LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2594, 16 October 1915, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Literature and The War. . In "The British Review" for September (Williams and Norgate), an exceptionally strong • number, the editor, in his "Obiter Dicta," expresses discontent at what, so he says, is the "peculiar inability of the nations to produce a great genius not merely in tho military field, but even in tho sphere of letters which should provide the spiritual encouragement needful to support the strain of sudh a conflict. There is. .in our leading articles, . pamphlets, and poetry, a kind of triviality which is worthier of an election campaign than of a world struggle." But is this complaint justifiable or wise? Surely it wero 'better to leave heroics to. th 9 real heroes, the men at the front, not the mere miters who remain at home.' Would the editor fain have Mr. Rudyard Kipling, or Mr. Robert Bridges, or even Mr. Chesterton, penning an English "Hymn of .Hate," to bo chanted by the men in the trenches.?- The. Huns have had any amount of "spiritual encouragement" from their literary men. But it is very doubtful whether their soldiers at the front have fought any the better for' it. And it is tho fighting at the front, not the scribbling at home, which really counts. As a matter of faot, few great poems are written during the actual progress of a war. It is only after a war is over that, literature comes into play. Mon-. ster shells will do more good against the enemy than all tlie mental hysteria which can be "worked up" in our soldiers by perusing an "Ode to Victory" Iby Mr. So-and-50,.. -0r... a . "Hymn ionHowitzers"'"by" Mr. SucK-and-'Sucli." One 1 fighting man just now is worth a round dozen, of poets—unless, of course/ these latter are themselves in the trenches.

A Mutual Admiration Society. It is amusing to notice the persistent log-rolling which, goes oil in' connection with, the literary prophets of what is called the Celtic Renaissance. It used to be Mr. W. B. Yeats who was hailed as a poet, by whose side Milton, Shelley, Keats, and other mere Saxons are but pale and ineffectual 'lights. Then it was the turn of "A.E." (George Russell), and later on, again, of Syngo and Padraic Colum. Now there appears to bo a well-organised chorus of laudation. of which Janies Stephens is. the object. In "T.P.'s Weekly," for instance, Katharine Tynan, who herself writes good poetry at times, but who is better known by her highly sentimental novels, has three columns of empty gush about James Stephens, who is styled "An Irish Puck," and hailed apparently as the equal of the incomparable Francis Thompson. Personally, I have greatly onjoyed Stephens's quaint and whimsically humorous stories, especially that inimitable fantasy "The Crock of Gold." But as a poet, lie seems, to me at least, to be in no wise out of tlio ordinary, and this excessive praiso of his work in .which so many of his fellow Irish writers indulge is hardly justified. A.E.'s beautiful poems, on.the other hand, have never : been half so well appreciated by English readers as their lino quality deserves. Sir Arthur Quiller Couch,.it is true, prints two of Russell's poems, "By the .Margin of the Great' Deep" (one of the most exquisite things ever written, in the' English language), and the Kcats-like verses entitled "The, Great Breath," / in his "Oxford Book of English Verse." But "A.E.'s" verses in collected,form have not been published,', .'and. the separate volumes of his privately-printed verses are almost unprocurable. ' Yeats, too, is not half so . well known -to English readers as ho ought to be, and yet, in the "Wind Among the Reeds" and other verses, he has written true poetry, poetry of a rare and witching beauty. Both "A.E." and Yeats are immeasurably the superiors of Stephens.-

"Erewhon Butler. An article of no small interest to New- Zealanders appears in the August issue of "The Bookman" (Hoddcr and Stoughton). This is Mr. Georgo Sampsou's appreciation of the works of. that once sadly-neglected gonius, Samuel Butler, tlio author of "Erowhon." • Butler, it may be remembered, spent sometime sheep-farming in Canterbury. A philosopher, a wit, a' line classical scholar and commentator, an authority on evolution, a satirist, Butler was a wonderfully many-sided man. For many years the only work by which liis namo was known was liis "Erewhon," which a select few bailed as being equal to Swift's famous, satirical romanco "Gulliver's Travels." Nowadays, however, there is a distinct Butler revival or boom. A complete edition of his works, at' moderate prices, has been published by Eilields, and readers who only knew him by his "Erewhon" are discovering what a singularly versatilo and interesting man its author was. The best of Butler is, I think, to bo found in "Erewhon," in his novel, "'The Way of All Flesh," in "The Fair Haven—An Irony," in a charming book of:ltalian novel sketches, "Alps and .Sanctuaries;" and in "The Noto Books of Samuel But'ler," the latter a rich store-house of curious wit, wisdom, and biting satire. New Zealanders, of course, will like to havo his earliestwork, "A First Year in tlio Canterbury Settlement and Other Early Essays." Mr. Sampson's article is illustrated by reproductions of some of Butler's drawings and water-colours.

Bolsgotißy's Detcotive Stories. More than once in these columns I have referred to the clever detective stories of the two French novelists, Gaboria" and Boisgobey, which were so popular, both in the original French and in a series of English translations,

published by the how defunct firm of rtzottelly, in tho eighties and ninoties of tlio last century. Viaotelly's editions havo long been out of print, and 1 am glad, therefore, to read that a Loudon publisher is ''seriously contemplating issuing a complete now edition of Boisgchey.". As is well known, tho lato Andrew Lang was a great admirer of tho Lecocq stories, and in a very pleasant "Ballade" coupled tho names of Miss Braddon and Gaboriau as writers of stories specially suitable for railway reading. It would appear from a letter recently published in "Tho Author" that Lang took a keen delight in lurid novels of the detective school. Tho "Author's" correspondent; Mrs. W. E. Henley, widow of the poet, has sent that journal a copy of, a triolet written by Lang on a postcard, addressed to her husband. It is entitled "A Chortle," and reads as follows: — IVo novels of Boisgobey'c Are coining out next week! A pleasant place the globe is, "Two" novels of Boisgobey's! Their cunning plot to probe is The very thing I seek, ' Two novels of Boisgobey's Are coming out next week. Thoro can bo little doubt that Conan Doyle and other writers of criminal mystery stories owed much in tho way of suggestion to tho weirdly fascinating yarns in which M. Lecocq, tho famous French detective, figured so prominently. and as a new generation of readers has sprung up since they were first published in English translations, tho projected new edition" should havo a great success. . Francois Villon in. Fiction. Justin Huntly M'Carthy's latest novel, "Pretty Maids All in a Row," has tor. subject tho story of Francois Villon's tragic and fantastic youth. Mr. M'Cart'hy has once before taken "our sad, bad, mad, glad brother," as Swinburne once stryled Villon, for a' hero, in a:novel entitled."lf I Were King," from which, if I remember rightly, a very successful play was taken. But for. tho real Villon, who was, I am afraid, although in the first rank of the earlier French poets, a sorry and : sordid rascal, we must go to Stevenson's well-known essay, or to John Payne's translation of that terrible piece of realism, tho "Ballade of La Grosse Margot," Villon himself.

Some' Forthcoming Novels. Mothuen's Autumn List of forthcoming novels, headed by Mr. W.~ G. Wells's "Bealby" (which has already appeared), contains some interesting items, including new stories by Pett Ridge, Joseph Conrad, Anthony Hope, Arnold Bennett, G. A.-Birmingham (Canon Hannay), E. Phillips Oppenheim, Marjorie Bowen, H. C. Bailey, and other popular writers. "One never goes wrong with 1 a liethuen novel," said a hardened fiction-reader to me tho other day whilst browsing in a local bookshop, and ho is right. E. V. Lucas in a Cheap Edition. Admirers of the pleasant novels and essays and cleverly compiled anthologies for which Mr. E. V. Lucas has been responsible will be glad to know that;the various volumes of the fiveshilling edition are to be reissued at half-a-crowu net; that is (New Zealand f>rice),' at three shillings. Those who, like, myself, have delayed purchasing Mr. Lucas's latest story until it should appear in the smaller size in which its predecessors, "Over Bemerton's," "Listener's Lure," etc., were issued, aro reminded that "Landmarks" will now bo obtainable in the handier arid) more tasteful form.

Stray Leaves. The late Maarten Maartens, the Dutch novelist, whose death was recently reported, and whose "God's .Fool". and "The Sin of . Joost' 1 Avelihgh" achieved a certain popularity with English readers, was a member of the Authors' Club in New York, having been elected an honorary member of that institution as far back as 1895. Tho story goes that when tho name of J. M. M. Van der Poortch Schwartz— that being the real name of the Dutch novelist—was brought up for election.a big gasp of amazement went iouild the club. The late "Bill Nye," the once .well-known American humorist, solemnly suggested, that the Membership Committee "vote on tho first part of .the name at once, but hold over tho last half until the autumn, when- the weather would be cooler." Maurice Hewlett's new story, "The Little Iliad," introduces Helen of Troy a-s living again in the twentieth century and married to a ferocious German! "These Twain," tho third novel of the Arnold Bennett trilogy, which began with, "Clayhanger," is announced . for publication in America next month. So far, howover,, the. date of the English edition's appearance has not been made public. The "Lifo and Letters of John Hcnniker Hcaton," tho Australian, who be-, came , a member of the' House of Commons, making a specialty of postal reforms, is to bo published by Mr. John Lane. Will evor there como an end to tho making of books about Napoleon? Despite the war ther9 have been of lato several additions to tho already colossal bulk of "Napoleonana," Mr. Norwood Young's work on the St. Helena period being the most important. Now I seo >vo are to have yet another book dealing -with- Bonaparte's captivity on the lonely Atlantic isle. This is a. volume of "Letters of Captain Engelheart Lutyens, Orderly Officer at Longwood, St. Helena, ' February, 1820-November, 1893."'. Tho letters have been edited, from tlitf originals,, in the British Museum,' by Sir Loes Knowles.

Mr. Frank Fox, formerly of Sydney, but who went to England a few years ago, and has bccomo' prominent in English journalism, has written a book on "Tho Balkan Peninsula" for Black's well-known "Colour Books" series. Mr. Fox acted as correspondent for a leadin" London newspaper during the First and Second Balkan Wars, and is regarded as a reliable authority on Balkan questions generally. Tho series of- articles entitled "Germania Contra Munduin," which Lord Cromer has recently contributed to London "Spectator," are to ho published in pamphlet form at the moderate prico of threepence'. The case not only of Great Britain and her Allies,' but of tho whole civilised world, against Germany's ambitions, plots, and crimes, has nowhere been more forcibly stated than in these articles by Lord Cromer.

Among other good features in tlio Sep-t-ember issue of "Tlio British Review", (Williams and Norgato) are articles by' H. J. Jennings, "Europe's War Bill";' "The Belgian Claim to Luxembourg," by, Demetrius Boulger; "The Balkans and tli© War," by Crawford Price and A. H. E. Taylor ; "Tlio War in France" (with special reference to life in tlio conquered provinces), by Paul Parcy. The art supplement this month is an interesting reproduction of a hitherto unpublished chalk drawing by Velasquez.

Oiio can always count upon some good reading in that. old favourite "Chambers's Journal," and .'tho Septomber issue is 110 exception. Amongst the most interesting features are Mr. Vipond's description of tlio part played in military surgery by the X-rays, and a plea for a belter trade understanding with Russia, There is a liberal supply of good fiction, and of tlioso usefully and yet agreeably informative articles which, havo long lieen a specialty of this oxcellont periodical.