Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 671, 24 May 1929, Page 16

Books Reviewed

MORE OF EVERYMAN. SIX NEW VOLUMES in Everyman’s Library, and the first two of them alone w'ould ensure a reader a happy winter. They are “The Heroic Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel,” by Francois Rabelais. The translation (as it should be) is Sir Thomas Urquhart’s—Urquhart’s and Motteux’s; and Mr D. B. Wyndham Lewis has written a very good introduction. Professor George Saintsbury is editing a collection of shorter novels for Everyman, and his general introduction appears in Vol. 1 of the collection, devoted to the Elizabethans and Jacobeans. Deloney, Greene, and Nash are the authors represented. The famous letters of Lord Chesterfield to his son fully deserve their place in this library; and the same is true of Mary Wollstonerraft’s “Rights of Women” and John Stuart Mill’s “On the Subjection of Women,” which appear together in one volume, edited bj’ Professor Gatlin. The remaining book, Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s “Letter from Sydney',” witb other writings, is of such particular interest to New Zealand readers that it receives separate notice. Altogether, a fine set of additions to a fine library, (i) “The Heroic Adventures of Gargatt tna and Pantagruel.” Francois Rabelais. Two volumes, with an introduction by D. B. Wyndham Lewis. (ii) Shorter Novels, Volume I: Elizabethan and Jacobean. With general Introduction by GAarge Saintsbury. (iii) “Letters of Lord Chesterfield to his Son.” Introduction by Professor Robert K. Root, (iv) “The Rights of Women.” Mary Wollstonecraft. “On the Subjection of Women.” John Stuart Mill. Introduction by Prof. G. E. G. Catlin. Everyman’s Library. J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. Our copies from the publishers. Ronald Knox's Essays Ronald Knox, whose “Memories of the Future” is still a glad memory with booklovers, has many gifts. He has the capacity for making friends, for making sermons (he is Father Ronald Knox), and for making witty remarks. He is also an essayist with a very pleasant touch. He offers us thirty-three essays—admittedly good measure—in “On Getting There.” They are charmingly written and stamped with personality. Readers will not find here apocryphal adventures and episodes that announce (or denounce) themselves, at a glance, as hen trovato. Nor will they find abstruse and impersonal reflections on subjects whose very weight crushes out interest so far as the casual reader’s inclinations are concerned. These are the reflective jottings of a man whose reflections are well worth jotting down —a kindly, humorous person who has managed to keep a surprisingly youthful outlook, although the “Who’s Who” volumes tell us that he is now in his “forties.” It is safe tqvassume, however, that he will be known as “Young Ronnie Knox” for many years to come. Most of tire essays appearing in “On Getting There” appeared originally in the “Evening Standard.” •‘On Getting There.” Methuen and Co., Ltd,. London- Our copy from the publishers. The Realist. Number One of a new monthly magazine, “The Realist,” published by Mac- ‘

millan and Co., appears with an array of contributors and contributions both admirable and formidable. It is not for nothing that its editorial board of 24 members includes 10 or a dozen professors. If intellectual strength and purpose count for anything, “The Realist” should soon establish itself; for it has both. A very interesting editorial pronouncement explains the purpose and how the gathered strength is to drive it. It explains why an article by Bennett on the progress of the novel, one by Aldous Huxley on Pascal, another by Julian Huxley on individuality, and another by Ernest Newman on the Wagners—these, for instance—appear together in a particular order, and how they are related to each other and the significance and object of the magazine—“Scientific Humanism.” A good thing has been well begun; but It is easier to define than to hold a place in between the more civilised of the popular magazines on the one hand and the learned magazines on the other. - “Across the Way” Those who place their faith in Spiritualism will’find comfort in the messages contained in “Authentic Life Across the Way,” letters which, it Is claimed, come from one who has “passed over.” The author is the late Mr, C. N. Worsley, who, In his life, won fame in New Zealand and abroad as an artist. Tbe letters have been transmitted through his wife. Those who do not subscribe to spiritualistic belief may yet find interest in this little book. Here are two excerpts: The closing of the earth life only opens

j up a new and glorious vista of the Life ! Eternal, which life is definitely when one I ‘‘Enters In.” 1 One of the greatest causes for unsmil- , ing faces and unhappiness with Us after | We have ‘‘passed over” and “arrived” is ! the needless and senseless grief for Us : which those behind indulge in, thus keeping Us away from them, did they but j know it, hampering and retarding Us — in fact, making a sadness and difficulty , where no sadness and difficulty should, or j ought to be. j “Authentic Knowledge of Life Across the Way.” By C. X. Worsley._ Trans- ! mitted through B. Worsley. Whitcombs j and Tombs, Ltd., Auckland. The King’s Treasuries Series. i One of the finest recent enterprises j of J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., has been j their King’s Treasuries series of lit- | erature for schools. We know of only ! a handful of disappointing volumes in a list which now stretches nearly to 200. They have been, undoubtedly, a boon in the classroom. The five latest volumes are Stevenson’s “Kidnapped,’* a selection of tales from the “Arabian Nights,” Hawthorne’s “Tan«lewood

Tales”—of which three nothing but a word of welcome need be said—and two originally planned anthologies, “Treasure” and “Giants and Dwarfs.” “Treasure” gathers stories of great quests, from Herodotus to Masefield. The anthologist wisely refuses to count doubloons as his only treasure and a voyage to a far-off island as his only kind of hunt; and so, side by side with the climax of “Treasure Island,” we find a passage from Frazer’s “Golden Bough.” The other collection describes itself in the title. • It is a happy idea which brings the Cyclops and Miss Mowcher comfortably together! The King's Treasuries series: “Kidnapped,” “Tales from the Arabian Nights,” “Tanglewood Tales.” “Giants and Dwarfs,” “Treasure.” _ J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. Our Copy from the Publishers. A Murderer at Large. A story by Herbert N. Field, in which (a) the detective is human enough to make an error or two in his calculations occasionally; (b) the author credits his followers with having at least that spark of intelligence which enables them to arrive at conclusions of their own; and (o) tbe process of elimination, ending in the arrest the murderer, is not smoothrunning, but full of exciting checks and pauses. But how annoying to have Mr Field foist upon one his knowledge of the contents of the Homcepath’s Vade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery! Nevertheless, “The Needle,” as this story has been so promisingly called, is a quite interesting aid to the whiling away of an odd hour or two. “The Needle.” Herbert N. Field. Jarrolds. Our copy from the publishers. A Novel About Dogs. That versatile writer, Major A. J. Dawson, knows a great deal about a dog’s life, and one is persuaded that, like the lot of the exceptional policeman, it may reasonably be a happy one. Anyway, in Peter of Monkslease, the principal characters are dogs, who make their sage observations on life, as the author qualifies, “after their own distinct and doggy fashion.” Major Dawson goes near enough to proving that Peter, a bloodhound, and his aristocratic companions of the Monkslease kennel, do “argue, declaim, discuss, persuade, exhort, threaten, cajole, yarn, speechify upon occasion, reminisce at length, and can be raconteurs, with a strong sense of the drama.” Whether one agrees in whole or in part depends on one’s notion of their proper place in the social scheme of things. But the fact remains that “Peter of Monkslease” is not merely a dog story; it is a novel of character, and as such can be appreciated. ‘•Peter of Monkslease.” Major A. J. Dawson. Tbe Richards Press, Ltd,, London. Our copy from the publishers. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED “The Month” —Issue for May. Includes special article on fifth centenary of St. Joan, the Maid of France, “The Outline of Liberty,” by G. K. Chesterton, and “Men Who Freed the Faith,” by Denis Gwynn.