FORTHCOMING NEW BOOKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 345, 16 August 1930, Page 18 (Supplement)

FORTHCOMING NEW BOOKS

George Allen and Tfrwin is a composite firm, for its catalogue includes the publication of George Allen and Co., Ltd., Swan Sonncnscheins, the “Swarthmore Press and the London Publishing Department of Benibrose and Sons, Ltd. Small wonder then that the catalogue is a comprehensive one.

But comprehensive is not the correct vcord. It goes beyond the usual sphere of English supplies. Indeed there seems to be a definite and deliberate attempt to provide English readers with a catholicity of material garnered from the best of the European literatures. This is indeed a laudable objective, for an Englishman can no longer consider himself well-read because he knows his Shakespeare and Shelley, his Dickens and his Walpole, his Thackeray and his Galsworthy. Ho must, if he is to rank as a modern well-read man, know some thing at least of those currents which are stirring Continental countries. The war has marked European literature deeply, scarred perhaps in the better word and there are many war book'' included in the Allen and Urwin catalogue. The vogue of the war book is. however, on the wane in New Zealand and it is perhaps all to the good. A new generation is now stepping forward which was not touched consciously by the war, and from this new battalion the more serious book is required. And it is not a philistine book, it is searching, it is enquiring. It is enquiring deeply in three directions. These directions are economics, and politics, especially international politics, and the biographies of those persons who have played a big part on the stage of the world find ready acceptance. Religion and ethics are also definitely within the orbit of interest, to-day.

Turning more particularly to the Allen and Urwin catalogue, there are, of course, too many books for one to cite all that one would wish. Scandinavian fiction finds a section to itself, and it should. '‘Lacemaker Lckholm.” hv Gustaf Hellstrom (translated by F. H. Lyon, also whose work we know\ is one of the lending contemporary Swotf- ’ ■’-’•iters. He has written a sort of Swedish “Forsyte Saga,” of a family from 1850 to the present day. There arc also three volumes of Best Stores of Denmark, Sweden and Norway edited by Henna Astrup Larsen, all of which should prove to be interestingThe “Dashing Duchess,” and “Augustus of Saxony” should be of interest to students of the last century, but the chief item of interest will doubtless bo the announcement that Ludwig’s Napoleon and Bismarck are now published in a cheap edition at 10s etu <. This brings these great biographies within reach. They should be bought and neither borrowed nor lent. “Points of View” and the “Drift of Civilisation,” by leading writers in England, should be worth everybody's perusal, as should also Lars Ringbom’s “The Renewal of Culture ”

In foreign affairs the following arc included: “The Delusion of Germany,” by Kantovowicz, written to clear English policy of the charge of encirclement of Germany, “The French Constitution,” a students’ guide by Henry Morrison, a “Short History of the French People,” by Professor Charles Guignebert, and the “Franco-Russian Alliance, 1891-1917,” by Georges Michon, should provide an excellent tri 0 on France, while Robert Machray’s “Little Entente” should also be worth while.

I In politics three works take my eye. 'They are Professor Weber’s “Defence I of Capitalism,” C. Delisle Burns’ “De- , mocracy, Its Defects and Advantages,” 1 and D. Bernard Joseph’s “Nationality; Its Nature and Problems.” In the • economics section are Professor Irving i t Fisher’s “ Money Illusion” and of particular interest to us is Professor .7. B. Condliffe’s “New Zealand in the flaking, a Survey of Our Economic and j Social Development. ” In the religious | section, “If I had only Ono Sermon to ( Preach on Immortality,” by various well-known preachers, should prove illuminating. as should also the little book, “F- B. Meyer, Preacher, Teacher, Man of God,” by A. Chester Mann. There is indeed good fare here for the i truth seekers of this ago.

A motorist, driving rapidly into a station yard, nearly hit an old woman, who shouted: “Why don’t you sound your ’orn?” The driver replied: * ‘Why don’t you sound your aitchesf” A woman, driving into a villapc, asked one of several boys where si'* could dnd a Mr Jenkins. Said the youngster, “That’s ’im over in front of McMick’s, leaning against the wall.” “Where?” said the motorist. “In front of McMick’s reiterated the boy, pointing. The woman looked in the direction indicated, and there was Mr Jenkins. Also she noticed, just beside where he was standing, this legend carved in the stone: “MCMIX.”