Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 624, 28 March 1929, Page 8

Books Reviewed

A New Marco Polo, That very attractive and very satisfying series “The Travellers’ Library” has gained another distinction. To it has been added an edition of “The Travels of Marco Polo” that in accuracy dnd completeness of text and in ease of reading is by far the best cheap edition published yet. The most authentic text is one in Old French, used by Colonel Henry Yule, greatest of Marco Polo scholars, for his translation into English; but its language was rather awkward. Mr Manuel Komroff, who has edited the “Travellers” edition, has based this upon the earlier, more readable, and more popular, though texually less accurate Marsden translation from an Italian version; but he has corrected the text by collation with the Yule edition, has improved it in other ways, and has added much matter found only in the Old French version. In his very useful introduction, too, Mr Komroff gives bibliographical and other information that does not appear in any other cheap edition. As this edition costs only as many shillings as the Yule edition now costs pounds, there is a real gain to people who wish to read or re-read one of the greatest classics of travel. So again we are grateful to Jonathan Cape, the enterprising publisher of a series firmly fixed in pur bookish affscfk>n&._ j 7 ~ ~ -.7"

Japanese Tales. It is a very pleasant thing to find in a book as much novelty and as much solid worth as Mr A. L. Sadler’s volume of translations from the Japanese contains. In “The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike” he has translated the Hojoki, reflections of a 13th century recluse, and some tales from the Heike Monogatari, a Japanese saga of the same period The philosopher in his narrow hut says: “It is the way of people when they build houses not to build them for themselves but for their wives and family and relations, and to entertain their friends, or it may be their patrons or teachers, or to accommodate their valuables or horses or oxen. But I have built mine for my own needs and not-for other people.” And from this retreat he looks back at the too stormy world he has left and about him at Nature, knows the strength of philosophical and religious comfort, and is delighted by music and books. Very different are th® Tales of the Heike, episodes in th® historical drama which issued from the war between the clans Minamoto and Taira. It set up Taira Kiyomo&i as the Empire’s military dictator; but the house he founded was overthrown by the children he had spared, heirs to the leadership of the Minamoto. Here are superb stories of power and overthrow, battle and flight and battle desperately renewed and lost. These are the mighty deeds which live in Japan’s tradition as the chivalry of the Franks lives in the Song of j Roland. While they were done, the j Icelandic Sagas were being told, the i Cross was being carried on the Sec- 1 ond Crusade, the Troubadours trav- i elled and sang. This is a fascinating ■ and valuable book. “The Ten Foot Square Hut an<i Tales of the Heike.” Translated by A. L. Sadler, Professor of Oriental Studies in the University of Sydney. Angus and Robertson. Ltd., Sydney. Our copy from the publishers. English for Everybody. Mr S. P. B. Mais’s “An English Course for Everybody” is more unconventional than his “English Course for Schools,” unconventional as that is. It is an English course “after my own heart, an English Course without a word on analysis, parsing, synechdoche, oxymoron, and all the other unspellable things.” It is a course in the study of English as a means of widening and deepening the capacity to enjoy—through reading well, writing well, speaking well, listening well, and judging well. The various chapters in this course on the art of read-

| ing, the art of speaking, the art of I ' writing, the art of criticism, and the art of literature, are all characterised J by tireless gusto, an enthusiasm | I virtue is that it can scarcely be re- i ! sisted and whose vice that it is too ' slap-dash to be always discriminating Mr Mais is capable of eayfng such ■ dreadful things as : “You will soon | j want to try your teeth on sterner ? things, on ‘Adonais* and Keats’ five j I odes” and “Then there is H. G. Wells, t who writes in a singularly lucid and i pleasing style .about religion, education, ethics, and modern science, always evolving fresh ideas which are j for the most part brilliant and help- ! ful.” Nearly all his faults are faults of over-emphasis. “Very” and “most" are the “roses, roses, all the way, strewn in his path like mad.” But there is no doubt about the infectious, rousing quality of Mr Mais’s zeal fn the cause of “English for the English”: and It makes his book a useful one for teachers (as a desk-book) and for the student, young or mature, who : wants to help himself. It is not a school class-book. This is the third edition of it; and a few passages ought to have been revised. Conrad, for instance, is spoken of as a living writer. “An English Course for Everybody ” 5. P. B. Mair. The Richards Press. Our copy from the publishers. Thrills Aplenty. When J. M. Walsh, author of “The White Mask,” “The Company of the Shadows.” and “The Hand of Doom,” sets out to provide mystery and thrills he succeeds in full measure. In “The Black Cross.” his latest novel, he provides a feast, almost to surfeit, of the uncanny and the unexpected. He makes a minor motor-car accident open the door, so to speak, to a realm in which murder, revenge, duplicity, sleuthing, mystery, and love are the elements skilfully handled to make a well-balanced book “of gripping interest.” Ravenslee. the sleuth, is a cleverly concealed character. “The Black Croes.” J. M. Walsh. John Harp i Hon, Ltd. Our copy from the pub-