NEW BOOKS REVIEWED.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15353, 29 September 1923, Page 11 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS REVIEWED.

CURRENT LITERATURE. Vivid South Seas Stories. Mr John Russell set himself a high standard in has first book, “Where the Pavement Ends.’’ He has not fallen short of it in his new book of short stories, “In Dark Places,” They are brilliant, stirring, dramatic. Mr Russell unveils the realities of the South Seas and shows the life as it Is lived, not as a moralist but as an artist; and sometimes it is an ngly picture. Undeniably Mr Rnsell has caught the flush of the Tropics. He has “arrived" in the front rank of short-story writers. He has the art to make visible what he sees. Exciting Romances. “The Yellow Seven” by Mr Edmund Snell, is a masterpiece of exciting romance. It tells of the struggle between an Englishman with Chinese eyes and a Chinese secret society, commanded by a ferocious bandit of the name of Chai-Hung, in Borneo. The adventures are breathless; there are furious encounters In the jungle and diabolical traps; and the English men and women engaged in the conflict move under the constant menace of a horrible end, with every accompaniment of torture. Smuggling Days. !

A rollicking tale of the old smuggling days makes its appearance just at the right moment for holiday reading. It is “The Riddle of the River,” by Mr J. Weare-Giffard, and tells of love and adventure on the North Devon coast. It is a really healthy story full of dramatic incident and told in a manner which will please readers of every age.

Lieut. Jack Sanders, the hero, is a dashing naval officer who carries all before him in “love and war,” but he has to prove his worth as a sailor and a man before he wins winsome Grace Fulford, the “unwitting smuggler’s” daughter for his bride.

An Improbable Elopement. Mild humour is the chief ingredient of Mr Frank Stayton’s “Special License." Lord Winterley wanted his daughter, Marjory, to marry a duke, but that independent young woman wanted to marry Dyon Warden, son of a man who had made a fortune out of cheap restaurants. The only thing was to elope, and they therefore threw themselves on the mercy of Goeffrey Kennion .and his wife. The adventures that happen to all four of them, which are of a humorous nature, compose the substance of the book. Of course it all ends happily, and it is also the cause of reconciling the discontented Kenrdons.

The Mystery of a Tower. Mr A. J. Rees is a magician in the handling of mysteries, and his “Island of Destiny” is an excellent tale which will keep the reader on tenterhooks to the last page. The mystery concerns the discovery of Sir Robert Yyngarth’s body in a deserted and ruinous tower, forming part of the old abbey in which he had lived; how it got there; and how, shortly before its discovery, a bell in the tower was rung, though Sir Robert, according to the medical evidence, had been dead at least 24 hours., We shall not give away the secret of this most exciting book.

“Spud Tamsonl’’ In New Zealand. Mr R. W. Campbell, the creator of the world-famous “Spud Tamson” stories, who served with the boys at Gallipoli and held the rank of captain at the close of the war, has just completed a tour of New Zealand and a trip to Samoa. It is his intention to write a book on his return Home dealing mainly with the splendid work of the early settlers, his work wiU be looked forward to with considerable interest. He left Wellington by the s.s. Armagh after a stay of from four to five months. Women Problems In Old Days. Mr F. A. Wright, one of the latest and most interesting of our writers on classical literature, whose exoeUent verse translations from the Greek Anthology have, received wide commendation, has written a deiightfuL book in his “Feminism in Greek Literature." He shows; indeed, that -our modern feminist problems are as old as Euripides and Aristophanes. Much that lie has to say is quite fresh, and will surprise and please scholars quite as much as the lay public. Despite its splendid civilisation, Athens degraded women to a low position, and that may have been, be thinks, one of the hidden causes of her fall. ‘A woman's life at Athens in the sth century B.G. was a dreary business. She was confined closely to the house, a harem prisoner, but without any of that luxurious ease which the harem system sometimes offered as a solace for the loss of freedom. An Athenian house was small, dark, and uncomfortable, and a woman’s day was occupied with a long round of monotonous work.

Men and women dressed alike: “There were some slight varieties in shape, material, and colour, but, speaking generally, it is correct to say that an Athenian lady or an Athenian gentleman was dressed informally when he or she had one blanket draped about their person. Full chess consisted of another blanket over the first, and the art of dress consisted in suitable pin-, uiug and the proper arrangements of the folds.”

Euripides taught, however, against the opinion of Athens, that “women are different from men, but they are not inferior”; and with intense irony questioned “man's position as the natural lord of creation.” He taught, too, that women were not wanting . in courage.' Into Medea’s mouth he put the striking words': “Rather would i stand three limes in the battle line of shields than bear one child.” And that point was made afresh by Aristophanes. Aristophanes shows: “That he understood the female mind almost as welt as Euripides; better far than most women authors, except only the incomparable Jane (Austen), to whose Emma in masterfulness and independence the Athenian lady (Lysistrata) bears a close resemblance.” Socrates held that “a man who habitually thinks ill of women has .probably no very good reason to think well of himself.” He admired beauty, and, “like Goldsmith, recognised that a beautiful woman is a benefactress to mankind.”