GIVE US CLEAN BOOKS.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 May 1929, Page 7

GIVE US CLEAN BOOKS.

“ What js evident is that there are far too many waiters to-day who mistake decadence for, strength and salacity for wit ;■ ; mo}'ital unfaithfulness for example, is not in itself as so novelists assumeeither interesting inevitable or meritorious. Give us something that shall enable up to live .our lives more kindly,, more serenely, more bravely! Never,,were the chances, before literature., grater than they are to-day. The reading public is not only vast, but is wearying of the book, which is usual just because it strains to be unusual;the palate becomes jaded with sensations; , the dose has continually to be increased to have any effect at all, a process that has limits which there are indications are now nearly reached. Our clean and simple writers, our sincere and manly writers—is it .not in truth to these that minds turn with relief? What are the books that have helped and cheered us? It-js significant ctf the trend of modern literature that to answer the question we have immediately to think of thq' books of an earlier day.”—Lord Gorell, author and publisher, in the “ Daily Chronicle.” .