BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16487, 28 February 1914, Page 8

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

THE TAINTED NOVEL. A PROBLEM FOR READERS. The problem, of tho tainted novel is not going to be solved by police prosecutions. That is a fact which will he realised by any person who has givdn a. moment’s thought to the issue raised by recent attempts to prevent the sales of tales with an over-de-veloped sex flavour. The policeman may succeed in punishing a few booksellers for distributing a particular book, but he himself is not. qualified to pronounce upon tho merits or demerits of a particular story. A good magistrate is not necessarily n capable literary eensox. Most important point of all, tho hook which is bold enough in expression to come within the law is actually less dangerous to the community than that which does its unpleasant work by subtler moans. A batch of books sent for review recently by a well-known publisher contamed one volume which very few parents would care to havo placed in the hands of the youths and maidens under their care. It was a- story in which sex ran riot and some of the most unpleasant features of tho unsightly side of city life were painted, in crude colours. The author claimed to have a mission to perform and may have boon sincere in making that claim. Yet bis book was much more likely to do harm than good in any quarter nnd was particularly dangerous because its character was not indicated in any way. The volume appeared among harmless tales of the usual sentimental order. Probably a police prosecution would have failed in its’case. There is a prominent American magazine. circulating widely in Australasia, which has been exploiting the sex novel extensively lately. The editors say they are helping the world along by throwing the cold light of truth cn essential facts, and in the case of some of their readers the plea may be valid. But undoubtedly that magazine's handling of sex problems under the guise of fiction is harmful as far as thousands of youthful readers are concerned. Vice is given glamour in its pages.

Is there a demand for tainted books? Undoubtedly there is, and it is a growing demand, tco. Women readers, the booksellers say, are more attracted hy them than men. Where is the remedy? ■The public must find it for itself. The book dealers exercise a rough censorship; since it is not in their interests to risk a collision- with the police or quarrel with offended customers. But they cannot be expected to read every book they sell or to refuse to meet a demand for the works of well-known authors whose works notoriously are close to the border-line of actual impropriety. There will be tainted fiction in the market as long as the publication of it is profitable. THE GOLDEN BOUGH. A GREAT WORK COMPLETED. Dr J. G. Frazer has just brought to a triumphant conclusion the third edition of his great work "The Golden Bough ” (Messrs Macmillan). “ It' must remain the great achievement of 1 The Golden Bough ’ to have resolutely collected and classified a vast mass of. apparently heterogeneous material, not in order to support the pretensions of some ono abstract explanation, some ‘ key to all mythologies.’ but rather so as to transmit a concrete impression of an epoch of the human mind, when the twilight and mists of morning shed looming shames and flickering half-lights about the path of our scarcely awakened rape,” says the " Atheni’eiiiii.” " If to-dav a saner outlook upon,the world prevails—if;the process,' symbolised by the story of the' ‘ Golden Bougli.’ of a mental life carried forward from strength to strength by ruthless elimination of the obsolete, ha* at length carried us forward into broad daylight—it -is because there hav© been in every age men of the stamp of Dr Frazer, who put moreinto the day’s work than is sufficient for the day. en that later generations are enriched bv" the increment.”

Dr Frazer’s progress through the dark ways of superstition towards the sunlight of truth is not yet complete, for he says. "I. -am hopeful tlfii.t T may not now he. taking a final leave of my indulgent readers, but that, as 1 an> sensible of little abatement in my bodily strength and of none in my ardour for study, they will bear with me yet a while if I should attempt to entertain them with fresh subjects of laughter and tears drawn from the comccly nnd the tragedy of man’s endless quest after happiness and truth.” In the last volume of the “Golden Bough,” that work of stupendous lore and compelling interest. Dr Frazer says:—"Our long voyage of discovery is over and oqr barque lias drooped -her weary sail in port at last. Once more we take the road to Nemi. It is evening, and a« we climb the long slop of the Appian Way up to (he Alban Kills, we look back and see the sky a-fiame with Sunset, its golden glory resting like the aureole of a .dying saint over Rome and touching with’a crest of fire the dome of lit Peter’s. We pursue our way darkling along tho mountain side till wo come to Nerni and look down on Ihe lake in its deep hollow; now fast disappearing in the evening shadows. The place has changed hut little since Diana received the homage of her worshippers in the sacred grove. The temple of the sylvan goddess, indeed, has vanished, and the King of the Wood no longer stands sentinel over tho Golden Bough. But Nemi’s woods are still green, and as the. sunset fades in the west there comes to us, home on the swell of tho wind, the sound of the church hells of Arricia ringing the Angelus. Ave Maria! Sweet and solemn they chime out from tho distant town and die lingeringly away across the wide Campagnan marshes. Lo roi ext mort, vive le roi! Avo Maria!”

" The dreams of magic.” adds Dr Fraser, ‘•‘may ono day be the waknig realities of science. But a dark shadow lies athwart the far end of this fair prospect. For, however vast the increase of knowledge and of power which the future may have in store for man, he can scarcely hope to stay the sweep of those great forces which seem to he making silently but relentlessly for the destruction of all this starry universe in which our earth swims as a speck or mote. Tn the ages to come man may be able to predict., perhaps even to control, the wayward courses of tlje winds and clouds, but hardly will nis puny hands have strength to speed afresh our slackening planet in its orbit or rekindle the dying fire of the sun.” ABOUT FICTION. “ Dickens and Mrs Humphry Ward are sufficient to explain to lis why the novel has become übiquitous.” writes Mr R. Scott-. Tames. “ As a story pure and simple it still holds its place, and retains the affection of tho ordinary man and.tlfe ordinary woman. As a form of art. also, it still holds its place, for from the time of Fielding it became evident that this limitless field • for tho treatment of human nature lent itself to the limitless vision of the artist; and in this respect modem English writers have learnt much from France. But just as the artist discovered that .ho could'so construct a tale as to make it a moans of imparting his vision of life, so also the moralist, the philosopher, the theologian, tho politician, and the social reformer seized upon the novo] as a means of teaching, informing, and per-

suading the many who were open to the appeal of fiction. The übiquity of tho novel to-day is evidence of tho growth of democracy. Modern authors no longer depend upon the patronage of the rich; they must seek the suffrages of the many, or starve upon the favour of a few. But it is precisely because the novel is the product of a popular art. or tho art which appeals to the ordinary man. that we inay be certain it is very far from having run ite course. Democracy is only in its infancy, and wo may therefore concludo that the most democrat io cl' the arts has a long and various future before it.” Fiction, as is usually the case, will be strongly represented in the world of books during the opening weeks of the spring publishing season (says the London “Nation”). Mr Hememann has nearly ready Mr William Dp, Morgan’s “ When Ghost moots Ghort.” From Messrs Met-heun we are to have Mr Conrad’s " Chance,” Mr O. K. Chesterton’s "The Flying Inn,” and "A Crooked Mile” hy Mr Oliver Onions. Messrs Hodder and Stoughton announce " Dodo the Second ” by Mr E. F. Benson and " The Making of a Bigot ” by Miss Rose Macaulay. Mr John Lane will publish Mr W. J. Locke’,-; " Tl\e Fortunate Youth.” Mr Fisher Unwin’s list includes “Westwavs” by the late Dr Weir. Mitchell, " Shepherd loss Sheep ” hy Miss Essex Smith, and Miss Maud Lcesou’s "Tho Marriage of Cecilia,” the latter a- first novel stated to he of quite exceptional promise. Finally. Messrs Smith, Elder and Company have in the press new novels by " Gcorgo Birmingham.” Mr S. G. To Hen tyro, and Miss Katherine Tynan, while Messrs Hutchinson will oublish "The Wisdom of Damans” by “ Lucas Mnlet.” and " Initiation ” by Monsignor Benson. THE REVIEWS. The February number of the "Review of Reviews” contains marry articles of special interest-. In " Can Radium Cure Cancer?” Dr Howard. A. Kelly, of John Hopkins University, tells what radium has done in conquering this fell disease, and what its limitations are. Possessed of a whole gram of the precious element—there ai'o only thirty-nine other trrams in the hands of scientists—Dr Kelly 'haa been able to carry out a series of vitally interesting experiments. The views of prominent writers are given on the Homo Rule question. A character, sketch gives some intimate particulars about the late Lord Strathcona. The serious condition of Federal Finance is the subject of an article in which the editor • points out that a deficit of £6,000.000 may he expected next year. The review contains many other good features.