Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 393, 29 June 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

A DAUGHTER OF SORROW

TN the introduction to “My Life,” ■*■ Isadore Duncan expresses the fear that “all the marvellous things that have happened to me may lose their savour because I do not possess the pen of a Cervantes or even of a Casanova.” She need not have worried about her memoirs lacking either poignancy or pungency. Women like Isadora Duncan and La Belle Otero (poles apart in art; sisters in temperament) leading the abnormal, hectic life of international stage celebrities are of necessity laws unto themselves so far as social codes and ethics go. Isadora Duncan, an extremely sensi-

tive and brilliant creative artist, lays bare her soul in this book. No sfumato effects are sought. It is as vivid a life-story, in its way, as Frank Harris’s world-startling volumes. Early experiences, poverty, determined efforts to win a footing, subterfuges, first successes—all a.re duly recorded and at last we travel with Isadora to Buda Pesth, where she first meets Love. A handsome Hungarian actor is the choice of Eros. Miss Duncan had always been an advocate of the right of single women to bear children, and she put her theories into practice, subsequently, by bringing three children into the world, each with a different father. Two of these children met with the most tragic death, the third died soon after hirtli. These deaths naturally left a melancholy imprint on a mother who, in the first place, had a tendency to be neurotic. Miss Duncan tells of her strivings to recapture the simplicity of the early Greeks, of her adventures with her eccentric brother in Athens, of her European triumphs, her European sorrows, her many lovers, and of D’Annunzio, the one man whom she refused to love because she disapproved of his conduct towards her friend Duse. D’Annunzio would weep: "Pourquoi ne peux-tu pas .n’aimer, Isadora?”, but the tears of genius availed him not. Across the screen move figures of world-wide interest— King Edward VII., Queen Alexandra, Ellen Terry, Frau Cosima Wagner, Charles Frohman, the Queen of Naples, Walter Damrosch, Cecile Sorel and a hundred more. New York, Paris, The Hague, Rome, Vienna, Constantinople, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Buenos Airefe ... all the great cities of the Old World pay their tribute. It is in every way a striking story, for Isadora Duncan was not only a great dancer and a great lover, but a deep thinker and a well-read woman. The life-story progresses only as far as the invitation of the Soviet Government to the disillusioned woman to visit Russia and found a school of dancing there. But we know that “the Duncan” went to Russia and was more disillusioned than ever; that she contracted a liaison with a young Russian poet who spoke no language that she could understand, and that she returned to the Riviera to meet death tragically. A remarkable book by a remarkable woman, who, for all her triumphs, can only be described as a Daughter of Sorrow. “My Life.” By Isadora Duncan. Victor Gollancz, Ltd., London. Our copy from the publishers. Calipash and Calipee The Barrier Reef which stretches the length of the Queensland coast plays its part in forming the mirrorlike Hinchinbrook Channel. It is a glorious hunting-ground for scientists and naturalists, and an unequalled pleasure resort for the tourist who loves sunshine, sea and waving palmfronds. Mr. Elliott Napier, who humorously describes himself as a Noologist and who possesses among other things a racy literary style, a sense for the mot juste and an aptitude in choosing telling'literary allusions, has interesting tales to tell us of the hundred and one curious things the Reef has to offer—muttonbiras, terns, gannets, crabs, clams, cockroaches, flying-fish and turtles linclud-

| ing a definition of those mysterious words, “calipash” and “calipee” which all lovers of turtle-soup should—and I never do —know). Strangely enough j Mr. Napier makes no mention of the dugong which is always associated with the Great Barrier Reef. However, he gives excellent measure and those who know Queensland will revel in the hook. Those who don’t will probably pester the shipping companies for quotations for the round trip. “On the Barrier Reef.” Cornstalk Publishing Company, Ltd. Our copy from Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney. “ Dynamite!” Herbert N. Casson takes the field again with one of his energetic books on how a business man or anybody else can overcome all the difficulties of life and be successful. At least, he gives ’good advice on the subject, even if he doesn’t actually lay bare the path. Really, if this man had lived in the Wild West, where the nick-name flourishes, he would be known as “Dynamite” Casson. He blows everybody and everything up; he says "Do It Now”: he attempts to show how such trifles as (1) lack of money, (2) lack of Opportunity, (3) competition, (4) oblivion —and so on, may be »vercome. He calls his latest book, “Getting Over Difficulties,” a guidebook, not a prayer-book, a stimulating book —and what not. But really the most interesting portions of it are those that are commonplace. There is quite a lot of good stuff in the book, but there is quite a lot of other stuff that leaves the reader dazed and dreadfully humbled to realise what a fool he has been all his life till “Dynamite” loomed over the horizon. He strikes an arrogant note of helpfulness. “Getting Over Difficulties.” Herbert N. Casson. Cornstalk Publishing Co. Our copy from Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney. Hans Heysen Of alb the Australian artists, if we except Mr. Norman Lindsay, the public is more familiar with the work of Mr. Hans Heysen, whose gum trees, reproduced in magazines the world over, have brought a tristesse to thousands of exiled Australians. Latterly Mr. Heysen has turned his attention to the mountains—the Flinders Range in particular. The result, a series of water-colours, has been described by Mr. Lionel Lindsay as “the most important contribution to Australian landscape in this last decade.” And “Art in Australia,” in its June number, reproduces in colour these clearcut inspirational mountains of Heysen; symphonies of violet and brown —masterpieces of the art of the aquarellist —and a series of charcoal sketches including, of course (and, thanks be!) a gum tree or so. A splendid “one man show” in a gallery, if we may so refer to “Art in Austx-alia,” which can be relied upon to offer us nothing but stimulating and vital work. “Art in Australia.” Third Series. No. 24, June. Our copy from the publishers, Art in Australia, Ltd., 24 Bond Street, Sydney. Smokers, Read This “A custom loathsome to the eye hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs ... resembling the Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” Thus spake his Most Christian Majesty James I„ of England, in his publicity campaign against tobacco. And immediately after he said it the trade began to boom. The duty was raised by 4,000 per cent. ... and the people paid it. gladly. The insidious charm of tobacco is extolled in “This Smoking World” by A. E. Hamilton. The author approaches the subject (as the jacket tells us) from the viewpoint of the historian, the physician, the psychologist and the economist. It is. an amusing and informative book; one that will appeal alike to those who enjoy a casual smoke and to those who, like Christopher Morley, make a religious rite of the first post-breakfast pipe—and all subsequent pipes. This is not one of those books that sing of the joys of smoking and ignore the penalties: there is sound advice for the man who (like so many of us in the Year of Race, 1925) is tempted to over-indulgence in tobacco. Not the least interesting feature of “This Smoking World” is a chronological table showing many quaint phases of the growth of the smoking habit. Let us take a peep at one entry; 1630—Robert Burton denounces tobacco as a plague, a mischief; hellish, devilish and damned. The parson of Thornton, short of tobacco, smokes church bell ropes as a substitute. Thanks, Mr. Hamilton, for a very readable book. “This Smoking World.” Methuen and Company, Ltd., London. Our copy from tho publishers.