Stray Leases from Book World

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21090, 16 July 1938, Page 12

Stray Leases from Book World

MTtiHHHTnVG NUWiS AND NOTES

From Shanghai appears with its usual punctuality and completeness the China Year Book for 1938, edited by Mr H. G. W. Wood head, C.8.E., whose name has become well known in New South as the "Herald's” Far Eastern correspondent. There is no more authoritative and replete reference book on Chinese affairs than this, and the special sections on Mongolia, the International Settlement, and the Sino-Japanese hostilities reveal the value of the China Year Book a.s a storehouse of historical material. The work which its founder and editor has put into this publication since its first appearance in 1912 has made him one of the best-informed Europeans in China, and China’s outstanding foreign journalist. Mr George Bernard Shaw is not the only “G. 8.5. in the literary world. There is also Miss G. B. Stern, the initials standing for Gladys Bronwyn, names with a Celtic ring that she does not like or use. She is a Londoner, born in 1890, is a keen first-nighter ' when she is in town, but prefers to live in Italy. She met her husband, Mr Geoffrey Holdsworth, through her early I ncvel, "Twos and Threes.” He read it I in hospital during the war, and disliked ■ ! the hero so much that he wrote to the i author. They met—and within three | months were married. ! Another volume dealing with Unii tarianism will be Raymond Holt’s “The j Unitarian Contribution to Social Progi ress,” coming from George Allen and i Unwin Ltd. The book aims at bringI ing out the characteristic spirit of ' Unitarianism by showing how their faith has found expression in social i life, and thought. Separate chapters | will deal with the industrial revolu- | tion, parliamentary reform, and other - movements for freedom, a new social order, local government and educa- | tion. I “Little-known Facts about Welli known People,” by Dale Carnegie, is a fascinating book, offering something j new in the way of biography. The j lives, adventures and idiosyncracies of I people of note in any sphere are of in- | terest to everyone, and, when a writer

is able to present in graphic fashion 4 the interesting, the strange, the start- 1 ing, and the unusual about such people, 1 he i.s sure to attract many thousands 5 of readers. The author reveals in this • interesting book the unique traits of ' character and personality through ’ which celebrated men and women rose ’ to a positions of prominence and influ- J ence. It is filled with facts and stories | 1 which are both interesting and instruc- ‘ tive. Mr Carnegie has laid before his readers the curious, the bizarre, the sensational—with the struggles, the , heartbreaks, and the triumphs of some of the world’s best-known and cele- , brated figures. He writes with the < brevity and the condensation that are a boon to busy people, and his articles ■ —each occupies only about four or five pages—can be read and read again with genuine enjoyment. "The Birth of Language: Its Place 1 in World Evolution and its Structure in Relation to Space and Time,” is described by its author, who is Pro- : lessor of English Language and Literature in the University of Saskat- , chewan, as “a philosophical exposition ' of language.” “I have treated lan- ( guage,” he explains, “as one step or cycle in the general evolution of the world, a cycle which includes the following phases: the emergence of con- : scions mind in the world and the new problem that emerged with it; the birth of language in answer to this problem; the materials from which language was made; the metamor- : phoses it underwent in reaching its : final form; its structure in relation to space and time; and its unique character among other phenomena of the world.” He begins by attacking Darwin’s view, universally accepted, that the difference between man and animals is only one of degree, not of kind. The “language” of animals, he points out, consists merely of sounds uttered for certain purposes—expressions of fear, joy, pain, warnings of danger, etc. It shows no comprehension of space and time. Whereas man not only comprehends, but conveys these notions. In emerging from brute unconsciousness to consciousness, he has. in fact, created an inner world to match the outer, and one which is, through language, of infinite duration. For everything in this world symbols were needed, hence the conscious creation of language from the elemental sounds. The next stage was finding visible symbols, i.e., writing. Professor Wilson’s theory therefore gives man much more credit for the development of language than does any other. The Genesis story of Adam’s naming of the beasts is, he shows, essentially a true account of what happened. The best proof of his theory is found in the fact that the language of men goes on developing while that of animals never changes.

Mr Richard Church has nearly fin- ' ished a sequel lo his novel, "The ' Porch.” which was recently awarded ; the Fomina Vie Heureuse Prize. He | has not yet. however, chosen a title for ; it. It deals with the war years, and ! contains an unusual twist in that the heroine is at the front, while the hero [ is compelled to stay at home. Mr Church is also planning a third vol- i ume, to complete the trilogy. Eclwyn Bevan, well-known for his books on ancient religions, is now publishing a volume based on his recent Gifford lectures entitled "Symbolism and Belief.” He is concerned here not . so much with the visible symbolism of objects and gestures in worship but with the ideas, largely symbolical, by which in religion what lies outside the range of the sensible world is repre- . sen ted. Mr John Van Druten's “The Way to : the Present” is the story of the years from 1901 to 1926, at which point he had never had a play produced in the West End; but these were the years . that went to make him a dramatist. His father was a Dutch banker, and his early years were spent in the ordinary atmosphere of a middle-class home in Hampstead. He met no people connected with the theatre, and his ambition, he says, was realised "just by the sheer process of wanting.” Miss Katherine Mayo’s new book. "General Washington’s Dilemma,” is not likely to suffer the same fate as her "Mother India” and "The Face of Mother India,” both of which wero banned by the Indian Government. At one this this pleasant-looking, greyhaired woman must have been the most vilified person in the country. The Hindus were particularly angry, and published many answers to her, one of which had the amusiing name of "Uncle Sham.” Her effigy was burnt in the main streets of Calcutta and Bombay, and efforts were made to have her books banned all over the world — all of which was excellent publicity. Miss Mayo is an American, born in Pennsylvania. ’ Haunted by the ghost of the man he had murdered, Kleinert engages Gees, a confidential agent, for company and

protection while he is working on and perfecting a colour process he had stolen from the other man. The agent | learns what really did happen, and! uses his endeavours to convict Kleinert of the crime. Aided by information from the daughter of the murdered I man and calling in the police at the i psychological moment. Gees is successful in sheeting home the crime, and in | obtaining for the relatives of the mur- I dered man the large sum of money i which interested parlies were prepared ! to pay for the invention. The story is I an entertaining and thrilling one. with I a skilfully drawn picture of Kleinert. The author is Jack Mann, and the publishers Messrs Wright and Brown. Ltdr, London. Among the varied nationalities and interests represented on the liner Strathnavcr, which arrived at Mel- ■ bourne recently from London, one of ! the most unusual was Dr Karl Wolf- 1 skehl, a German poet, philosopher, I linguist, and author. Proving that I poetry has no racial limitations, he declared that one of the finest of modern poets was the late C. J. Brennan, the i Australian writer, whose work inter- , ested him tremendously. Dr Wolfskehl ; said he regarded Brennan’s work as . the work of a genius. His was one of j the great lyrical voices of the time, and he <Dr Wolfskehl) would try to I translate some of his compositions. ' A.s Dr Wolfskehl Is a master of Italian, French, German, and the Scandina- I vian languages, it i.s probable that Brennan may achieve international notice posthumously. Time marches on so quickly these ' days that the editors of the “Encyclopeadia Britannica” feel that the only way to keep "that great repository of erudition"—the phrase Is Swinburne’s —abreast of current developments is to issue a year book instead of bridging the gap between successive editions of the major work by supplementary volumes. Commenting on the inaugural luncheon of the first year book—held in London last month—" Colophon,” in "John o’ London’s Weekly,” recalls that the "Britannica” has always had eminent contributors, including James Stuart Mill, Hazlitt, Sir Walter Scott, de Quincy, R. L. S. Macaulay, and Swinburne. It is not generally known that some of the articles written by the famous generations ago still keep their place alongside the articles of modern authorities. At the end of the article on Mary Queen of Scots, for instance, you will find the initials, “A.C.g.” Revised by the late Sir Robert Rait, this is substantially the article that Swinbure wrote in the ’eighties. And it was when he was invited to make the contribution that he wrote to a friend expressing his delight at the compliment, and made that refference to the “repository” to which he was adding his quota.