LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Ghosts and "Ghostossos" in Fiction. ■ An English, lady, Miss Dorothy.'- Scarborough, ihae. recently written -a' book, "My -.(Jhoats," : in- wliioh. sue deals very- , cleverly with'. "The 'Supernatural in English Miction.-" Mies Scarborough traces the development o£ ghost, tales from such productions as "The Castlo of Otrunto" of Horace Walpole, lire. Kndcliffe's "The Mysteries •■ of Udolpho," Maturiu's "Melinotn" and "The Albigonsos," Clara Eeevo's "The Old English Baron," Matthew Gregory" Lewis's "The Monk," Mary Shollo/s "Frankenstein," and Beokford's "Vathek," to the■works of Hawthorne, Poe, Lytton, Dickens, It. L; Ste-renson; and-Brnm Stoker (whose "Dracula" is rightly singled out as "the most dreadful modern 6tory ot vampirism").- The pinchbeck diabolism of Mario Corelli's sorrowful Sntan is referred to; and comments offered on the stories of Lord Dunsauy and Messrs. H. G. Wells, Barry Pain, Theodore Dreiser, and Arthur Machen. A host of other writers' essays ia tho supernatural axe discussed; and Mlso Scarborough mentions that a bibliography which sho has compiled comprises over 3000 titles. A consideration-of some of the work of Ludvig Tieck, Theophile Gautier, Guy de Maupassant, Erckmann-Chatrian, Anatole France; Ibsen>. Antonio ]?ogazzaro, Gabrielo' d'Annunzio, Tureenev, andother writers who have influenced English romancists, is included. It is 'remarkable thnt there is no allusion to "A Christmas Carol," though loss notable ■works by Dickons are mentioned; and there might-have been a reference to Marryat's striking • tale" "The Phantom Ship." ■ The supernatural element is, I may add, frequent enough in latter-day fiction. Mr. AJgernon Blaokwood in his clever Mr; Olivor Onions in his 'Widdorshins/'. Mr. Somerset Maugham in "The Magician," and many other writers I could mention have proved that the supernatural can bo introduced in fiction in a singularly arresting and convincing manner. Our Dictators. , •".Politics mid: Personalities" I? the last of ii long series of volumes of essays and sketches, largely autobiographical, by. the Bight Hon. G. TV. E.. , ftussell, whose "Collections , nnd Recollections" by "One Who Kept a Diary,'* is such a rich mine of anecdotes,,about Victorian cololjritifs. Air. , .ttussell hits been called

"a modern Popys" on account of the shrewd penetrating sidelights ho throws upon (ho political events and social liiotory of his time. As an old-fashioned Liberal—indeed, I think ho ruthor likes to call himself u Whig—Mr. Kussoll is evidently concerned with the ever-increas-ing power ■ wliicli tlio war has given to bureaucracy, In a chapter entitled "Dictatorship," ho remarks:

"The war, in addition to other and more obvious mischiefs, gavo JJureaucraoy .mi Immciieu increase of etronp-th. E/orr week ecoa the cre«.tion of aomo fresh ofßcc, and o[ a staff employed In executing that ollice'H belicstß. . . . To-day the opproesed subject kno-«8 not ivhore to turn. If Mr. Podenap or Mr. Pcrkup issues an absurd decree, or if tho Minister for Turnip-Tops urpeß a course which tho Presidout of the Board of Conscription disallows, to whom nre wo to appeal? If General Sir fleorge Tufto. beinu 'the nompotont military iiutliority,' forbids Family Prayers, on the ground that they may involve seditious proceedings or binder the work of recruiting, can we invoke tho Cabinet, to defend our religious liberties? It is a dubious outlook for the Prime Minister is fully occupied in winnine the .war, and his Aaron and Hur have not made their fame by cnaiupiooing freedom."

Jn thoir original form, Mr. Ihwsell's boob of essays cost too much for tlio average Now Zealand book buyer. "Politics iintl Personalities," for instance, in published at 7s. lid. not, which means half a sovereign here. There is a cheap edition (Nelson's Library, 2 vols., at Is. 3d.) of "Collections arid l?fleollectione." but lDost of tho later books are onlyobtainable in tho original and highorpriced editions. This is a pity, for .mo and all mako excellent reading. Concerning "Saki." In November Inst there died, nt the front, a writer who must rank among the pioet brilliant of latter-duy English satirists. I refer to the late Lieutenant 11. 11. Munro, better known under his noui-de-plumo of "Saki." To yi<yo who read the "Westminster Gazette," "Saki" k a well-known name, for it was to' that journal that Munro contributed tho long series of humorous articles entitled "Tlio Chronicles of Clorie." Later on ho

wrote-"The Unbearable Bussington," and that weirdly comical hook, "When William Came," a peep into tho future, a future in which Groat Britain is annexed by Germany. Its somewhat sardonic humour displeased some critics, but delighted others. "Saki" was a warm advocate of compulsory military service, and pretended to see Britain defeated and tnnexed as a penalty for what JlO considered its unreadiness: It burst on us with calculated suddennpsß, and.we were just not enough, everywhere, where the pressure came. Our slaps were good against thoir ships, our seamen were better than their seamen, but our ships wero not ablfi to cope with their ships plus their superiority in aircraft. Our trained men were good again6t their trained men, but they could not bo 111 several places nt once, and tho enemy could. . . . Ono might liken. tho whole affair to a snap checkmate early in a Same of chess. . . .

"When William Come" was published, I may say, but a few months before tho war broke out. It is, however, as an ironically humorous commentator on English society that "Saki" was most successful. He had such an' inimitably dry way of putting things. One of his characters says of another of his charatcers that he looked "as if his clothes had been mado in Southwark rather than in anger." Of a certain young duke ho wrote that 'his socks compelled one'e attention without losing one's respect and his attitude in repose had just that suggestion of whistler's mother so becoming in the really young." Again, he introduces us to a woman who had married into a very wealthy family with the .remark:bophio Chattel-Monkheim was' a Socialist by conviction and a Chattel-Monk-heim by birth." Some of his conversations wero exceedingly droll. As thus:— "They say ono always -pays for the oxceeees of one's youth; mercifully that ieii't truo about one's clothes. My mother is thinking- of getting married." "Again I" "It's the first timo" ; "Of course, you ought to know. -I was under the impression that she'd been married once or twice at least." "Three times to ho mathematically exact. i meant it won the lirst time, sho'd thought about getting married; the other times she did it without thinking, Aβ a matter of fact, it's' I who am doing the thinking for her in this case. You ece, it's quite two years 8iu.60 her last husband died." "You ovidently think that brevity in the soul of -widowhood." *"The, New Statesman" of a recent date has a. long article on "Saki" and, his work, pointing out that a great part of his wit had a serious and even a melancholy eiue, ilo jokeil not as ono who thinks life is a joke, but as ono who thus half escapes from tho iiifluito contrariety and immutable sadnons or , things. He wrote even eatire ae though he were sorry for the people he satirised. Ilia wit was frequently hitter, but never eayage. '. It would semotimes puzzle you to toll whotlior lio wae laughing at you or grieving with you. It is for this reason -that nia humour, (for ho had mucli humour ae well as much wit-a vory different thing) passed so imperceptibly- inio pathos, even into horror, even iulo tragedy.

"Saki" was ovidently a writer of great and original talents. Alas, ho will no more delight us with tho keenness of his satire, the ironic coolness of his descriptions of life and lovo.

Stray Leaves.. ( . John Ayflcougli (Mpnsignor Bickorstau'e Drew), whose "Froiicb. Profiles" I consider one of tho best boots the war hixa produced, has returned to his old field of fiction. In his new story, "Jacqueline," Gorman espionage is a leading motif. Anything by tho author of that fino novel, "Marolz," is sure to bo well worth reading,- and I : notice that English reviews of .'Mr.'- Aysoough's latest effort'emphasiee the- distinction of style in which tho author has treated a now somewhat hackneyed subject.

Amongst forthcoming novels to bo published by Hodder and Stoughton are new stories by Phillips Opponhohn, J. E. Suckrose (of "Down Our Street" fame), F. E. Mills.Young, whoso South African novels are so popular; H. do Vero Stacpool); the New Zealand writer, "G. B. Lancaster".(Miss Lyttolton); Joan Sutherland, licr'tn Ruck (Mrs. Oliver Onions); also English editions of several novels by popular American writers, as George Barr M'Cutcheoii, Zano Giey, and Theodore Goodridgo Roberts.

Stephen Leacock's latest collection of humorous sketches is entitled "Frenzied Fiction." The continued success of his books is somewhat' astonishing, for after all there is nothing either specially original or 'brilliant in his later work, nothing, at least, much above tho ordinary, run of- humorous writing in. the English and American weeklies.'

Clover Stephen Gwyiiu has written a brief appreciation and criticism of Mrs. Humphrey Ward's novels. Incidentally iii> informs us that Mrs. Ward's fa-nuiii.-i novel, "Robert Etsmere," was lviiilv tho outcome of. a pamphlet, "Unbelief and Sin."—withdrawn within a few hours of. issue' because the Oxford bookseller's neglect to give the printer's name made its publication an illegal act. ln'thie pamphlet Mrs. Ward protested against au arraignment by Dr.: John Wordsworth, in a Bampton j Leoturc, of certain of her friends as linsettlers in religion. It was from the two types of character, named merely A and li, sketched in that pamphlet that tho novel developed in which Langham, Elsmore's sceptic squire, reflects tho exterior or intellectual lineaments of Mark Pattieon, R, L. Nottlcship, and Amiel (whoso "Journal" Mrs. Ward was meanwhilotniuslating), while Elsmere's monitor, Grey, actually speaks some published words of Professor T. H. Green. '■

Amongst tho English'magazines I have always hn'l a, .special weakness for the "Cornhill." . Woll do I remember enjoying 'therein tho long series of essays which Leslio Stephen contributed, under tho title "Hours in a Library," to the magaeine of which his famous father-in-law, Thackeray, was the first editor. It was to "Cornhill" also that.Stevenson contributed some ( of .the be.st of his essays. To-day, my old favourite- is still, liko a muoh-adyoriihud brand' of whisky, "going strong.". At present a leading attraction is Mrs. Humphrey Ward's "A Writer's Memoirs." In the April number Mi' 6. Ward records her reminiscences, of John Richard Green, Freemen, and' Bishop Stubbs, tlirco of the gr«vt Victorian historians, also' the Creightons, Ernest Boiian; and many others. When reprinted in volume form Airs. Ward's reininisconcos will constitute a very valuable contribution to tho history of Victorian literature.

Dickens was in the habit of taking most of tho names for his cluiracters from tho London Directory, which did not prevent a good many worthy but foolish people from declaring that "no such extraordinary names could be found in tml life," or words to that effect. I am -reminded of this when I see announced in Messrs. Allen Unwin's spring

list a lwok on "Bernard Shaw and his Work," by ono Herbert Skimpole. ,It was under the name of Harold Skimpold, so readers of "Bleak Houso" may remember, that Dickens drew a ratluer oruel caricature portrait of Loigh Hunt. Lawronco Buvthorn, in the siiuie ston% owed not a little, so Dickons once admitted to his friend and biographer, John Forstor, to W"ltor Ravage. Landor.

"The- Times" roviiew of the third volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "History of tho British Campaign in Franco and Flanders" is not very complimentary. Allowances 'being made for tho part played by the censor—or censors—in the rovision of the work in its manuscript form, lh» author seems to have failed in conveying a coherent picture of tho Sommo, lighting. The truth is, no doubt, that all attempts to write war history whilst tho war is still in progress nmst be more or less unsatisfactory. Talk of writing under difficulties! Tho Century Company announces that Helen. Ellsworth, the author of "The Blue Jays in thfi Sierras," wrote some chapters with a baby cradled in one arm. Instead of walking the floor .vith the infant, author-fathers might heroufter try

putting tho youngster to sleep by dictating a few iiiiges.. Most of Algernon Blackwooil's stories relectl.hu author's interest in the supernatural. The underlying, idea of his l»test novel, "The Promise of .Air," is ■that wo should fake ]if o lu !jj r; | s ) a ] (o ilio air, ami so develop a common consciousness. A second novel, to be published very shortly, is entitled "The harden of Survival." It .leuls with a soldier's search after influenced »y his dead wife from another world, and ending wilh his complete, spiritual reunion with her.

, Messrs. Collins and Co., a firm which. lormorJy specialising in educational nooks and cheap reprints, luivo now launched fprth as general publishers, make some interesting announcements in their spring list. There is a now novel, "Fop; Farrell," by "Q." (Sir Arthur Qnillcr Conch), and a new story, God's Counterpart," by that clever writer, J. D. ISerosford, whoso "Jacob Stahl' trilogy was such a fine- achievement. Other writers represented in tho list aro Olivo Garnet ("In Rnssin's Night"), Mrs. Alfred Sidgwiek ("Karen"), MarjoriD Bowen ("The Burning Glass"), and Richard lo Gallienno ("Pieces of Hight"). This last title recalls memories of "Treasure Island" and of our old friend, John Silver. , Other books are-.—"A Novelist on Novels," by AV. G. George, and a now book of essa-ye, "Cities, Sea Coasts, and Islands, ,, , 'by Arthur Syrnons. ■ The splendidly strong and chivalrous noto which has distinguished the work of so many young English soldier-poets lias attracted attention on the Continent. A Danish litterateur, Valdemar Rordan, himself a poet, has translated many: of the poems written by French, Russian, and English soldiers. Rupert Brooke, Julian Gronfcll, R. E. Vernede, Robert .Nuhols, and R. W. Harvey, author of A Gloucestershire Lad," are represented amongst the Englishnien. The Napoleonic period possessed no more romantio figure than that o.f Marshal Mural, one of tho most dasliing of all Bonaparte's commanders. Mr. A. H. Hilliard Atteridgo has written nn ad-mirably-told story of Murafs Militant career, for "Nelson's Library" (English price Is. 6d.). To the samo series has been added a cheap edition of Mr. Herbert Paul's concise 'and interesting biographical study of William Ewnrt;Glad-sto-ne. ■ :

Personally, I find Zan'e Grey'a Wild West stories a trifle too lurid for my taste, but the American novelist, has, I know, a host of admirers in this country. Two of her best known stories, Itidors of the Purple' Sage" and "Tho Iwinb'jw Trail/' are being reproduced as kinema plays.