SUPERFLUOUS BOOKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17693, 2 August 1919, Page 2

SUPERFLUOUS BOOKS.

A MISUSE OF PAPER AND INK. By Constant Reader. Tho publisher's puff on the wrapper of " A New Heaven, by the Hon. George Warren Russell, states: "Mr Russell is the New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs and Public Health, and is one of the bestknown publio men of the dominion." This is precisely the reason why Mr Russell would have best consulted his own interests and the interests of the people of New Zealand had he refrained from rushing into print with a conception of the future state so ill-ooosidered and absurd. From its dedication to the relatives of the men who have fallen at the front, the book is obvi ously intended as a serious effort; yet it is impossible to treat it with any degree of seriousness. What can be said for a conception of heaven where the Scotsman wears the kilts and plays the pipes; where the Maori dances tho haka; where the " taciturn English" stamped and cheered while the orchestra played "He girl i" left behind me," and where "a pandemonium was created amongst the Irish when the orchestra burst forth with the ' Dear little shamrock'?" In Mr Russell's heaven there are newspapers and reporters, and even " the übiquitous photographer" is busily taking snapshots. Men like Livingstone lecture, and "Bobs" and "Kitchener" deJivwa patriotic addresses while the soldiers who have " gone west" stand to attention. It is needless to dwell at greater length upon this burlesque of a sphere which .the averago man is accustomed to regard with a degree of reverence, and the publication of this book is certain to cover the author with ridicule. Its price is prohibitive, _ however, and out of all proportion to its value, bo that the circulation of "A New Heaven" is not likely to be a large one. Scarccly less superfluous than Mr Russell's "A New Heaven" is a brochure, entitled "The Truth About the Black Book," by Mr G SI" ""-idan Jones. Using the Pembertoa-Bf2r>ff sensation as a peg upon which to b-ng his book, Mr Jones, who tloes not seeni to have any special qualification for the task, has compiled from -prions sources % t-anshcr of statements Ermine the existence of vicious practices and vioious literature in certain oircles m Germ iy. In large part the book is a_ repetition of the, charges made in a previous -pamphlet of the same sort, "T>pgenerat© Gen-mny" j and it cannot be gainsaid that tho abominations and evil practices thrown i 1 dovrn do actnalhr place. The lack \T proportion in this Jass of literature may be tested by oomp&rteon with an autharrHtivo work suoh as Mr

Abraham Flexner's " Prostitution in Europe. * Students of that work well know that vice in its manifold forms flourishes in every country on the Continent of and that th.e things which Messrs ■txalsalle, Jones, and Company describe- as peculiar to Germany are common to all the Continental nations. One glaring case may pe cited of Mr Jones's method of strainer®' * in order to prove his case. He singles out the work of Frank WedeKind the Berlin playwright, as an example oi the infamy of German dramatic literati®- One of the most reliable books in Ihe Modern Drama" is that of Mr L. L-ewisohn, who says of Wedekind that "the atmosphere of scandal that for a time surrounded his name is quite misleading. His problems are, to be sure, exclusively erotio. But the corrupt mind that goes to him tor sensual allurement will be curiously disappointed. Mr Jones singles out for scathing . condemnation Wedekind's masterpiece and much-discussed play, '• Spring's Awakening." Of that play Mr Ashley « tvt s Ba y s ln his " Modern Dramatists": Jno one can quarrel with this choice, fohe has treated _it with rare delicacy and beauty. Wedekind is at his greatest here, Because he is most in earnest and most courageous. The play is an indictmpnt of the whole present upbringing of children; yet it has the force not of a. pamphlet, but of a work of art." It is difficult to understand after a perusal of this book how men of the standing of the Dean of Durham and Sir Gilbert Parker were able w give it their commendation. Regarded from any and every point of view, it is certainly a superfluous book.