A Literary Log

Southland Times, Issue 21337, 7 March 1931, Page 11

A Literary Log

ROLLED BY

IOTA.

LOOKING INTO INDIA. Edward Thompson has written novels of India that have been, for all their delightful writing, and sincere love of India, Little more than dignified fiction, but in “A Farewell to India” he seems to have employed fiction as the skeleton for the presentation of many of his views of India’s strengths and weaknesses, for his interpretation of the problems which beset Indian and AngloIndian. His excursions in poetry have prepared one for diction that makes his novel, in unexpected places, a thing of pure beauty, and the sincerity of his love leads one to anticipate a novel peopled by living Indians. Ones expectations are fully realized. The main character is Robert Alden as an idealist, over-impatient perhaps, but a man who sees what he wants clearly and works earnestly, eagerly for it until he must have it all. Alden is a missionary engaged in trying to pump into Indian students a knowledge of English literature, and, naturally, he finds them ready to turn away from this subject to take in the more attractive substance of the nationalist propaganda. He becomes disheartened at the discovery that his efforts are wasted. He has spent practically the whole of his life in India working with and for the Indians, but the change in the outlook of India carries away his work, and one wonders if there is not something anti-biograph-ical in this. He is an Englishman who understands the new Indian way of looking at Englishmen and believes that the change is not good for the native race. He could not altogether console himself with the thought that in every age peojle became unfashionable, and lost the faith and respect of other peoples through no fault other than a failure to change quickly enough to meet altered ideas. “I think the age from time to time, in one land or another,” Alden says, "gets sick of a certain people and gets rid of them. It isn’t reason, it isn’t even the sword, that kicks them out. It’s the Chuts. They’re doing it now with the English, all over the world, and most of all in India.” There is something arresting in that statement, which reflects Alden’s understanding and his annoyance, because he does not want to leave India. “The world can't find a. better people” than the English, and he realises that he must stick to the English because they are his people. But he is racked by his desire to stick to the Indians as well. Alden, sensitive in this love of both peoples, seethes with indignation at the stupidities of both sides, the blind superiority of the whites which leads them to heap insutls on the Indians, the blind resentment of the Indians which leads them to reprisals without justification. Alden is in an exciting place, anti though he seems to preach at times, he is a very human fellow, at times breezy and even bluff, at others the sensitive idealist torn by the barbs of sharp, disillusionising reality. Although the dialogue of the book takes up more space than the incident, it has some thrilling episodes which give the book plenty of drama, and Thompson has drawn into the scope of Alden’s activities much excellent comedy, especially in the linguistic blunders of both Indians and English. It is a lively story, and at times extremely effective, but it strikes one as propaganda at the base. This does not mean that it is lop-sided. The author, like Alden, has too deep a love for both peoples to commit this sin, but through Alden he is definitely putting forward Thompson’s views of the situation, Thompson’s hopes for the solution of the problem. He has a vivid pen. He showed that in his other works, the title of the one immediately preceding this one eludes me at the moment, but I recall the effect of his pictures of the Indian scene, and I think it is more intense in this work. "A Farewell to India” is a work of considable importance, an dwhile it is vastly entertaining, it is also memorable for the intelligence it brings of a troubled country wherein English and Indian are at odds with each other, although they should be working in ardent co-operation for the land in which they live. This is the work of a man who looks into India with unclouded eyes. It is as exciting as Kathleen Mayo’s sensational "Mother India,” but the thrill lasts because unlike that book it has the ring of integrity, and it is the product of a well-balanced mind. Thompson’s novel should not be overlooked. “A Farewell to India” is published by Messrs Ernest Benn, Ltd., London.

ON THE WAY TO CALLAO. A long voyage in a barque to Callao occupies the great part of “The Hungry Goose,” an exciting story of unusual quality, and of excellent character drawing. The principal character is Dan Shurey, a Manx fisherman whose principal activities are making money to buy drink. This Dan learns that the death of his uncle has made him the head of the Shurey Shipping Company, which owned a large line of sailing vessels. Kirk, who was associated with Dan in most of his drinking bouts, accompanies Dan when he goes to Liverpool to take charge of his unexpected inheritance. Kirk is a despicable fellow, but Dan, for all his faults, is a fine character. However, Julia, who is supposed to be the uncle’s daughter, but who actually is the child of the uncle’s wife by her first husband, will have none of them, and she runs away when Dan pays her attentions. She disappears so completely that all his efforts to trace her are vain. His disappointment at being unable to find Julia leads Dan to sail for Callao in the barque, but just as the vessel is leaving Julia, who is penniless, arrives and pleads desperately to be taken on the voyage. Dan, with some misgivings, is won over by Julia’s pleas and agrees to take her. But Kirk has smuggled on board a woman he has tricked into a bogus marriage. Sallie discovers Kirk’s true character, and Dan also learns what his old companion really is. The voyage is a tempestuous one—tempestuous on board—and events, culminate in the death of Kirk, which leaves Dan to find that Sallie is the woman he wants. Dan is extremely well drawn, and "so, too, is Julia, who carries with her the sympathy of th a reader. It is an exciting story, nad the shipboard scenes are well done. “The Hungry Goose” is by Frank Bisson, and is published by Messrs Sampson, Low, Ltd., London. ; A DOCTOR CHOOSES. To operate with. almost certain success on a man who will hang as a murderer or risk the scandal of discovery and his surgical prestige, if he did not operate, was the problem which confronted Alan Ferguson at the

height of a brilliant career, and although at the moment his decision seemed the wisest course, there were long moments in his later life when the knowledge of what he had done caused him infinite suffering. And to the girl called Betty the decision was also momentous, looking at one stage as'if it had headed her straight for inevitable disaster, for it put her in the hands of Detective Inspector Hackness of Scotland Yard, whose industry was amazing where this girl called Betty was concerned. That is the pivot round which Gerard Fairlie has woven his seventh novel, "The Man With Talent,” a rattling good yarn for an idle hour. Fairlie has gone far since writing that first thriller of his, “Scissors Cut Paper,” relying less on melodrama and more on the frailties of human nature as he comes up against them. “The Man with Talent” opens up against a shrewd study of the English Public School code, out of which he develops the characters who form the chief actors in his novel. Written pleasantly, with a good idea for situation, this is a worthy addition to his growing output. Hodder and Stoughton, the publishers, sent me my copy. PIERCING THE FOG.

Among the numerous company of mystery fiction, ’’The Night of the Fog” by Anthony Gilbert should have a place of honour. for its thrill and for the cleverness with which the author hides the solution of the murder of Jasper Hilton, an old man who lived in a rambling broken-down house in the North of England with his nephew Rolfe, and Leslie, Rolfe’s wife. Hilton is generally hated. He is a misanthrope driven in on himself by misery and scandal, and he responds by dealing harshly with his tenants. Rolfe, who is mentally uncertain as a result of the war, also hates his uncle, and when Jasper is found stabbed to death, suspicion first turns to the nephew. But Thornton Peile, a human private detective. is able to establish an effective alibi for Rolf” suspicion then turns to Dr Gilbert Cheyne, a fine, impulsive Irishman, whose love for Leslie leads him to many imprudent acts. Cheyne is such a fine fellow that murder is the last thing the reader will associate with him, but the circumstances are decidedly black. The author car: ries his tale along logically, and it is sustained by some really excellent characterizations, until the moment comes for the disclosure, which the reader realizes, should have been anticipated. “This is a first-class mystery story. “The Night of the Fog” is published by Messrs Golltancz Ltd., London.

THE LAST OF THE REVERES. Another good piece of mystery fiction is “Murder at Fenwold’” by Christopher Bush, who depends more on the elucidation of the puzzle rather than on dramatic suspense for his interest. It has its rise in an old legend, carved round the pew of the Revere family in the old church at Fenwold. This legend runs: “Hye on a tree dure lorde did henge and die. Benethe a tree the last Revere shall lye.” Two members of a firm of private inquiry agents take a short holiday, and while visiting Fenwold they come across this strange carving. As they are discussing the legend they hear that the last of the Reveres was actually killed under a tree on his estate. This man, Cosmo Revere, had been in the habit of felling trees for exercise, and though he must have been engaged in wood-chopping by moonlight, the eccentricities of the family are so well known that the villagers see nothing extraordinary in that fact. Though all the circumstances point to a simple accident, the two strangers are not sure, and they proceed to investigate several points which, to them, require some explanation. Their inquiries carry them into the heart of an old drama, and lead to the unravelling of a strange tale. It is a well told story which holds the attention throughout. The author has an easy style but he knows how to keep the dramatic interest in an ascending movement until the climax comes. “Murder at Fenwold” is published by Messrs Heinemann Ltd., London. A LIKEABLE STORY. When Briton Boyd caught his wife, Claudine, with the local doctor in compromising circumstances, the world tumbled about his ears. A violent quarrel between Boyd and his wife was followed by her departure, and Boyd made an arrangement for her further maintenance. This is the opening of “Rabbits in Fate’s Hat,” a novel of sentiment by Jean Barr, which manages to avoid being sentimental. Boyd, who is wealthy enough to be eccentric, shuts himself up in Mill House, within easy distance of London, with his daughter, Laurel, who is eight years old. He forbids her to go out of the grounds, and she is denied any contact with her own sex, servants or friends; but one day she develops influenza and the doctor warns her father that the unnatural life the girl is leading will have disastrous resists. Boyd accepts the inevitable and procured as a safe companion Rose-Anne, a charming Bretonne, who quickly works great changes, though without her employer’s knowledge. One of her earliest moves was to introduce to Laurel, a young man of excellent qualities. The two young people fall in love with each other, and then Rose-Anne makes the startling discovery that she is in love with Boyd. At the right moment Claudine performs an excellent service by dying, and this opens the way for the union of Boyd and Rose-Anne, who has completely restored his faith in his fellow creatures. The engagement of Laurel and her lover is then easily effected. This is- a simple, likeable story. Improbable, of course, but in the quiet romantic atmosphere of Mill House, Jean Barr persuades one to accept it all and to enjoy the story immensely. “Rabbits in Fate’s Hat” is published by Messrs Melrose Ltd., London. JUMBLED NAMES.

With our own generation, an entirely new quantitative imagination has swept over our western world. The theory of evolution now requires us to suppose a far vaster scale of times, spaces, and numbers than our forefathers ever dreamed the cosmic process to involve. Human history grows continuously out of animal history, and goes back possibly even to the tertiary epoch. From this there has emerged insensibly a democratic view, instead of the old aristocratic view, of immortality. For our minds, though in one sense they may have grown a little cynical, in another have teen made sympathetic by the evolutionary perspective. Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh are these half-brutish pre-

historic brothers. Girdled about with the immense darkness of this mysterious universe even as we are, they were born and died, suffered and struggled. Given over to fearful crime and passion, plunged in the blackest ignorance, preyed upon, by hideous and grotesque delusions, yet steadfastly serving the profoundest of ideals in their fixed faith that existence in any form is tetter than non-existence, they ever rescued triumphantly from the jaws of ever-imminent destruction the torch of life, which, thanks to them, now lights the world for us. How small indeed seem individual distinctions when we look back on these overwhelming numbers of human beings panting and straining under the pressure of the vital want 1 And how inessential in the eyes of God must be the small surplus bf the individual’s merit, swamped as it is in the vast ocean of the common merit of mankind, dumbly and undauntedly doing the fundamental duty and living the heroic life! We grow humble and reverent as we contemplate the prodigious spectacle. Not our differences and distinctions—we feel—no, _ but our common” animal essence of patience under suffering and enduring effort, must be what redeems us in the Deity’s sight. An immense compassion and kinship fill the heart. —William James (“Human Immortality”). LONDON’S TASTE. The following books were in demand in London at the end of January:' Fiction. —E. H. Young’s ‘‘Miss Mole” (Cape); A. P. Herbert’s “The Water Gipsies” (Methuen); Gilmore Millen’s “Sweet Man” (Cassell); “Jacques Chardonne’s “Eva" (Gollancz). Miscellaneous. —Seymour Hick’s “Between Ourselves” (Cassell); “Persian Art,” edited by Sir E. Denison Ross (Luzac); Dean Stanley’s “A Victorian Dean” (Chatto and Windus); C. L. Woolley’s ‘‘Digging Up the Past” (Benn).