ODDS AND ENDS

Southland Times, Issue 24012, 30 December 1939, Page 9

ODDS AND ENDS

A collection of familiar cliches used by book reviewers from an article in Gerald Bullett’s just published anthology. “The Jackdaw’s Nest”: It is written with sympathy, pathos, ana kindly humour. It throws a clear light on a little-understood subject, and is well worth reading. It is profusely illustrated. It is original in conception, devoid of sentimentality, highly informative, consistently witty, and rich in colour. Place it on your re-quired-reading list. It strikes a new note in fiction. Mystery and suspense crowd its pages. The author has done an encyclopaedic job of blending fact and fiction, and the result is an authentic drama of social revolution a definite contribution to proletarian literature. An important addition to frontier literature. A faint tinge of irony pervades it. It is ably translated. It is a penetrating study in abnormal psychology, and, unlike most scientific works, it is written in language understandable to the layman. It belongs to the front rank of modern picaresque literature. Mr should go far.

“Thirty years ago a young man, weary of the practice of dentistry in New York city, and holding, with his wife and a few loyal friends, the minority opinion that he could write, met, his destiny in the person of a veteran plainsman, ‘Buffalo’ Jones, who was lecturing in the East. Zane Grey invited himself to return to the West with Colonel Jones, and what he saw there fused with his peculiar gift or expression and made him one of the literary phenomena of our times; a purveyor to millions of readers of that ‘kingdom of adventure’ which he declared dwelt in every heart. This is from a tribute to the late novelist which appeared in The Christian Science Monitor.

For 10 years the Nonesuch Press has been issuing one-volume editions of.the work of great English writers. To these has now been added an omnibus edition the first—of the writings of Lewis Carroll. The volume runs to 1300 pages, and the Tenniel illustrations have been included.

“The Oxford Book of English Verse” —first and most famous of the series—was to be .reissued this month in& revised form. • The . editor, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, has felt for some years that its scope ought to be extended, and poems by modem authors down to 1918 have now been included. The section devoted to carols and medieval lyrics will be strengthened by the discoveries made h. recent years, and a revaluation of the metaphysical poets of the seventh century has led to the selectionoi further examples of their work. “The Oxford Book of English Verse” first appeared in 1900. Since then it has run through 21 impressions and sold nearly half a million copies.

Ernest Rhys filled the pages of his der lightful reminiscences, “Everyman Remembers,” published some eight years ago, largely with other literary figures: celebrities encountered in the course of his main life-work of making the classics accessible to the million. That book will shortly be supplemented by a companion volume, cast in franker and more personal vein, entitled “Walking Along Garrick Street” (Dent).

The first prize in the international novel competition sponsored in Britain by Nicholson and Watson has been awarded to the English entry “No Arms No Armour,” a story of army life, by Robert D. Q. Henriques. Judges in each country sponsoring the competition selected the best book among those entered in that country, and the final choice was made by a committee of men of letters, among whom Frank Swinnerton was the English representative. Nicholson and Watson were to publish “No Arms No Armour” last month.

Sholem Asch celebrated the publication of “The Nazarene” by moving from his New York City apartment to a country house he has just purchased. Mr Asch had such a move in mind ever since he returned 1 to America more than a year ago, but it was impossible to make the until his novel was finished. The arranging of some 700 reference works which had to be at hand while “The Nazarene” was being written would have occupied several weeks alone, to say nothing of Mr Asch’s collection of Roman and Hebrew coins of the time of Christ. Of these last Mr Asch says “They are the only contemporary documents of the period which have survived the passage of time.” Among the most interesting coins in this collection are those bearing portraits of Herod and other rulers of the same time.

Readers of F. L. Alien’s “Only Yesterday,” that extraordinarily _ acute and animated history of the United States in the nineteen-twenties, will expect much of its sequel to appear in the New Year. This is “Since Yesterday.’ It begins with a vivid account of what life was like in the United States on Sepember 3, 1939, the day when the big bull market reached its peak just before it crashed.

W. B. Yeats, the poet and playwright, left an estate of £8329. In his will he made the following bequests:— The American copyright in his published books and plays, including musical, broadcasting, dramatic, and film rights, to his daughter, Anne Butler Yeats.

The English and European copyrights thereof to his son, William Michael Butler Yeats.

His shares in the National Theatre Society, Ltd., to his wife, who knows his wishes as to disposal thereof. The sword presented to him by Junzo Sato to his (Sato’s) eldest son.

Hector Bolitho, having travelled and lectured in the United States, has written “Haywire: An American Travel Diary.” He chose his title because he liked the word—and because he wanted to implore Americans not to forget the bite and beauty of good slang! “There is a dreary, genteel aversion to slang among the well-to-do Americans. The people I meet after my lectures are suckled on Galsworthy and the reliable English poets and they seem to shrivel at the new words and phrases that are invented by the bucher, the baker and the candlestick* maker.” They not only looked shocked when Bolitho asked the derivation of “haywire,” but, he says sadly, “they scorn the words ‘swell’ and ‘lousy.’ If it matter at all, Chaucer uses ‘lousy.’ ”

The firm of Hodder and Stoughton has published “The Queen’s Book of the Red Cross.” The frontispiece is a striking new photograph of her Majesty, together with a facsimile of her message in her own handwriting. “I am certain,” she says in her message, “that my feeling of gratitude and admiration for the Red Cross is shared by every woman in the Empire, especially the wives and mothers of those fighting to defend its liberty. I'send to all this Christmas message: God Bless You.” The whole 255-page book, with its 13 choice illustrations, was produced within two months of conception of the idea. The 50 British contributing authors are the cream of the Empire’s writers. The price is 5/- and the proceeds will be entirely devoted to the Red Cross Fund opened by the Lord Mayor of London.

According to G. M. Young, judgment and candour are more common in American than in English biographies. For some reason English writers seem always to be looking up at their subject or looking down; the American looks him straight between the eyes. On the other hand, English biographers may claim for themselves a much lighter hand in analysis and exposition.