BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 208, 28 May 1921, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(Bi

Liber.)

a triton a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a booh he can read; 'And his home is bright with a calm delight Though tHe room be poor indeed..

—James Thomson.

BOOKS OF THE DAY ®#me Essays by Joseph Conrad. “Notes on Life and Letters” (J. M. Dent and Sons; per Whitcoinbe and Tombs) is a, volume of essays by that now famous novelist, the Anglicised Pole, Joseph Conrad. Here, as the author says in Jiis preface, we find “Conrad literary, Conrad political, Conrad reminiscent, Conrad controversial.” 'Die essays Hover reflect, however, so the author is Careful to toll us, "n. Conrad in dressing gown and slippers,” for everything he has here written lias been written—especially those articles which deal with political and' social subjects—with all that meticulous care for the preservation of an artistic unity which' is to be remarked in liin novels. The book is as near, he says, as I shall ever come to deshabille .in public, and perhaps it will do something to help towards a better vision of the man. if it gives no more than a partial riow of a piece of his back, a little dusty fatter the process cf tidying up), a, little bowed, and receding from the world not because of. weariness or misanthropy, butfor other reasons that, cannot be helped, because the leaves fall, the water flows, the.' clock ticks with that’ horrid, pitiless solemnity which you must hav.e observed in the ticking of the hall clock at home.

In a word, Conrad is growing older, and knows ami admits the fact, but there is here at least no sign of any decreased mental virility, or fading literary ardour. On the contrary, the book *s' as brim full of at tunes almost fiery earnestness as it is of transparent sincerity.. Dy all Conrad admirers it deserves, and will bo accorded, a place, of honour alongside that fascinating .“Personal liecord” in which, a few years ago, tho author gave us so many interesting transcripts from that full autobiography which has yet to come. The book is in two sections. In the first arc essays on the work of fellow novelists, such as Henry James, Guy do Maupassant, Anatole Franco, and tho Russian, Turgenev, essays, full «f shrewd and intimate touches, of brilliant critical analysis and friendly appreciation. With these are a few essays on subjects of general literary interest, one, in particular, simply entitled “Books,” in which is to be found an eloquently worded appreciation of the nobility and lasting value of good and true literature. In the second section are reprinted various articles which appeared during the war period. Amongst, these., “A Note on the Polish Problem” and “Poland Revisited” aro .just .now of a very timely interest.. There are here republished, also, the vigorously written articles in which, in various English journals, the author, speaking from tho efendpoint of his old career in the British merchant service, discussed ...with such frank., and. honest indignation certain aspects of the Titanic disaster. In one of these articles the. author expresses a supreme contempt for, and dislike of, the monster ocean liners, and pleads for more manageablytsizod vessels which ehall be honestly seaworthy, as against “mere masses of material gorgeously furnished ami upholstered.” A safe ship as against, an unwieldy “floating hotel. Tho book is one which all who possess collections, of tho novelist’s works will be only tco glad to place on . their shah es, for it brings a very remarkable man and his thoughts, much nearer to us. And of all those hooks which show tho. working of' the individual soul—especially a -courageous and vigorous soul-are the best worthy of preservation. Among such books, this, With all its necessary limitations, is clearly to be ranked.

The Fair Land of Provence. In the spring <ff. 1914 Mr. Archibald Marshall, the English novelist, made a walking tour through the lair land of Provence. In a handsomely-produced volume, "A Spring Walk in Provence (W. Collins, Son, and Co.; per Whitcombs' and Tombs), Mr. Marshall gives a very charroiug 1 account of pi overt a delightful experience. The tour, which commenced at. the quaint old town of Sorpel, on the hills to the back ot Mentone, embraced visits to Grasse, 60 celebrated for its flower cultivation and perfume manufacture; Draguignan, and Saint Maximin; Aix, which has been called “The French Athens' ; the picturesque old city of Les Bqux with its romantic memories of good King .Rene and the troubadours; and the historically famous Avignon, home so long of the Popes, with its ruined, but still beautiful Bridge of St. Benozet, familiar to all who know tho famous lines beginning

Stir to Pont d’Avignon, L’on y danse. l’on y danse, Snr le Pont d'Avignon, L’on y danse on rond.

From Avignon, the knapsack-shoulder-ing tourist went south, through picturesque old Tarascon (home .of Alphonse Baudot’s humorous cr'eatipn, Jo brav’ . Tartarin), to the ancient Roman city of Arles, with its white coiffed women, famed throughout Franco for their grave statuesque beauty; to the two half-dead towns in tho Rhone delta, and Les SaintesMaries and Aigues Mortes, and thence .northwards up io Nitncs, with its superb Roman fountains and terraces, and that marvellous aqueduct, the Pont do Gard. Mr. Marshall gives p. most fascinating account of tho beauties of these old Provencal cities and towns, and is warm in praise of tho unfailing good nature and courtesy of the people. The author dwells, perhaps, a little too long on the historical and archaeological associations and features of the various cities. His. book would have been the better for the introduction of more of that verv human, interest which attaches to Mr. Belloc’s “Path to Romo.” or the delightful "Tattle Tour in France” which tho American novelist, the late Henry James, wrote now many years ago. But Mr. Marshall interpolates not a" few conversations with kindly peasants and gossiping Innkeepers whom Im met during his pleasant wanderings, and his narrative is written in so frank and modest, and essentially friendly a style, as io make it very fascinating'to those who. like “Libor.”'take delight in travel scones—even when studied from an. armchair. The numwouM illustrations from photographs by the author agreeably enhance tho interest of the nil era live. A Nev/ Zealand War Book.

A. valuable and welcome, addition to the records of New Zealand’s share in tho Great War comes from Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch, in a handsomely produced volume entitled “Tho History of the Canterbury Regiment, N.Z.E.F.. 1914-1919.” The author, Captain David Ferguson. ALL. (late of the 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment) admits that liis work "consists mainly of a' compilation of tho War Diaries of 1-he service battalions of the regiment, and doos not pretend to give a vivid picture of the lighting.in which those battalions took part.” Of specially notable incidents demanding more detailed descriptions he asks members of tho regiment to supply him with individual accounts, material being thus provided for a. more extended history of tho regiment, to lie published later. Meanwhile. Captain Ferguson’s hook is of considerable historical interest. First in given a clearly written and nio-’t interesting account of tho formation of the regiment, its training in the Dominion and in 'Egypt. Next follows the story of tho fighting on the Suez Canal, tho fwploils of tho regiment at Gallipoli, the account of tho Capo Holies engagement being specially full of dramatic interest; ° and a description of tho famous fivneuation. Trench, warfaro'at Armen-

tieres, the .Battle, of the Somme, the .Buttle of Messines are then described, descriptions of the fighting at Passchendao'.e and iu the Polygon Wood, leading up to the German offensive of 1918, the Battles of Bapaume and Cambrai, tho Hindenburg Line, I.e Cateau, arm the Selle/with what was to he. for tire regiment, the final struggle on the Sambre, the final chapter describing _ the march to Germany and garrison duly in Cologne. Although primarily a purely military record, the story is full of descriptions of dramatic, and even tragic . incidents and episodes, Captain Ferguson’s work thus appealing to the general render as well as to the student of the strictly strategical and military side of the subject. There is a specially fine account of the splendid gallantry displayed by the Canterbury men in September. 191 G, when Captain Starnes won his V.C. for the spirited leadership and superb personal gallantry shown by, that officer at a time of grave peril to those under his command. How severe was the struggle on this occasion may be seen by the fact that during the brief period of twenty-three days tho two Canterbury battalions engaged lost 44 officers and 1188 of other ranks, of whom 17 officers and 178 men wore killed. Captain Ferguson’s description of the many eventful fights in which the regiment took part, is <i model of concise and clear narrative, and the value of his carefully compiled record is greatly enhanced by the long series of mans and diagrams which are distributed through the pages of his work. There are also many interesting portrait groups. Greater care might have been displayed, in the placing of the illustrations. For .instance, in (4ie middle of the author’s account of the famous landing at Gallipoli is to be found a portrait group of officers, taken at Setques, just prior to the Battle of Messines, in 1917. The appendices include lists of locations of the battalions during various periods, on "Honours and Awards List.” and a list of those killed in action. The book is exceptionally well printed and very suitably Imund in the regimental colours. Bolshevism Once Again. New books on Bolshevism and the Lenin-Trotsky regime in Russia seem to bo published every week. The very latest account of Russian conditions under “Red” rule is Mr. Arthur Ransome’s "Tho Crisis in Russia” (London, Allen and Unwin Ltd.). Mr. Ransome is an English journalist of pronounced radical, and, I should imagine, Socialistic, sympathies. He had already, in his book “Six Weeks in Russia in 1919,” given an interesting account of the state of Petrograd in the first two months of 1919. He now present? a picture of Bolshevik Russia as he found it only a few months ago. It is a dismal and depressing description he gives of the conditions under which the great mews of the Russian people now exist —to s.qy they "live,” as we understand the term living, would be a lamentable traversty of tho truth. Apologist for apd thinly-veiled champion of the Communist rule though he is. Mr. Ransome is honest enough to admit that tho position of affairs in Russia, so far as the "living” conditions of the people arc concerned, is deplorable. Ho has some hope of improvement, but he is far from optimistic. He blames the "Whites” and the Allies as much or more than he does tho members of tho Communist Star Chamber by which Russia has been dragooned into a state of apathetic and despairing acceptance of its rule, but he curiously ignores the fact that reform and improvement must come from within. He appeals for peace and a resumption of trade with tho Allies, in particular Great Britain, but he seems to blind his eyes to-the actual fact that tho Bolsheviks almost openly endeavour to stir up anti-British feeling throughout Asia, and that “trade” transactions without some guarantee of agreements being respected and bills honestly mot would be'altogether too one-sided u business for the British merchant or ■manufacturer to enter into. Mr. Ransome evidently went to Russia prepared and- even anxious to bless Communism and all it stands for in Russia. He is far from cursing it in this latest book of his, but reading between tho lines it is not difficult, to see he was equally far from blessing it, and that on the whole he was bitterly disappointed.

LIBER’S NOTE BOOK

A Book Reviewer’s Litany. From biographies of biographers of biographers of great men; from two volume novels; from German explanations of why the war was lost; from minor English poets exclaiming that war was horrid; from memoirs of people who have only a new anecdote about. Swinburne to show for their lives; from little Czecho-Slovakian and little Ruthonian and little White Russian masterpieces selected by high school teachers; from novelists who harpoon the divorce laws and the labour problem and race suicide and the tenement laws as subjects; from books written and to be written by baseball champions, welter-weight champions,- rowing champions, and chess champions; from first novels by writers who have read nothing but Conrad; from books of whimsical essays; from all future Opal Whiteleys and Daisy Ashfords; from all "big, gripping, virile, two-fisted” stories of the Great North Country; from all tho short and sim--plo Pollyannals of the poor; from all privately printed verse; from clever writers who let off 0. Henry firecrackers; from all the. stories that come out right after all; from English novels in which the hero takes two hundred and fifty pages to get through the public schools; from psychoanalytic explanations of why we take up golf; from translations of Danish and Spanish and Polish and Italian nonentities; from one-act plays which have not yet been produced; from juveniles dug up by literary scouts when the authors had carefully buried them; from all these, 0 Lord, deliver us!—Edwin H. Blanchard (in New York “Evening Post” “Literary Review”). A Romantic Historical Figure.

John Drinkwater, tho English poet, has followed up the big hit he made with his play founded on the life story of Abraham Lincoln by an historical drama, with Mary Queen of Scots as heroine. Mary might have been a success, says Drinkwater—a success as a ruler, I suppose he meai^i— had she found a Sir Philip Sydney. From this I. assume that both Diynley and Bothwell will fare badly at the poet-dramatist’s hands. Tho play was to be produced in New York—where “Abraham Linsoln” was a great success— early last month. I. wonder no one has ever dramatised Maurice Hewlett's fine story, “Tho Queen’s Quair,” which I remember reading years ago in the “Pall Mall Magazine," with some beautiful illustrations by the now-famous Scots etcher, D. Y. Cameron. The story wan republished in l»ok form. but. without Cameron’s wonderful drawings. It ought to bo reprinted, plus, of course, the illustrations. Apropos of Mary Queen of Sects, ;i famous London bookseller- fold "Liber" that if fifty volumes came out in one vcm' with either Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots, or Napoleon as chief figures, ho could sell hundreds of copies of each volume. These three pensonage.s are, he considered, the most, permanently popular -figures In. history.