Books and Their Writers

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17032, 4 May 1923, Page 11

Books and Their Writers

■ Notes by "The Reviewer" I

Senor Blasco Ibanez intends—it is said—to follow the example of the brothers Goneourt. He recently confided to a friend that he is working like a miser to leave a fortune to the Spanish novel, in other words, to all the novelists who use the Spanish language as their medium. Mr Hutchinson's ‘lf Winter Comes and * This Freedom,*’ Mr Hugh Walpole’s The Cathedral/’ Mr Sabatini’s * ‘ Captain Blodo,' ’ Miss Dell’s •Charles Rex,’ Mr Keable's “Simon Called Peter/’ Mr Farnol’s “Peregrine's Progress,” and Mr Cocke’s “The Tale of Triona ’ are among the twenty-four best selling novels in America. There is a particularly pice reference to Wordsworth in a recently published extract from the Faringtoa Diary : “ Constable remarked upon the high opinion Wordsworth entertains of Himself.—He told Constable that while Be. was a Boy going to Hawkshead School, His mind was often so possessed with images, so lost in extraordinary conceptions, that He has held by a wall not knowing but He was part of it.—He also desired a Cady, Mrs Lloyd, near Windermere when Constable was present to notice the singular formation of His Skull.—Coleridge remarked that this was the effect of intense thinking. l observed to Constable if so. He must have thought in His Mother's womb.” Mr Rafael Sabatini has chosen the Great Plague of London as the .setting for a new historical romance that he ha? just completed. The book will be published with the title of “ Fortune's Fool.” in proposing “ The Immortal Memory at a recent meeting of the Condon Burns Club, Mr G. iv. Chesterton .said that Burns’s love songs were the only love songs that were simple enough to be true. Both their simplicity and their truth, however, have been disputed. Aubrey De Vere tells a delightful story of a talk in which Tennyson brimmed over with enthusiasm for the songs of Burns. “ You forget for their sake/’ he cried, “ those stupid things his serious pieces.” A few hours later De Yere met W ordsworth, and the talk again turning to Burns. Wordsworth outsoared Tennyson in his admiration. “Of course, though/’ he interpolated, “ I refer to his serious efforts: those foolish little amatorv songs one has to forget/’ Matthew Arnold was with Tennyson. Burns lie called “a beast with splendid gleams.” and the gleams were the love songs. Tennyson’s admiration went deeper than words. According to FitzGerald,, he was only twice moved to tears, once at the burning of Troy in the Second 35neid. and once when, having crossed the border. he first saw the real “banks and braes o’ bonnie Doon.” “Men Cike Gods” is the title oi the latest novel by Mr H. G. Wells, and “ the world as it ought to be ’ is his theme. The story begins with three motoring parties driving along towards Slough. As they approach W indsor Castle there is a smash. The scene dissolves, and they are translated into a sphere many centuries ahead of our everyday life. There the Utopians and the Earthlings interrogate each other, and the new arrivals learn that the Utopians emerged a thousand and more vears ago from the “ Age of Confusion.” which they decide is contemporaneous with our own 1922. There are some terrible happenings to the Earthlings and to the Utopians also. Strong exception has been taken by leading literary men to the action of the Australian Customs authorities in prohibiting the importation into Australia of Boccacio’s “ Decameron,” except in limited numbers for use in the universities as text books (states the “Australasian”). Giovanni Boccacio is accepted in all civilised countries as one of the greatest storytellers of all time. He was horn at Certaldo, near Florence, Italy, in 1313. Disliking commerce, he studied for the law, and, going to Naples, he began to write noetry. Some of his best work was undoubtedly inspired by Maria, the illegitimate daughter of King Robert of Naples ancl Sicily, with whom he fell in love. She appears in his writings under the name of Fiammetta. Boccaccio gave much of his life to the public service. He completed the “ Decameron ” in 1358. after be had been engaged on it for ten years. AUTHOR OF “ IF WINTER COMES.” The gods have been kind to A. S. M. Hutchinson (writes Conrad. Peacock in the Sydney ‘Sun”). No novel of recent times has caused such a stir in the book world as “If Winter Comes.” He is not the man you would expect him to be. In fact, lie’s rather disappointing. He is just a quiet, ordinary sort of person, tall and lean, and square shouldered. An English writer said of him: “He smiles at you with rather troubled blue eyes—kind eyes, humorous eyes, saddened by the ability to see everybody’s point of view.” That was the trouble of Mark Sabre. He began life as a medical student at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, but surgery did not appeal to him, and he threw down his scalpel and took up his pen. He wrote articles, short stories and verses, in prodigious numbers, about every conceivable subject, but his success at first was small. His first poetic effusion was published in an English magazine. “ The Ludgate,” but curiously enough the magazine died after printing his verse. Perhaps that was only a coincidence. After a few months at this precarious mode of living, a position on the staff of “Pearson’s” was offered to him, which lie accepted. But an insistent- desire to write a book persuaded him to leave his post on the paper. In 1907 he was offered the opportunity of writing leaderettes for the “ Daily Graphic ” ; in 1908 he became sub-editor; and in 1912, to his amaze- ! merit, he occupied the editorial chair. 1 Upon the outbreak of war, however, he 1 resigned and joined up with the Royal 1 Engineers. Later lie was attached to 1 the Canadian Corps. | Before the war the world had seen and laughed at “ Once Aboard the ! Lugger ” : then came “The Clean I Heart.” and “ 'Hie Happy Warrior.” I After the fighting, he returned to EngI land with the definite purpose of being I a novelist, and “ Tf Winter Comes” k was the first fruit of that resolution. | <{ T write from character.” lie said, | “ not from plot. All the characters in \ 1 If Winter Comes ’ excepting Effie were I in my head years before I wrote about & them. They just moved in my brain I from 1915 to 1919. doing nothing.” | LITERARY. i Strand Magazine (February! opens I with an epilogue to the Gottingley 1 Fairy storv in which Conan Doyle gives

particulars of a curious corroboration of the story; if the statements are facts they require some explaiuiugArnold Bennett continues his Tffnts as to the propeu method of living; he is insistent upon the desirability of working for the community and he makes out a. strong case. An interview with Mr W. Knightsmith. who has had thirty years’ experience as toastmaster, and who is described as “ the personification of old-world ceremony and courtliness . . . certainly the most famous toastmaster in the world,” contains a number of interesting anecdotes of notable people. Sir Lanclon Ronald continues his variation of a Personnal Theme telling of various musical prodigies /including Willy Ferraro Hie boy who, at tlic age of six, without being able to road an orchestral score, was able to conduct the Albert Hall Orchestra. Tom Newman tells how he practises for the Billiard Championship ; anyone who fancies the champion doesn’t work may find reason to revise | his notion. Arthur Prince, the ventriloquist, chats interestingly of bis experiences. The fiction is above trie average. consisting of a long instal- : mcTit of Stacpoole’s ' “ The Garden of God.” and stories by 3. 3. Bell, L Sieveking. Hugh Walpole “ Sapper, Aldorus Huxley and E. Nesbit. STEAD’S REVIEW, MARCH 3. The Editor, albeit grudgingly, admits ! that the British Government’s decision to .take no action at present with regard to the Ruhr situation is a wise one; as to Mr Lloyd George’s bieak into journalism lie remarks, “it appears that the ethi.es of Yankee journalism are somewhat higher than those of British politicians ” —which is nasty The prison system in New Zealand comes in for some commendation. A Itermaths of the Great War are a. discussion on the official German white-washing campaign, and statements about the fight the German housewife is making against the high cost of living—which, bv the way, she has not got “on her own,” and for which no amount ol whitewash will conceal her German husband’s responsibility. The information, caricature and other standing features are as usual up-to-date. STEAD’S REVIEW 7 , MARCH 31 The Editor inveighs against what he calls “The Ruhr Folly,” quotes protests from various French sources against “ the insanity of the policy ol their Government,” arid considers the words of Napoleon who foretold that the future of Europe would be either Cossack or French “ have the ring ol true prophecy in these days.” Al. c ;o lie finds “ Something is rotten in the state of Britain,” and “ the lessons of science and history point to the deon\ of the system that has survived it-a usefulness. The social system of Britain has reached that stage.” The writei of the New Zealand Notes opines that “there is very little nee thought m tho country, and what there ia to be very guarded in it 3 utterances. The instincts of the herd, the mass mind, the lowest common demoninators of democracy all unite to stifle individuality of thought, and freedom of utterance. Yet there is no British Dominion that stands more in need of new thought, new ideas, and new ways of doing things.” Articles on the Royal Australian Navy, the Freehold System and Closer Settlement (in Australia apparently the tendencies of the freehold system are in the direction of defeating the effort towards closer settlement). the Root of Russian Ills (a view of Bolshevism by a Russian resident in Australia who blames Marshal Foch for the death of millions of children in the Volga;, and the usual caricature and information departments make up the number. Recent discoveries have sharpened the always wide-spread interest in earls man. In “ The Evolution and Progress of Mankind,” Professor Klaatsch gives us a comprehensive and fascinating picture of the whole period of develop ment. He was one of the highest an thorities and greatest workers on the subject in Europe, and his ideas are extraordinarily stimulating and original. His book is not merely a cata logue of “finds,” but a remarkable picture of living and dead primitive man. In his clear, simple style he appeals directly to the general public: and more than a hundred selected illustrations and plates make the reading still easier. Messrs Fisher Unwin announce the work for early publication.

London by day and London by night are two different worlds. It is of the night life that Mr Sidney T. Felstead writes in “ The Underworld of London,” which Mr Murray will publish shortly. The book is remarkable lor its revelations. “The White Heart of Mojave/’ by Edna Brush Perkins, is a thrilling narrative of the adventures and experiences of two intrepid wonieu in the Mojave Desert, which is befctei known as “Death Valley.” An atlas will show in South Carolina a great empty space just east of the Sierra Nevada range and the San Bernavdinc Mountains. This is the desert aevos? which these two women made their perilous pilgrimage. Tt was not undertaken in any spirit of bravado, but a , the author says was the result of r “craving for the wild and loneh place.” It is an extraordinarily wellwritten story of the trials and observations of these two brave women. Messrs Fisher Unwin are the publishers.