Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 689, 14 June 1929, Page 14

Books Reviewed

NAPOUEON. MEREZHKOVSKY’S study of Napoleon begins with a rapid survey of what his enemies and his worshippers have said in judgment on him. It concludes with the sentence: A hero of the West, Napoleon is himself akin to the sunset, the eventide of the world. Because of this he remains for ever the Mysterious and the Unknown. Of all that could be said of him, Pushkin’s epitome seems to be the most profound: The Fateful Executor of a Command unknown. That is why no judgment passed by man can touch him. But a biographer or analyst who j says this saws off the branch he is sitting on. In an absolute sense, it is I true of every man that he is a mys- ! tery. unknown and unknowable; but until we deny all knowledge of men by their fellows—in which case the historians and biographers had better Bhut up shop and join the novelists in harmless fairy-tale writing—we had better continue to expect them to tell us all the facts they can, and to arrange the facts to make sense, and to pluck the heart out of mystery with r the fingers of reason and imagination. All that Merezhkovsky does is to tell us that Napoleon was a mystery, and then to describe that mystery in very i mvsterious terms. Are we intended to | tafee seriously the rhapsodical comparison of Napoleon with Dionysos?—“A I man who became god; so is Napoleon.” j Since the passages which develop it ! are numerous and very earnest. We | must conclude that we are. Fortuj nately, we can do as we like about I that; and we can certainly read the ! book with an interest frequently quiefci ened by astonishment, if not with 1 much sense of illumination. Merezb- | kovsky is a genius who is travelling a ; strange path. 44 Napoleon—A Study. 53 Dmitri Merezhkovsky. Translated by Catherine Zvegintzoy .T. and M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. Our copy from the publishers.

A Manhattan Mixture Although not working on an absolutely new scheme, J. P. McEvoy, with “Show Girl,” has given the novelreading public something unusual to chuckle over. This book is like a Manhattan cocktail, having a distinct “kick” in its series of letters, telegrams, extracts from newspapers, and snatches of dialogue. It is purely American in humour, yet it can be appreciated by the British reader, and this is one reason for its popularity both in the United States and abroad. Dixie Dugan, who yearned for a place in the Follies, fell short of her ambition when she found a position as a lady of the chorus in a night club which catered for that ill-used person, the tired business man. Her adventures are described in a series of letters to and from several interesting people, including a bright young man whose mission in life it was to sell inspiring mottoes for the decoration of Indiana walls, and a reporter who was a literary “ghost,” specialising in the wholly fictitious life stories of people whose paths of glory led to the front pages of the newspapers. Altogether a picture is painted of a hilarious life on stage and off. This is a distinctly unusual novel, very amusing, and at times rather risque. “Show Girl.” J. P. McEvoy. Brentano’s, Ltd.. London. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED “Trout and Salmon Fishing in Southland.”—Compiled by anglers for the benefit of anglers. A handy little guide-book to the well-stocked streams of Southland. Pocket format. Illustrated. 128 pp. Published by the Southland Anglers’ Club. Craig Printing Co., Ltd., Invercargill.