LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 19

LITERARY NOTES

books And authors

The works-of-Shakespeare are being translated into- Chinese'for, it is repTted, the first time. 'The-'three translators are turning: the :Ehglish into Chinese prose which will later be rendered into verse. ■ A tract entitled, "A Proposal for Putting Eeform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom," written anonymously by Shelley in 1817 as "The Hermit of Marlow," has been sold in London for £650. A '.'.Critical Bibliography.. <>t . Katherine Mansfield,", by Mias Ruth E. Mantz, is to be publisied by Messrs. Constable in a limited edition, Mr. J. Middleton Murry is contributing.'an:introductory note. ; ~'./, '". ■. • ■■■■ . , '■/ Sailors prefer Conrad's novels, accord-, ing to the president of the American Merchant Marine. Library Association, which last year circulated more than 331,000 volumes-among 1782 ships and lighthouses. Non-fiction books, including .history,:-travel,' and poetry, were also popular,. ■Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, whose new book, "THe Sophisticates," recently appeared, is a great grand-niece o£ Benjamin Franklin," tho great eighteenthcentury American statesman; She was born in - San Francisco, and still lives there. Since 1892, when! her first effort, "The pooms-woman," appeared, she' has-published between thirty and forty'bookst ■•'■■■■;. ; i.- : . ;... :;f :- •■ Mr. -Edmund.Selous'ias a new book on bird life, bringing together.evidence to the-effect that birds possess an extra sense which, for want of a bettor term, he calls "thougftt transference."'. T4i« book, which is based on the author's field observations over many years, is entitled,'."Thought .Transference "(or What!). In .Birds." ' . ' - Miss-Alice Buchan, who has written a' first novel, is a daughter of- Colonel John Buchan. Thus there ■ are now three literary' members of this family, the third being Colonel Buelian'ssiste*; -who has written; many ..|>6pular books under the pen-name -of -"O, Douglas." Colonel Buehan-'sMatest j*:ca3llea .'-'The Blanket- of the iDai'k," /an.;-historical b'ovel which ha'S-just' been published;.'•" A ..Saintsbury! Club,, is being" -formed by Mri J.. C.'" Squire, M. Andre Simon, arid others in honour ,' of. ;Dr., George S,aintsb.ury., th^.-.rajin^iiVcTiiip^^ajid scKolar.,".One of ifs Ejects is "to' hon r o"ur,"'the;.;na'iti& arid york of.'; ;George Saintibjiry .by bringing together; men whose love of wine'and letters is lie »nd Kticnlate.". Another is' "to publhhroceksional'-volumes bearing upon the allied subjects of-wine';ted litstature./'_.. ~.^..., ..'., ......,..„ ~,-......,,.. .v.v. A.book that; promises to be the. liveliest biogrg^hj; of the season is "Bernard Shaw," by i^ank Harris, which is described .as;."aii ; .unauthorised-. ...biography ; based on volußtajily. supplied aocuments." "X intend,f; writes-Karris, u to-tell.the .truth about Shaw .and.Ms work,' and nothing but thp truth as I nee .it., i I; jdon?t; see. why :I should, : pat hlm.on, the .-.back now. I did jhat before: most! of] his .preßent sycophants ;wQV.e born, and.at times -\y,hen.he,really needed it. .He doesn't it atall now." . ,', ■'':-.■(...- ■ ■';-.-■>• •';■:: .'■.-/HerF-> G-ustav-Jfreussen,. who has..jus"f p.ublisHed•,a^aew book culled "The Pagtor jOf-jPoggsee^' ■■, is";one: ojf Germany's most-, popular.. authors., He w.ag. born in 1864 in! Holstein,: his father being a'village carpenter. His parents made ■great sacrifices to, haye him well ,educa;te.dV.and,.f6r 11 years he was, pastor *if '■s■'■• country, parish. , But .at, the age oi"-?5he ; resigned and .went-to- live near ■ ilkmburg.'.-. and . started :to write fiction. During the war he returned, to Holstein, and now. lives in the thatched cottage where ;ho was born; ; '~' . In lMSTthe .Braille Library of Manchester, which supplies music and literature fdr..the. blind' of six northern counties, possessed 7000 volumes. This year the total "has risen to 87,000, and the library dova not know where to put all the books. •, The size of the books is one of the gre!«,?ost problems, and to house" them all tho lft>:ary is in urgent need of funds. More voluntary, workers are also heeded to translate new books into Braille before the remainder of.the work can be done by the blind themselves. -"'.'• ; ■-.'.. ; . .; . Last December, remarks a. writer in "John o' London's Weekly," I drew attention to a Dutch "best seller," Mrs. Ina BOtfdier-Bakker's novel, "The Knock at the Door" (De Klbp op de Deur). Further details suppliodto roe by is statistically^inelined correspondent indicate that the book is still selling like hot cakes. For over a year copies; have been turned out as fast as the presses could print thorn. Over 90,000 hay already" been sold —an extraordinary .total for a country like Holland—and new impressions are still called for. "Dutch-books aro usually printed on heavy paper," says my corrospondent,"and fifty tons have already, been used on this novel. If all the copies published were set in a row it would take a man over half an hour to .walk along it. The book is 1000 pages long, and four tons of special type were cast to print it." Drl P..H. Bitter, one of Holland's '■." foremost critics, is writing a biography of Mrs. Boudier-Bakker.,