A LITERARY LOG

Southland Times, Issue 19591, 12 August 1922, Page 15

A LITERARY LOG

ABOUT BOOKS ANO BOOKMEN (By “ Iota.”)

Invercargill. August 12, 1922. Love and Cricket. —The application of the title of the Alec Waugh's new novel is an important factor in the proper understanding of this story of love and cricket. In the Middle Ages the legendary unicorn could be caught only by a virgin, in whose pretence it lost its fierceness and became docile. Roland Whately is the central figure of *The Lonely Unicorn.” a public school boy who wins his way to business success by his prowess at cricket and in spite of se veral excursions in love. He is not an altogether admirable character, but the keynote to his attitude and place in the scheme of things is his inability to resist the charms of the virginal woman. There is a touch of "The Loom of Youth" in the opening ■rages of the story where we find Roland caught in the toil.-- of a boyish love affair while he is at school and finally expelled, discreetly of course. I because of it. His heart at the time is given to April Curtis and their love affair develops with an extremely youthful fervour and innocence but finally collapses when the lonely unicorn comes in contact with other forces. His expulsion makes it necessary for him to go into business, but his cricket scores gain his entrance to a firm on terms of intimacy with the hero and his family. Roland’s success in business is briefly sketched but it is chiefly his love affairs which constitute the central interest of the story. At school he was caught in the toils of a rather common Dolly, and then came the purer but rather juvenile passion for April, followed by Muriel, to whom he is finally married. Waugh's novel has youth written all over it and his hero, Roland, suffers somewhat from the juvenility of his mentality. The book displays less power than did “The Loom of Youth” because th? author’s methods are not so well suited to the delineation of manhood, his people in fact are a bit thin, but this does not mean that "The Lonely Unicorn” is lacking in interest. Roland is annoying and somewhat of a prig, but he is the creature of his slender emotions and one realises in the peculiar ending of the story, just after the wedding with Muriel, that the future does not hold stability for him. A married unicorn is no more impervious to the influence of a woman than a single one. and as Muriel and he are so obviously afraid of the future, the chances of prolonged happiness are exceedingly slight. Peculiarly enough, there us a sense of satisfaction at this unsatisfactory conclusion: one feds thar Roland is getting what he deserves, because the author, whether intentionally or not. has attracted all the sympathy to April, whom Roland treats shabbily, but who actually is very fortunate in being freed from the unenviable task of caring for a unicorn. Waugh is going to do much better work than this. "The Lonely Unicorn” has not redeemed the promise of “The Loom of Youth.” It is an interesting piece of work and worth study, but something much better than this is going to come from his pen. "The Lonely Unicom” is published by Grant Richards. The Macri Mind.—The joy of reading "some .Aspects of Maori Myth and Religion” prepared me for the second of the Dominion Museum Monographs by Mr Eisdon Best and my anticipations were fully realised. Mr Best has made good use of the opportunities offered him for penetrating the Maori mind and in these monographs he is doing a splendid work in interpreting for this and future ages the mental and spiritual qualities of a race which is amongst the most noteworthy of the world's great family. This second monograph is issued under the title “Spiritual and Mental Concepts of the Maori.” and in it Mr liest devotes his time, for the most part, to explaining the many terms employed by the Maori io denote the spiritual element in man. in animals and the "inanimate objects." In the first monograph Mr Best effectually corrected the impression that the Maori in the old days was a pagan, showing that in his myths and religious system, his mind was closely tuned to the currents of metaphysical thought which in that day were flowing through Europe. Mr Best's work aims at revealing the Maori and in doing that he is showing the European mind additional reasons for holding the Maori in greater respect. We are inclined to regard the Maori from the purely physical standpoint, and to gauge his standing by his accomplishments in war, but Mr Best shows that thes.e achievements against the White man are not. enough. Behind his power in these physical things there was a brain of unusual quality, a brain superior to that possessed by any other of the dark skinned races and only slightly, if at all, inferior to that of the Caucasian. That the Maori possessed of a brain of unusual refinement becomes apparent from Mr Best’s writings, and we Fee. too. that the Maori mind was capable of abstract thought and of evolving remarkable concepts of both spiritual and mental qualities. This monograph comes fittingly as a sequel to the first, and it repays handsomely the time devoted to it. The third monograj»h of the series carries us a step further in -The Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori.” Mr Best here has collected the Lore of the Whanau Marama. freely rendered as rhe “Light-gjving Offspring” or "children of bzht.” Here we find the evidence of the “looking-up” of the Maori, of his earned, desire to be in touch with the mysteries of the heavens. of his curiosity and of the manner in which he weaved his astronomy and astrology together. His beliefs follow those of the uncultured peoples, taking tracks which remind us of the beliefs em° braced by the ancestors of our own people who at the time possessed no more culture than the Maori. In reading Mr Best's studies, and they are presented in attractive guise, one is impressed by the beauty of Maori thought, the refinement of hLs superstition and the romance of his conception of the abstract. These monographs are interesting and one hojjes thal the future will see them in some form more durable tkm the one in which they are now being made available. My copies come from the Dominion Museum authorities. A Rare Tennyson.—An article in Suibner's Magazine, by Mr VVilham Harns Arnold, entitled "My Temiysons,” recalls pleasantly an incident of the poet's studen*. days at Trinity College. Cambridge. Mr Arnold writes: "The subject for the English prize poem al the University of Cambridge for the year 1829 was ‘Timbuctoo.’ Tenny eon was the successful competitor. In accordance with custom, th*- author would have read the poem in the Senate House, but then, as in later life, he had an aversion to all publicities and, by request, hia fnend Merivale relieved him of the distasteful honour. Timbuctoo' and Greek and Latin |*oems by C. R. Kennedy and Charles Merivale were officially printed at the University Press, under the title ‘Prolusiones Academicae.’ The pamphlet, though scarce, is not a rarity. When catalogued by booksellers and auctioneers, the Latin title is often ignored, and only the contribution of Tennyson mentioned. Of course, this distinction is due to the great interest in Tennyson; otherwise the pamphlet is of no importance. The existence of a separate nrint of Timbuctoo,’ bearing the same date as the Prolusiones,’ was unknown to collectors until about 20 years ago. when a tangle copy came into the marke It was bought by Albert- J. Morgan of New York City. At the subsequent dispersal of Mr Morgan’s cohecuon, 1 secured this treamir-

I eble brochure. My Tennyson collection al- | ready contained several extreme rarities-r •the 'despair of many collectors; now was added the earliest print that bears the name I of Alfred Tennyson; presumably a unique copy.” A Real Pimpernel - -I could never convince myself that the scarlet hero of Baroness Orczy’s romances of the French Terror was a living being. He was so theatrical in his elusiveness that- one s 'redulity was shaken into doubt and finally disbelief. Andrew Soutar has taken the eerm of the Pimpernel idea and developed i t along different lines as a flower of the Russian revolution and he has succeeded where the original failed. In “The Road to Romance” he has written a story of breathless adventure which never loses- touch with reality. His hero is a man of brawn and brain, mysterious but never magical, brave but never superhuman, and thus are we kept close to the earth throughout its thrilling pages. The Pimpernel of this story • one Temarest. a man who has made a -ignificant name for himself on the wild trail between Petrograd and Murmansk, but whose adventure?, have carried him also to other thrilling spots. Temarest becomes involved with a Russian nobleman, who fled to England at the revolution and who returns to Russia to rescue his sister and to take the lead in a counter revolution. This Russian. Fecdar Sokolovsky, had married an Englishwoman and she had insisted on ccompanying him on his dangerous mission. The appearance of the woman in the expedition adds complications to Temarest’s task, but he sete about it in a practical manner. The account of the weird journey by sleigh and train from Murmansk to Archangel, through the Bolsheviks who are hunting for Feed ar takes up the greater part of the narrative. It is the pure gold of adventure, and it is impossible to anticipate at any ctage exactly how things will fall out. 1 will not spoil the yarn by giving you any inkling of the way in which the adventure ends, but I can say that all the time I was reading it I clean forgot that I was reading fiction. Andrew Soutar gives one the impression that he understands his Russia. His pictures of the wild ride through the northern twilight, over the snow-beleaguered wastes are remarkably convincing. His characterisation, too is well done. He does not stoop to exaggeration and yet he displays quiet power. There are some inters ting people in “The Road to Romance,” to which 1 earnestly direct, your attention. It is published in Murray's Imperial Library, my copy coming from McNaughton’s. N.Z. Literature.—A booklet that invariably captures very Earnest attention is “New Zealand Literature,” a catalogue issued now and again by Messrs Whitcombe & Tombs. Here one finds a collection of titles, happily growing steadily, which surprises and impresses the reader. We are inclinefl too readily to assure ourselves that there is no literature in th? Dominion and this catalogue is a corrective. If one were to suggest to the Man in the Street that a catalogue of New Zealand books would require forty pages he would be astonished, but the delightful fact remains that in this case forty pages are occupied by the output of one firm. Here are works of all kinds, books appealing to all tastes and an exam- . ination of it is worth while. A Collection of Humour.—ln a cheap and handy form the magazine “Humour” collects every fortnight the best of the published wit of the world, thus keeping Aus :ralasian people in touch with the things i heir fellow-beings are laughing about. “Humour” gathers its matter from all the famous witty papers of die world, including London “Punch,” “Passing Show,” “TitBits,” “Pearson’s Weekly.” "London Opin ion." “Sketch,” "Weekly Telegraph,” fiAnswers." “Edinburgh Scotsman,” "Life,” "Judge.' Wayside Tales,’ “Buffalo Express,” Boston Transcript," "California Pelican," "Saturday Evening Post.” "Ladies' Home Journal." "New York Tribune,” “Chicago Herald,” “Stray Stories," and a I dozen other English-speaking magazines. Among the foreign papers dealt with we find many delightful extracts, translated into English, from "Martin,” "Le Rire,” "Le Regiment,” "L’Elbeuvein” (France'; “Kasper” (Sweden), “Karikaturen" (Norway), "De Amsterdamme” (Holland!, “Simplicissmus” (Germany!, and “Die Musket?’’ (Austria); other countries whose artists and writers are represented in "Humour” ! are Italy, Spain and Norway. A harvest from these fields cannot fail to be valuable and as the crop only costs threepence a time no one can complain about ‘.he cost of laughing. The Forum.—The sixth issue of “Th? Forum” is much better in every way than its predecessors. There is now no doubt about the future of this extremely interesting and lively periodical, which is so decidedly Australian in outlook without reproducing some of the features which in the past ha\e done much to lower one’s opinions of Aussie thought. The Forum makes a very wide appeal. The outstand ing feature of the sixth issue is the debate in the Open Platform on: "Should the Miners control the Mines?” a subject of particular interest. The two sides of rhe question are presented forcibly and both make good reading. Mr R. Windeyer, K.C., has an interesting article on “The Obsession of Politics,” but I confess to being more deeply concerned by Miss E. M. Til ' des’ey’s pertinent reply to Mrs Maybankc ■ Anderson on the question of the modern education of girls. In politics, life, economics and letters the Forum is doing an excellent work for Australian and incidenti ally for New Zealand. Seme Chips.—Sidney and Beatrice Webb, the indefatigable pair, have compiled a history of one part of the British system. The work, which is published by Longmans, Green & Co., is entitled “English Prisons under local Government." Bernard Shaw -upplies a characteristic preface. In June, Thornton Butterworth published Miss Cecil Leitch’s book “Golf.” in which .'he gives the details of her career from her earliest days to the time of her third victory in the Ladies’ Open Championship. A selection of Burke’s correspondence edited by Harold Laski has been added to the World’s Classics. Major-General Sir George Younghusband has written an introduction to Captain L. V. S. Blacker’s account of hLs adventures “On Secret Patrol in High Asia,” which Mr Murray has published. His three years of hazardous campaigning with a handful of picked men from the Corps of Guides took him 9000 miles over unmapped mountain ranges and untrodden pas.es in the heart of Asia, and included a battle in which his little force of Pathan and Punjabi soldiers defeated some 10,000 Bolshevists. Encouraged by the success of their 1 “Great Novel Library.” Messrs Eveleigh Nash and Grayson are planning a companion series, to be called “Nash’s Famous l i' Lion Library,’’ in which short, stories as well as long will be included. Among the early books in the new series will be Mr Joseph Conrad’s “Tales of Unrest.” Mr Compton Mackenzie’s “Carnival,” Robert ' Louis Stevenson's “New Arabian Nights,” Mr Arnold Bennett's "Grand Babylon Hotel,” and Mr W. W. Jacobs’s "Deep Waters.” To the "Great Novel” series will shortly bo added Mr Thomas Hardy’s ‘Under the Greenwood Tree,” Mr Conrad’s ’ Aim ay er's Folly,” and Mr Vashell’s “Quinney's.” T. Fisher Unwin recently published Camille Flam m axion's “Death and its Mystery,” followed in June by his “At Death.” The third work “After Death,” is expected at tiie close of the year. The six best sellers in New York during May were: Fiction—“ Saint Teresa,” by Henry’ Sydnor Harrison (Houghton Mifflin) ; "If Winter Comes,” by A. S. M. Hutchison (little, Brown) ; “The Sheik,” by E. M. Hull (Small, Maynard) ; “The Beautiful and Damned,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner’s) ; “Lucretia Lombard,” by Kathleen Norris (Doubleday, Page) ; “The Great Prince Shan,” by E. Phillips Oppenheim | (Little,BrownL Non-Fiction—“The Story of Mankind.” by Hendrik Van Loon (Boni Liverigbt : “Painted Windows.” by The I Gentleman with a Duster (Putnam . , ‘Diet

and Health,” by L. H. Peters (Reilly & Lee) ; “Parody Outline of History,” by Donald Otden Stewart (Doran); “My Memories of Eighty Years,” by Chauncey M. Depew (Scribner’s); “Outline of History” (one volume edition), by H. G. Wells (Macmillanl. Virginia is the scene of Ellen Glasgow’s new novel, “One Man In His Time,” published by Mr Murray. The title of Major-General Charles Ross’ new novel, “The Haunted Seventh,” fires the imagination, and one looks forward to a succession of delicious thrills. The Haunted Seventh is the bunker of the Seventh Hole where one after another seven persons have mysteriously disappeared. The book is published by Mr Murray. Joseph Hergesheimer has finished a novel about Cuba at the time the island began to free itself from the dominion of Spain. Its title is “The Bright. Shawls.'' A. S. M. Hutchinson’s “This Freedom” will be available in New Zealand very shortly. The publication of Mrs Patrick Campbell's "My Life and Some Letters” revealed that her full name is Beatrice Stella CornwallisWest. The trial spin of the book in the form of a serial has resulted in a mass of orders, and its success it? assured. The Duke de Stacpoole, in “Irish and Other Memories,” tells a story of a character named Major Hope Johnstone, who used to frequent the Pelican dub. He had run through large sums of money in his day, and was invariably bard up. Once, when he happened to be in particularly low water, he offered to sell his waxed moustaches, which were of inordinate length, to anybody who would buy them for a consideration. Lord de Clifford closed with him immediately and offered £5 for this memento. Subsequently de Clifford presented this trophy in a gold-framed case to the club, along with a proviso that the deal was not to establish a precedent!