discussion and controversy even greater than that aroused by 'William Clissold' last autumn. "The criticisms in 'William Clissold' which caused so much comment were, after all, mainly incidental, but the very centre of this novel is an absolutely ruthless criticism of the Conservative Government, and particularly of Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Churchill, for their conduct of the coal dispute. The picture' Mr. Wells draws of the course and causes of that dispute is a brilliant one. Many will agree with it; more will violently disagree. That it will cause widespread discussion is certain. "The loading character is Philip Rylanus, a young and an enormously rich coalowner, who.has brought his wife to a villa at Venfimiglia, and has j surrounded her with a crowd who talk I most amusingly. After an episode i between Philip and a woman known as i Puppy Charges, which is followed by the reconciliation of Philip and his wife, Cynthia. Philip goes to England to inquire into the causes of the impending coal strike, and to see what part the family business is bearing in it. "The upheaval is seen through the eyes of Philip, who is drawn as ignorant and idealistic, but active-minded and honest, and Mr. Wells pictures J him as appalled at finding out where his money comes from and how*-Ms colleagues have behaved. "The general conclusion is that people like the Eylands must pull themselves together, cease to live in comfort in Italy, and tackle their social and political responsibilities at home. "I do not want to give the impression that the interest in this novel is exclusively political. As I have said, it is full of witty conversation, and there are many exciting episodes—as, for instance, when a distinguished Italian politician escapes from a Pascist attack and Cynthia disguises him as her nurse, and smuggles him into 1 Franco. But the strongest impression left on my mind is that of the enormous vivacity of the political pictures, and the brilliant satire of Mr. Well's ..denunciation of a certain type of mind. "I believe this novel will causo more discussion than' any book published in recent years, and,, moreover, that everyone will read it." "When will it bo published *> Mr. Gollancz was asked. "Early in September." MISS ETHEL M. DELL'S NEW BOOK. "The House of Happiness."— (Cassell). The short stories composing this volume possess those qualities of vivid narrative and tense emotion which have given Miss Dell countless admirers of her novels. "The Houe of Happiness" and its sequel, "Sixty Years After," which together form a third of the volumo, narrate how one sister stole the other sister's lover from her on the eve of her wedding, and how they were finally reconciled when they were very Old women. Happiness at last camo to the wronged sister. "All the hardness had gone like a mask from her beautiful features. She was smiling as she had not smiled for sixtv years." Miss Dell's writing has always a dramatic force and humanity, and it is not difficult to understand the popular vogue which she enoys.

A RUSSIAN NOVEL

MAXIM GOBKI'S DECADENCE

I According to Mr. Arnold Bennett, Russian novois are far superior to English novels, and ill support ot this view he has recently given the names of twelve Kussian novelists wlncn he regards as tlie best in the world. The broad difference Dotween Russian and English fiction is that Russian authors have attempted to depict life on a big scale, whereas English fiction in tnese days deals mainly - with the development of character within narrow limits. Maxim Gorki's latest book, Decadence (Cassell and Co.), is a fairly typical example of Russian methods, it deals mainly with the members of the Artamonov, family over a period of more than 50 years. Two years after the emancipation of the Russian peasants from serfdom in 1861 Ilya Artamonov came to the town of Dryomov with his two sons, Tyotr, Nikita, who was a hunchback, and his adopted nephew, Alexei. The father, who was a strong masterful typo, had been a steward of a landed Russian Prince, and on retiring from the Prince's service when the serfs were emancipated, he was given a handsome remuneration, with which ho decided to set up as a Jinen manufacturer in Dryomov. It is characteristic of Gorki's ' impressionistmethods that, although he describes the fortunes of the Artamonov family over half a century, and deals with their marriages, births and deaths during two generations, he. never brings into the sphere of reality the Jinen factory on which the family fortunes are built up. it remains m the background as a ha>.y indefinite thing. Of the early struggles to place it on a sound footing the reader learns nothing. The gospel that Gorki presents by means of the characters he portrays is that fife is sordid, futile and purposeless. This is indicated not only by the chief characters, but also by the vivid thumbnail sketches of minor characters. There are many scones, depicting with relentless realism, squalid and brutal aspects of human nature; and there are others which throw.an interesting light on Russian customs and Russian mentality. But the story as a whole is disjointed and unfinished. The book ends with tho Communist revolution which occurred during the war, but both tho war and the revolution are presented only as a vague, indistinct background to the fate of the members of the Artamonov family.

A MUSSOLINI NOVEL. WHY ITALY FOLLOWS THE DUCE. AIRS WARD'S FINE BOOK. ‘ ‘ The Shadow of Mussolini," by Mrs Wilfrid Ward. Mrs Ward has written a line novel whicdi explain what Signor Mussolini has done for Italy and why he is followed with such devotion by the great majority of the Italian nation. If the plot is somewhat improbable, it is well worked out,' and as a character study the book has high merits. It opens at the Church of tlio Madonna del Suecorso, overlooking Lake Como: "It was not the extraordinary magnificence of the scene below her, the immense expanse of lake anil mountains that kept her for the moment at the window; it was the sound of young voices, men's voices singing snatches of a jsong that was lost and came again quite distinctly as they followed the windings of the cobbled path: • Giovinezza . . . Primavera . . . Bel* lozza’—words banal enough in themselves; but what a ring in the voices, the trumpet call was in it too." HEROES AND MARTYRS. It tells the story of the Fascists and their noble work in saving Italy ms those who wore in that country in 19120 and 1921 saw it: "No one will ever know the number of Red murders, the cruelty, the misery. Ami then a handful of Fascists, sometimes three or four in one place, five or six in another, began the unequal light—heroes who, alas! were too often martyrs." The heroine, told oft* by the Reds to kill Signor Mussolini, in an interview with him comes to understand him. He is thus made to speak: "Has it every struck you, signora, that, people are perhaps tired of liberty? I mean, of course, political liberty, the liberty to choose the wrong legislators, the liberty to bo swayed by every populryr mood, the liberty to make sound government im- i posible, the liberty to live a life morally and physically unhealthy?" Wo shall'not disclose the secret of the end,, but this is a romance far above the average, and its handling of s® difficult and delicate a theme is admirable. For it not only brings out what is best in Fascism but in the opposition to it. HOW TO STARVE THE DOCTORS. "Good Health and Happiness." A New Science of Health, by J. Ellis Barker. (Angus and Robertson). According to Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, this book is unique; for,, though there are countless scientific and popular works dealing with the treatment of disease, there is not a single one which treats comprehensively and adequately of disease prevention. Even if civilisation itself is not proved a disease, there is a mountain of evidence in Air. Barker’s book to demonstrate that about ninety per cent of our ailments and diseases are "diseases of civilisation,” which spring from our faulty methods of living, and are, therefore, easily avoidable. Our doctors fail to make and keep us healthy, because, Mr. Barker assures us, "medicine has been swallowed up by the laboratory.” Doctors are taught the minutiae of physiology, bacteriology, endocrinology, chemistry, etc., but the heavy mortality among them shows only too clearly that they are lamentable little acquainted with the simplest facts of bodily function,, diet, cooking, and so forth. Certainly, the Government statistics quoted by the author in regard to the rate of mortality among- medical 'men are startling. To every 93 deaths of physicians and surgeons from diseases of ; the circulatory system, there are only, 51 deaths among agricultural laborers; i ; 29 deaths of physicians and surgeons from liver diseases to every 5 among agricultural.3aborers; from„diabetos, .13 deaths to every 4; and from Bright’s disease, 39 deaths to every 13. The book is really an extraordinaryily earnest and well-considered plea for a return to simplicity, especially in diet. It will be remembered that in 1924 Mr. Barker's book on the cause and prevention of cancer raised a veritable hullabaloo in medical circles, some doctors praising the author’s theories as heartily as others damned them. In that work, Air. Barker endeavored to show that, while cancer is a disease of civilisation, and may never be curable, it is easily avoidable. So, in the present volume, he exhaustively presents a way of life by which wo may rid ourselves of nearly all our maladies. The author's own experiences—he was a semi-invalid from vouth to middle age—are illuminating* ly recounted in a chapter,, headed, “llow We Can Rebuild Our Health. ”j There are no far-fetched theories j offered for the reader’s consumption,! nor- are there intricate dietaries and -ets of exercises to he followed. Air. 1 Barker has brought great learning ; and abundant common sense to the j solution of a problem that affects 1 vervone caught in the whirl of! modern life. I

AN ADVENTURE STORY Off the coast of Australia, along the Groat Barrier Roof there are numerous uninhabited islands, and one of those i'tis been chosen by lon L. Idness for the scene of "Madman's Island " 'Angus and Robertson). Two young enthusiasts sot put from a Queensland port to search for tin or sonvo other mineral they had been told existed on one of these islands. Their quest was not successful. The cutter which was to have called for them at the expiration of a year failed to turn up. Meantime one of "the pair went out of his mind, and the other had to seek refuge in another part of the island. Their desperate plight in seeking for food is graphically described and the story is full of thrills.

CONTRACT BRIBG E. Contract is the new •development in the game of Auction Bridge. For some time it has been the rage in France and England. Now it is swiftly sweeping over America, where radio stations are broadcasting it and magazines and newspapers are discussing it. R. F. Foster, who has written several well-known books on bridge gives in his latest work, "Foster's Contract Bridge" (Angus and Robertson), a good exposition of the game. It is the first complete book devoted to Contract. ]t gives the new system of .scoring, the new rules, and full and explicit instructions as to how the game is played. *