BOOK CORNER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

BOOK CORNER

MOVE OVER!—Some people have idealsand no money, others have, plenty of money and no ideals., Chris Chailoner had othing in worldly wealth, but his ideals were high. He had ambition, business acumen, plus a desire to apply his ability to achieve success—to create. Nothing appealed more than to be able to dwell on his own triumphs, but, unfortunately for him, Sheila, his wife, had a different outlook. To her, life had to bo one long gay holiday, and she aimed at using her millions to drag her penniless husband with her to make it so. But Chris rebelled, and into the lives of these two came Dan Dulaney, a “professional correspondent!” A fast tale of the “bright spots” of life, by E. Pettit. The Richards Press Limited. London, are the publishers, from whom comes my copy.

KNUCKLES.—A young man, tall, angular, with lean face, grey eyes, rather pronounced cheek-bones, faded reddish hair and lips which appear to be locked, shut by some unfailing device in his prominent chin. Such, in brief, describes “Knuckles” the outstanding character in Clarence B. Holland’s novel of the same name. “Knuckles’* is a shrewd, calculating type, a man used to the ways of men. The story hinges on underhand dealings with regard to a huge lumber-mill, and a noteworthy feature is the belief of a family reared in New York that a city brain can triumph over everything. How this assumption comes a tumbling, how love plays upon the actions of strong mon, and how the appeal of the outdoors triumphs over a craze for life in city tenements, make a lively talc. Hodder and Stoughton are responsible for publication and my copy is from their Sydney agent, W. S. Smart.

HOUSE OF MAKE BELIEVE.— A lightly told tale. One brother inherits the estates of Mourne, the other is an outcast. The second generation, through the medium of love, heals the wounds of the past and David Stanley goes to the Great Beyond knowing that reconciliation has been made. The telling does not lack incident and Fong Goong, the one-time great court doctor whose “one little mistake” cost a Prince his life and brought about his own exile from the “Flowery Land,” is a pathetic figure in his sphere of “Make Believer.” Another Hodder and Stoughton production, and the review copy conies from the Sydney agent —W. S. Smart. Hilda Bridges is author.

“FIVE WOMEN IN A GALLEY” are five young French women who reside in Paris, subject to its very numerous temptations. Each has a" lover, only to discover that there is little happiness in the free love advocated by their coterie. The only one who prospers is a mercenary little secretary, who sets herself out to entangl*, the son of her employer in the matrimonial net —and succeeds. She “plays safe,” which is, after all, the only profitable game. The story is an excellent. moral tonic, for although it deals intimately with free love, it makes the strongest possible plea for the pre serration of marriage. “Five Women ia a Galley,” by Suzanne Normand,” translated by G. S. Taylor. Published by the Richards Press, London, from whom comes my copy.

“THE GOLDEN ISLE.”—A lively tale concerning the discovery of a fabulously rich gold mine in New Guinea; of a handsome and determined young hero, and his pretty sweetheart, who comes miraculously to him from the sea; of a certain Mr Brand, who knows more than an honest man should of New Caledonia; of a gallant searover, Captain Spain, who steers the good people of the story into safe harbours and wrecks the schemes of the wicked—including those of Mr Brand, who is most obligingly disposed of by a hungry alligator. Hodder and Stoughton publish this readable yarn which is by H. Haverstock Hill. My copv is from Mr W. S. Smart, the publishers’ Sydney agent.

AN AID TO MATRIMONY.—It is a strange fact that upon a subject requiring the, fullest knowledge possible, th© least light is thrown. This is the question of the sex and its relation to marriage. Most people have not advanced far from the attitude—popularly known as Victorian, but which has belonged to all ages—the attitude which classes sex as an unmentionable topic. The result of this is a profound and lamentable igorance, because it is on account of the lack of knowledge in this phase of life that people blunder into marriage with its attendant discords and final dissolution in the Divorce Court. Many of the pitfalls which beset the matrimonial path, however, could be avoided if the husband and wife had a better understanding of sex. The deficiency in knowledge on this subject has been made up to a large extent by such writers as Havelock Ellis and" Dr Marie Stopes and a more recent contribution is from the pen of W. J. Fielding who, in ‘‘Sex and the Love-Life” (Richards Press Ltd.), traverses the question in a scientific, straightforward, manner. The common practice of placing a ban on knowledge concerning the sex side of life is condemned by the author. No one, he says, can estimate the damage that has been done by adopting a policy of silence How important is the part played by sex is demonstrated in the remarks upon love which has been the principal motif of the poet, the novelist, and the artist. It is responsible for much of the imperishable beauty, ecstasy and sublimity of life, art and literature. “But what is love?” it is asked, “even in its most sublime form but the supreme refinement of the sexual impulse? And how are we to understand love, and to develop and enrich the background from which it springs, unless we. comprehend the vital force behind it?” The author goes on to deal with the respective natures of man and woman, a true understanding of which holds out the prospect of a happier marriage than would be the case where the parties concerned are left to stumble in the

dark. Sex hygiene is dealt with al length while a chapter is devoted to the relation of the parent and the child. This is a most important matter because it is due to the fact that the majority of parents shirk their responsibilities in regard to enlightening their children on the fundamentals of life. It is not too much to say that most people received instruction in their youth not from their parents, their rightful preceptors, but from uutsido and often undesirable sources. When it is realised that such a line of conduct is only striking at the race an effort will be made towards promoting a healthy understanding of the problems of sox and many of the disconcerting features of life manifest in sexual perversion will disappear because such perversion is frequently the outcome, not of hereditary taint but ignorance. NEWS AND NOTES. After nearly 29 years’ independent existence the publishing firm of Stanley Paul anil Uq. has joined the Hutchinson group. The lack of great novels to-day explained by a London publisher in The Daily Express as due Io the demand. “Do it quickly and do it luridly.” The, temptation of huge royalties and film rights is tremendous, and few writers can resist it. Seventeen new biographies of Bunyan have already appeared in celebration of his tercentenary. The new Trader Horn book, just published, bears th.* title “Harold tho Webbed, or the Young Vykings.” “Vykings” is the Trader Horn’s own spelling of the word. The book is described as a tale of “England in tho dawn-light,” being tho story of a boy who ran away to fight the legionaries of Caesar on the South Coast of England. Like the first Trader Horn book, it is in part a written narrative by Alfred Aloysius Horn and in part conversation with his collaborator, Ethelreda Lewis.

Don Marquis’ real name, according to Eleanor Raymond Sykes, who writes about him in The Forum, is Robert Perry Marquis. Miss Sykes tells u( that the Marquis family owned an oU bulldog named Don, and a striking re semblance was found to exist betweef the 'log and young Robert Perry. Ao cordingly, the boy was “Don,” and the name stuck, as nicknames will. Air Marquis is quoted at saying that every time he tried to be dignified and use the name Robert Perry, it brought him bad luck, so he resigned himself to being called “Don.” An important new publication of f’harles Scribner’s Sons is “Theodore Kooscvclt’s Diaries of Boyhood and Youth,” covering the period from nursery 'lays to early manhood. Among the illustrations will be some hitherto unpublished drawings and photographs. The book w','l be a companion volume to “Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children.” Blanche W. Knopf (Mrs Alfred A. Knopf) recently gave a tea at the Carlton Hotel in London in honour of Si grid Undset, the Norwegian novelist, whoso novels are published in translation both in England'an I America by Mr Knopf. Among those present were the Hon. Maurice Baring, Robert Lynd, the essayist; Elmer Adler, the well-known American typographer, and Storm Jameson, whose new novel. “Farewell to Youth,” is to be published soon by M r Knopf. In “The Silent Drum” (by Ena Kellogg Griffith), the scene is laid in modern Turkey—or, more exactly, the Turkey of fifteen years ago, when the war loomed on the horizon and already the old customs were beginning to fall before a new and enlightened generation. The author reveals close knowledge of varied phases of Turkish political, economic and individual life. She is interested first of all in tho passing of the harem—the rise of women to an independence that threatens the traditional dominance of tho male head of the house. The central figure of the story, Jalil Bey, is the unhappy victim of this feminine insurrection. Frustrated in his love for tho Christian courtesan, Elizabeth, he finds himself at the end of the book cheated out of his revenge by a power greater than himself and his heritage—the conipiand of his daughter. Closely woven in with this theme is the story of the political intrigues at Constantinople that finally precipitated the entrance of Turkey into the World War and brought about the fighting in the Dardanelles. Jalil Bey plays a prominent part in his country's political life, and through his eyes tho reader is given a glimpse of the forces that were at work in the Near East early in .1914.

Jalil Boy’s failure at love is even more tragic than his political defeats and the loss of his position as head of his own family. Sentimental and romantic rather than the sensual Turk of fiction, he finds no lasting happiness in tho company of his fat and stupid wives and concubines. Through a series of accidents, lie meets Eliznbet or Elizabeth, whose mother was Greek and whose father American. The Boy is attracted to her immediately, and eventually wins her for his harem by J supplying her with the money to send , a consumptive brother to Norway. But Elizabeth has a maddening quality of aloofness that keeps her master from winning her completely even after she has entered his household. Her heart is already betrothed to Heracles Athenoycnsis, a handsome young Greek who has gone to America to make his fortune. The Bey uses all his blandishments and all his money to win the girl’s affection, but all to no avail. : Here fate steps into the story, and ’ in true Oriental style plays the winning card. Riding through tho city streets one {lay, Jalil strikes with his whip <1 fawning mountebank, who blunders in his path. The mountebank nurses his grudge, and eventually summons Heracles from America to rescue his betrothed. The Bey surprises Elizabeth and her lover in the garden ai they are about to make their escape and orders, the Greek put to death. But his daughter steps forward with the statement that this is a new age and the two must be allowed to go free. > J Much to his own surprise, Jalil conr7 J sents to being over-ruled. / /l