A Literary Log

Southland Times, Issue 20615, 13 October 1928, Page 13 (Supplement)

A Literary Log

ROLLED BY

IOTA.

FINE HISTORIC ROMANCE. After the stupendous power of "Jew Sure” the maker of fiction must pause before he enters the attractive field of the historical novel, especially when it is placed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries' turbulent years when the intrigues and wars of the Holy Roman Empire were afoot. For the English reader this is a new vein of history and in the novel he is being brought into contact with politicial entities, national policies and social fabrics hitherto insignifieent in his eyes beside the glories of Blenheim, and the excitement of the orange succession. But Marlborough s victories cannot be understood if the history of Euro[>e is neglected, for England was involved in the world affairs of her day, and to have those affairs under closed covers is to overlook a great part of the story. Mind you, George Preedy, has not set out to give us a document covering a section of Europe's history, carefully annotated and substantiated. He is a romanticist who has taken up an historical setting, and only in that way may be said to assist us to understand the complicated scene, for it is your romanticist who provides the interpretation of history and the tools necessary for the interpretation of the facts — they give us the people and the scene. George Preedy has done this in "General Crack,” which will be compared with "Jew Suss.” It has not the mass of detail of the Feuchtwangner work, nor does it breathe with the ease of. that control of the situations which is born of knowledge. Feuchtwangner put real people on the pages of “Jew Sure” and through them dealt with a bigger subject; Preedy produces a romantic figure who probably has no counterpart in historical fact and is concerned only with the portrait. But like the Jew of Feuchtwangner’s novel. General (Yack represents power, he stands as the embodiment of that power which surrenders its strength and of its own will, and enticing death under the pressure of collected enemies to whom might has been given is triumphant at the close. Preedy does not drive that point home as the German did in “Jew Suss” but then his method is slighter and less obviously dramatic. Both Prince Christian of Kurland and Jew Sure were men despised by the petty royalty of ; their time but feared for their superior qualities; both wore the masks of imperturb- , ability, and both were compelled to drop it 1 once; both were brought to ruin in seeking revenge upon the employer who betrayed. in each case the violation of a woman —Christian’s wife, the Jew’s daughter; and both made wreckage of the fabric they had raised when they found that death which they could have avoided if the desire for life had been still warm within. Prince Christian was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Kueland and a Neapolitan actress. Preedy in this way j supplies his hero with the excuse for his frigid planning, his eagerness for war. He ' is hated by the rulers, but his overpower- I ing skill in warfare—he is the Napoleon of i his day—makes him the most sought after of the princes. Leopold, the Elector of Bavaira. seeking the Imperial Crown, agrees to abandon his suit for the hand of Eleanora of Anhalt-Dessau, that Christian (General Crack) may marry her. Leopold had offered his sister to the soldier, and with her the title of Archduke and other favours, but only to have them spurned, because General Crack loved the simple, beautiful Eleanora. But she had been reading of Sigismund and so preferred the Monde Leopold to the dark Christian who was her husband. Christian takes her back to his chateau at Ottenheim on the banks of the Danube and sets out for the wars, leaving his virgin wife protected in his rich house. Despite Leopold’s weaknesses and obvious antipathy, Christian destroys the enemies of the alliance by brilliant victories, and then on the eve of the final success, Gabor, a spy, for purposes of personal revenge supplies Christian with proofs that Leopold had gone to Ottenheim. This betrayal breaks the reserve of the great General Crack, but only for a moment. As a mercenary soldier he completes his part of the contract, placing Leopold on The Imperial throne, and then withdraws. At once Leopold’s empire disintegrates, and be himself flies before the armies of the vengeful General Crack. Careless of everything but revenge, Christian spreads ruin about, but in the end is strong enough to deny himself the petty gratification of his desires—having Leopold helpless in his hands, knowing that his plan could be completed he abandons him and finds death where he wishes —in Kurland, his only home. Preedy has written a first-class romance, and has given it the atmosphere of historical authenticity. This has been secured by the skill with which the characters of the long cast are presented. He has a fine gallery of portraits, all of them cleanly defined and independent. Christian is the romantic hero of high purpose and ideal strength, but he is not mere sawdust and paint—he is a genuine personality, opposing the weak, Monde, Leopold, whose royal birth gave him hardly any virtues. The old Count Hernsdorff, the brutally frank Duchess of Schonbuchel, Gabor, the Transylvanian traitor. Colonel Pons, the Archduchess Maria Luisa—these are all excellent studies, and they assist to make “General Crack” one of the most pleasurable romances I have read. “General Crack” is published by The Bodley Head, London, my copy through Dymock’s Book Arcade, Sydney. A CHARMING STORY. The name of O. Douglas attached to a book is a signal for the pleasant enthusiasm of a large number of admirers of this popular author who very rarely disappoints her supporters. “Eliza for Common” is her latest novel to reach me, and I must say that for a pleasant and harmless two hour’s enjoyment it is admirable reading. It’s effect is similar to that of a bright picture show, calling for little effort on the part of the spectator in its enjoyment. Eliza is the only daughter of a Scottish minister in Glasgow whose three brothers lead her a very teasing existence, and whose daily routine of housework, visiting the sick and other social activities connected with her father’s parish palls her exceedingly and makes her long for fresh fields and a wider outlook. This is the simple story of her life, with its first evening-frock, its first dinner party, its lack of dancing and cardplaying, and its devotion to books and reading. The first excitement in her life was her visit to Oxford to see her brother Jim, and a subsequent trip to Switzerland when by this time she had become dis-

tmctly blase, and pangs for her dear, shabby home were becoming increasingly frequent. It tells of the love stories of Jim and Eliza, without dwelling too much on the romantic splurge with which novels of this kind tend to become satiated. “Eliza for Common” is the type of story which one can safely recommend to everyone, although after reading it one is tempted to wonder what it has aH- been about. Hodder & Stoughton are the publishers, whence my copy. OUT IN THE EAST. Frank L. Packard, after creating Jimmie Dale, that artist in the detection of crime, has turned to another field. Still dealing with the underworld Packard has gone to the East, to the area lying North of Australia for a group of four exciting short stories. “Shanghai Jim,” which gives its name as title for the collection, deals with a murder, the attempt to steal valuable pearls and the capture of a desperado. “The Mandarin’s Hoard” is longer and the the search for the treasure of Yu Ling Chen is the main point of the action which moves from the United States to the East India isles. Pirates in Polynesia, who work quietly and mercilessly are concerned in “The Marauder,” which opens with the attack on the steamer Bonara leaving Martin Lane nd Carol Grey, the girl he loves, in the clutches of the buccaneers. Their adventures make exciting reading. Singapore is the scene of “The Imposter's” opening, a story dealing with a feud between Ram Gulab Singh and Wallen, a merchant. This vendetta of the East was not ended util Ram Gulab Singh and young Stacey met in a stirring battle on the high seas. Packard knows how to make his stories thrilling and the collection in “Shanghai Jim” are thoroughly characteristic of his method. My copy from Messrs Hodder and Stoughton, London. “SURSUM COR DA.” How, then, would our undying Rector* sum up? “Be of good cheer,” I think he would say. “You have gained enormously in my long recollection, much in freedom, much in prosperity, and the admiration of mankind for your race. If there are momentary shadows remember this, that depression often arises from too limited a view. There are ages and cycles in history; the man who judges from a lustre should enlarge his range. He may live under a cloud for a moment, but he should raise his eyes to the hills and remember the eternities. My world has disappeared, the ideas, the standards, the human types have all been washed away by the deluge of time. A few old walls, which I can hardly recognize in their new surroundings and the idolatry of golf, are the only fragments to which my I memory can attach itself; they and the I* waves which lap them alone remain. I have seed generations come and go like tides, and they have left me stranded in I loneliness. I cannot remember and I can- ' not forget. I have lived through storm and sunshine, sometimes bewildered by both, but,” he would add. “as time made events clearer and brought occasions into their true proportion 1 have been conscious of progress to the light “I have seen •yclonee in which thrones toppled over like ninepins, and sublime heads rolled in the dust like apples in an orchard. I have seen eclipses that seemed eternal, and the rivers as in Egypt turned to blood. I have seen life and death and glory chasing each other like shadows on a summer sea. and all has seemed to be vanity. But I remain in the conviction that, though individuate may suffer, when we take stock of a centruy at its end, we shall find that the world is better and happier than it w r as at the beginning. Sursum Corda. Lift up your hearts, for the world is moving onward. Its chariot-wheels may crush for the moment, but it does not move to evil. It is guided from above, and guided we may be sure with wisdom and goodness which will not abandon us. That is the comfort which even in the blackest darkness must afford light.”—Lord Roseberry (Address at St. Andrews University, 1911). ♦This passage Is based upon the fancy of the first Lord Rector of St Andrews (1411) living on into the present age. LETTERS TO THE COLVINS. E. V. Lucas edits a book, “The Colvins and Their Friends,” which the house of Methuen publish. It is a record of remarkable friendships, and it has been prepared by Mr Lucas at the request of his old friend, the late Sir Sydney Colvin. There are memories, not only of him, but of Lady Colvin, who was not a very gifted woman, though she never expressed herself much in authorship. The basis of the book is a selection of the m ist interesting letters written to Sir Sydney and Lady Colvin in the last years of the last century and in the first quarter of this century. New letters from Mrs R. L. Stevenson throw light on the novelist’s life both at Bournemouth and in the South SAWDUST. The “Gentleman with a Duster” seems to have given up writing books of fact and opinion in favour of novels, for he has another one in preparation with Mills and Boon. It is calk’d “The Laslett Affair,” and it deals with the modern social world, mostly in England. “Winter Words in Various Moods and Meters” will be the title of Thomas Hardy’s posthumous volume of poems. Thornton Wilder, the author of “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” has a volume of plays appearing with the Longmans. Martin Seeker announces a book by Scott-James on “The Making of Literature,” a subject he has dealt with in lectures.

“Rhymes of the Road,” a volume by David Emyrs, a crowned bard of Wales, is appearing with Cecil Palmer. Another mystery story by Lord Gorell, “He Who Fights,” is published by John Murray. Sir Henry Imbert-Terry has written a mystery yarn and Hutchinson is to publish i it with the title “Acid.” Miss Muriel Hine recently finished another novel, "The Ladder of Folly,” which The Bodley Head publishes. Evelyn Waugh, who recently wrote a study of Rossetti, has now done" a novel which Chapman and Hall announce, "Decline and Fall.” Miss Marjorie Bowen, like Stanley Weyman, has been faithful to the historical novel in a day when it has probably gone past its high popularity. She has just finished the Us> e > of a new historical story

> which she entitles “The Golden Roof,” and which appears with Hodder and Stoughton. > It has involved a vast amount of research I into the affairs of the fifteenth century and I the sixteenth century, and it brings in 1 , many historical characters. They include I I the Emperor Maximilian 1. of Austria, 1 Henry VIII. of England the Duke of Guelders, and Mary of Burgundy. The period ! which the story covers, being that of the renaissance of art in Europe, is one of 1 great splendour. Leonard P. Scott, a young Ulsterman who recently crossed the Sahara alone, and was the first person to sail for 1,700 miles j down the Niger in an open canoe, is writ- , ing a book of his experiences. Temple Thurston has a new novel comr ing out with the house of Putnam.