BOOKS & AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2313, 21 November 1914, Page 5

BOOKS & AUTHORS.

SOME RECENT FICTION. : (By Liber.) "JOHN BARLEYCORN." Jack London, has in his time written many stories in which the quality of virility has been a specially salient feature. In "Jobn Barleycorn" (Mills and Boon; per L. .51.' Isitt, Christchurch), he gives us an even more than usually powerful study of' the part alcohol has played in his personal life and literary work. He shows how , when a mere lad liquor was practically forced upon him; how When he bacame a sailor it became just as much a.feature in his life ashore as was an ordinary meal; but above all he shows how inseparably, in some, if not all, sections of society, or, shall I say, avocations, in life, drinking stands as the accepted symbol of companionship, comradeship, and good-fellowship. The author does npt disguise the fact that Jo.hn, Barleycorn at timea ■ won a tyrannous'mastery over him." And yet he avers he never liked liquor for its own. eake, «never, drank for the sheer love of alcohol. "When I found myself with- themand the.situation dawned upon me, up rose my queer man pride. I'd snow them who was husky and chesty, who had/the vitality and the constitution,: the'stomach and the head, who could make moat of a swino of himself and show it least. . . .. All the wisdom I had gathered, went glimmering before the ape and the tiger in me that crawled up from the abysm of my heredity, atavistic, competitive, and brutal, lusiful with strength.' and desire to outswine the swine.

It is a remarkable book this latest of Jaok London's yarns, packed full of autobiography, giving glimpses of queer corners in ; Bohemian 'Frisco, of ■ the "oyster pirate's" life, and of whaling experiences. Also, it is an interesting exposition of-the making of London the author, his gallant '■ efforts at self-edu-cation, his earlier battlings with inappreciatlve publishers, and of his final latter described with laudable modesty. First and foremost, however, the story is an attack upon alcohol, and, yet strange to say, the author, while commencing by telling how and why he voted Prohibition and for woman's franchise, ends by admitting he will take.his "drink on' occasion, 'will drink—but oh, more skilfully,' more discreetly than before." Nevertheless, his final sentence reads: "I can well say that J. wish my forefathers had banished John Barleycorn before my time; .1 regret that John Barleycorn flourished everywhere in the system of society in which I was born, else. I should not.hive made his acquaintance, and I was long trained in his acquaintance." ' Whether you cross out the "bottom line" or "top," "John Barleycorn" is a book you should read..

A NEW "JACOBS." A new volume of short stories from Mr. W. W. Jacobs is a joyous event for a goodly host of readers. • The most recent to the - long series of vol-umes-by which the. author. has established so firmly his| reputation as a master of English .humour' is entitled "Night Watches" (Hodder and Stoughton;_ per Whitcombe ami Tombs). There are just ten stories in the book; and in all but .one the.interest is humoroue. The humour is in the true Jacobsian vein, a humour which induces quiet chuckles rather than open laughter. Here again we neet.our old acquaintances, Peter Russett, Ginger Dick, and Sam' Small, those redoubtable sailormeh whose adventures in London- lodgings, London streets, and London hostelries, the author relates in so comical a way. Henpecked coastal skippers, amorous mates and their sweethearts, married ladies" who are jealous of their husbands/and husbands who are jealous of their wives, ; all the , goodly Jacobsian. company are there, and in each and every story but one the fun is as fast and furious as ever. The exception is a short'story, "The Three Sisters," in which: a., note, not only -of drama but o!f actual tragedy .is struck,' with an aiding touch-of the supernatural. It is a grim, powerful sketch which proves, as Mr. Jacobs proved once before—in ."The Monkey's Paw" and "The Well" ;(you will find them in "The Lady of the Barge")— that the author can, when ho likes, rival Mr. Oliver. Onions, and Mr. Algernon Blackwoodin the skilful treatment of a 'gruesome theme.But Mr. Jacobsehould not interpolate such a story amongst his purely humorous efforts. Clever, strikingly clever as it is, the story jars most palpably with the general atmosphere of the book. •'ln. his own special, vein of humour there is no one to-day who can equal Mr. Jacobs. "The Understudy,'! tale of a dog sale, and '-'The Unknown," in which our old friend '• the nightwatchmah plays a practical joke and is himself the chief sufferer thereby, are simply delightful.' By all means read the "new Jacobs." Mr. Stanley Davis contributes ' some illustrations which are in agreeable keeping with tho spirit, of the text".' . . '

"THE CENTLEMAN ADVENTURER." "There was some as was feared of Pew, and some as was feared of Flint, but Flint .his own self was feared of me," bragged "Lohg : John" Silver to the crew of the Hispaniola, of Stevenson's,"Treasure Island" fame. "Long John" should have lived to make acquaintance with that monarch amongst buccaneers, Estevan, "King of the Main,". to' whom Mr. H. ,C. Bailey introduces us. in his latest romance, "The Gentleman Adevehturer" (Methuen and Co.), for as compared with Estevan all other pirates are mere innocent babes.' Here we are once again in tho West Indies and on the Spanish Main, sailing in quest of adventure. and cially: treasure—with the gentleman adventurers, Peter .Hayle. and Captain Veal, and. supping freely of. the rich feast of sensation provided by an author, who fairly riots in- that article of fiterray diet. 'If Mr._ Bailey's astounding story has a fault, it is that it is almost cloyingly exciting. There'is even a femalo pirate, who out Silvors Silver, to say nothing of Pew and Israel' Hands and other of the "Treasure Island" heroes—and tho culture-mongera of Loulain—in her wanton bloodthirstiness. Mr. Bailey has packed his pages so full of that, it fairly slops over. Ho certainly possesses an astonishingly rich imagination and a decided gift for fiction in the truly romantic vein. 'WONDERFUL WOMAN." ' Not all Mr. Dion Clayton Calthrop's cleverness can make mo acquiesce in his attitude of apology iind sympathy with tho heroine of his latest story, "Wonderful Woman" (Hodder and Stoughton; per S. and W. Mackay) and as for Pliilippina, otherwise —to her friends and admirers Flip—she remains to mo at least a minx, a- heartless, silly creature, who. would be downright immoral did sho only dare, and who is quite unworthy, of the love of that thoroughly decent fellow, Sir Timothy Swift. She ruins his lifo, and will assuredly ruin tho happiness of tho titled fool who marries her. before many years of wedded lifo aro over. Having said so much, let mo say that in its pictures of a certain phase of London life, tho life of tho idle- rich, triflers with, or deliberately . ignoring, the graver side of life, Mr. Calthrop's story is singularly fascinating. Tho moral qf the story, although not expounded by the author,

who leaves moralising to. his readers, is that the present war should servo a useful purpose in purging English up-per-class life of its follies and vices, and proving to men like Timothy Swift that there is other and sterner and nobler business to be done than hanging round the skirts of, a silly, extravagant, and immoral woman, even though she be as daintily pretty as a Grouze maiden in tlie latest Bond Street confection.

"THE QUEST OF JOY." . Miss (or Mrs.): Louisa B. ■Boyd, the author of "The Quest of Joy" (Andrew MelroEe; per George Bobertson and Co.), has an irritating trick of writing one chapter of her story in the present tense and tho iiext in tiie past, and her story of the highly imaginative and sensitively emotional boy who finds a new and welcome colour in life in his friendship for a very charming little girl, is at times '.curiously commonplace and jejune alike in sentiment and style. As .the story_ progresses and a second and older friend comes on the scene, the interest becomes less tepid, and a very pretty little romance is evolved which has a deservedly bright ending. To a certain class of lady readers, Miss (or Mrs) Boyd's etory may make a successful appeal. Readers, however, 6f the so-called 1 stronger sex, are warned off. . "THE LETTER OF THE CONTRACT." . Iconfess to a certain sense of weariness when I approach, yet another novel in whicn the American divorce problem is the leading, motif. But there are exceptions to every rule, and Basil King's new. story, "The Letter of the Contract" (Methuen and Co.) presents the old puppets in so novel and attractive a guise and makes them dance now to so amusing, and again to so pathetic an air, that it was , with feelings of regret rather than relief that I reached the final page. Mr. King, whose excellent novel; "The Inner Shrine," may Hβ remembered, is at his best in the portrayal of female character. He is not cynical like Mrs , . Whartonj nor does he give you a surfeit of feminine psychology such as Hr. Henry James is wont to favour. ■ His characters are just everyday men and women, to whom come, as Pate, sometimes kind, sometimes cruel, dictates, happiness, and sorrow, illusory joys and painful disillusion, va'in regrets, and last, and best, the triumph of what'is best and truly , noble in man and woman. I am not going to give in detail the story of Mr.. "Chip" Walker and his two wives, nqr of Mrs. "Chip" Walker and her two, husbands, but I can promise my readers that they will find in Basil King's short but well-written story a very curious and. fascinating study, of human love and frailty, with a • final scene which is pregnant with dramatic force, none ;the less effective in that its exposition is one of such quiet reserve. Quite a good l novel is "The Letter of I the Contract." .

"THE SUPPLANTER." ' Judging by the number of American novels in which the interest is of an ultra-sentimental, quite' Florence Ba'rclayan flavour, .there must be a ■ big public in .the States for ibis class of fiction. ! An excellent example is Grace Duffie Boyl'an's new story, "The Supplanter" (Lothrop, Lee, and Shephard; per George; Robertson and Co.). The heroine, Jrtn (Janet) Allen, is a beautifully natared creature, who sees the man she loves taken from her by a much loss worthy woman, but finds solace and oomfort'in ifche charge of her supplanter's child. The leading character is .evidently drawn with sympathetic care, but tho dialogue is often painfully artificial, aind the author's penchant for indulging in ' high-flown and terribly wordy reflections upon various phases of life is too freq'uentlj indulged. '-Those who like Mrs. Barclay's stories may probably enjoy the book, but to me. its whole atmosphere is .one of unreality. .' ■