Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 945, 11 April 1930, Page 14

Books Reviewed

THE GEORGIAN SURVIVAL. SINCE the Georgian movement lost its force, most of the poets who made it the glorious literary interlude that it was, have preferred to keep silence. They have had no successors to throw them a real challenge, and they can now view in retrospect what they have done with a measure of satisfaction. There is one, however, who Is still vocal, and each year sees the publication of one volume of verse by W. H. Davies. Years ago he founded a reputation, and little by little he has built it up. During the past 20 years he has writ-

ten a few poems at least that will find their way into the immortal company of English song, and he has published a lot that will not. He began as the unsophisticated lover of Nature, ‘and he has had to remain that ever since. His talents are of small range, but within his own compass he has succeeded magnificently. His latest volume, “Ambition and Other Poems,” show him at work in his old distinctive style, and in some of the verses it is easy to see that he Is eager to write just what is expected of him. He is probably as near to the larth and the heart of Nature as he *ver was, but somehow this proximitj loes not seem to inspfre him as much as it did. His verse still has fresh ness and sweetness of other times but there is nothing in this volume that would find a place among his 20 best poems. Nevertheless, in a thin noetic year (1929) his contribution is welcome. The title poem, “Ambition,” has the true Davies touch upon it: I had Ambition, by which s!n The angels fell; l climbed, and, step by siep, O T.ord, Ascended into llcll. Returning now to peace and quiet, And made more wise, Let my descent and fall, O Loid, Be into Paradise. The reader has a suspicion all the time that Mr Davies has, perhaps, really outgrown his simplicity, and vet he continues in this way because ’t is expected of him. “A Dream of Winter” has Just the inevitable notes md a little of the old magic: "hose flowers survive their lover bees, Whose deep bass voices filled the air; he cuckoo and the nightingale Have come and gone, we know not when ow, in this green and silent world, In Autumn, full of smiling light, hear a bird that, suddenly, Startles my hearing and my sight. t Is the Robin, singing of A silver world of snow and frost; 'here all is cold and white—except The fire that’s on his own warm breast So it goes on—all pleasant reading n a year of poetic dearth, but far from he best poetry that Mr Davies has vritten. “Ambition and Other Poems.” W. H. Davies. Jonathan Cape. Our copy from :he publlshers-

A BACKBLOCKS DRAMA. THE CHRISTCHURCH writer, Mr Walter Smyth, is making the back country of New Zealand and its inhabitants a field peculiarly his own. His latest novel "Bonzer Jones” is the story of a girl who is left a station, heavily mortgaged, and coveted by a land syndicate which wants it for the purpose of cutting up a large tract of hill country. The syndicate is not too scrupulous, and its machinations are countered by “Bonzer,” who comes as station manager. Mr Smyth’s heroes are not of the matinee idol type, but rugged “he” men, and his villains also feed on red meat. The story gives a good insight into life in the backblocks, and the pen 'pictures of the various episodes are drawn with skill. He tells of fights and incidents in a manner that hold the interest and throughout runs a strong vein of humour. The dialogue necessarily, is of the picturesque type, and the whole tale is told in that breezy manner which we are coming to expect from this local author. A story full of incident and interest. “Bonzer Jones.” Walter Smyth. Mills and Boon* Our copy from Whitcomb* and Tombs. ino Fascist way. At the end of Julj’, 1929, three 3'oung Italians, opponents of the Fascist regime, made their escape from the island prison of Lipari. They were the first to accomplish the feat, and it is likely they will be the last, for Fate was very much on their side in the adventure. The story has now been told in “Escape,” a powerful book written by Fra’ncesco Nitti, one of the escapees. He is a nephew of the other Francesco Nitti, former Prime Minister of Italy during the war, who was driven into exile on Mussolini's access to povrer. “Escape,” apart from the interest that lies in the story, is a bitter ar raigment of Fascism, and although it has a bias, bitterness does not seem to have dethroned truth. Nitti was arrested on a charge of having committed subversive acts against the political and economic in stitutions of the State. All he confesses to doing is attempting to place flowers on the spot where an anti Fascist was murdered. For this he was arrested, and without trial sen tenced to deportation for five years Hundreds of other prisoners, accord ing to his statements, were treated in the same way. Students, authors, ex-soldiers, ex-politicians and others among them. They were dispatched to an island and there kept in exile under the eye of the Fascist militia. Herded together often with criminals, they had to endure hardships which were made worse by the brutality of their guards. Nitti had served at the war when 17 years of age, Emilio Lussu, one of his companions was for a tim e considered a national hero, and the third, Carlo Rosselli, taught political economy at a university. These men were so broken by their exile and servitude that they decided to make an escape. They managed to effect communication with Italy, and were picked up one night in a fast launch that the police ships were unable to overtake. With other political exiles they are now living in Paris. “Escape” is a fine story, and a power ful indictment •which w T ill take some answering. “Escape.” Francesco Nitti. Putnam. Our copy from the publishers. The First War Novel.

While war novels are falling in pro fusion from the English and Contin ental presses, readers will probably have little time to make tally and dis cover virtue among their forerunners Yet the greatest of them all is tht first. It is Henri Barbusse’s “Under Fire,” which in company with “Light,’ another war book by the same author has been issued in an omnibus vol ume. “Under Fire” was published first in France in 1916, and although there is a tendency for it to be over shadowed by more boosted rivals, it has qualities that most of the other war novels lack. It is a truthful record from the pen of a pacifist who was forced to endure the agonies of war It gives a faithful description of trench warfare, and although the loathsomeness of conflict is not ignored, Bar bqsse does tell his readers of the comradeship that grew up among the soldiers on service. It is sufficient recommendation to mention that “Under Fire” has taken its honoured place among the classics of the world in Everyman’s Library. The companion novel, “Light.” comes from the general to the particular. The former volume treats of war on the grand scale, and its hero is a squad, but “Light has an individual as hero. Simon Paulin, a conventional middle-class Frenchman, who after 10 years of marriage, is called to the colours. The life that had become so even and uneventful suddenly has its tranquility shattered by war. In the end, though, he finds a faith which he had lacked before, so the war brings some compensation to him and his wife Marie. In this couple Barbusse has created lively human characters. Both books, translated by Fitzwater Wray, have appeared previously in England. “Under Fire” and “Light.” Henri Barbusse. J. M. Dent and Sons. Our copy from the publishers^ How to Keep Fit “Health Without Fads” is the attractive title of a little book by Dr. Robertson Wallace, who has a message of good cheer for those who find rigorous rules, laid down by various schools of health experts, rather terrifying in prospect and almost impossible in execution. Dr. Wallace believes in enjoyment of life and agrees tiiat if one lias to spend hours in mortifying the flesh and “almost penitential physical exercises” one might as well not be numbered “among those present.” He is an advocate of walking and claims that adequate exercise may be obtained from very simple efforts: The exercise of climbing: stairs serves a useful purpose, gives the climber all the breathing exercise that *s good for him. tones up the healthy, but perhaps rather flabby, heart, and keeps, all the joints of the legs as supple as a boy’s. But I repeat this is an exercise only suitable lor the organically sound in wind and limb. Dr Wallace favours the consumption of much water and points out that it must be coloured whisky is the safest method. Tea should be most carefully prepared and never “stewed.” A sane and interesting little treatise. “Health Without Fads.” Methuen and Co., Ltd.. London. Our copv from the publishers.

Censored! A publisher's jeu d'esprit describes “Mother Goose Rhymes—Censored,” a slender volume published for the “non-censors” by Alfred A. Knopf, Limited., and designed to demonstrate the evil effects of censorship. In the first place the censoring of nurs--1 ery rhymes strikes one as a quaint | conceit. It is, too, but when one reads them with a hiatus, here and there, where the censor’s pencil has been busy, it is surprising how racy the most innocent of jingles may become. Those who doubt it should practise this new • pastime on a nursery rhyme of their acquaintance—excising a verb here and there —and they will be staggered at the iniquity of their performance! At all events, the little collection of censored rhymes, with the expurgator’s pithy comment at the foot of each, is extremely amusing, though not to be recommended for polite drawing-room reading—even in these advanced days. "Mother Goose Rhymes—Censored.” Alfred A. Knopf Limited, 37 Bedford Square, London, W.C.I. A Useful Series Under the general editorship of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, the King’s Treasuries of Literature series, published by Dents, is growing in size and usefulness. Throughout the British Empire many young readers must be acquiring their first knowledge of the glories of English literature through this series of little books, and the good that it can do, and probably has already done, is almost incalculable The latest volumes, which may be read with profit by old and young alike, include an anthology of verse entitled “The March of Poetry,” which surveys the field of poetry from Chaucer to our own time. Another volume is a handy edition of “Idylls of the King,” and the third is “Plays from Greek Myths,” by Audrey Haggard. Our copies come jfrom the publishers. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED “The B.P. Magazine.” —March number. Most people enjoy travel, wellinformed people perhaps best of all. Interesting knowledge can be gathered from so many sources—friends who have travelled much, books and the modern illustrated magazines—and every information concerning foreign lands, is often of material profit. A journal that stimulates interest in peoples and places is “The B.P. Magazine,” produced in a lavish manner. The colour illustrations are excellent and the printing and production is equal -to the highest grade journals published in England and America. Our copy from Burns, Philp and Co., Ltd. “When the Court Smiled.” —A collection of anecdotes, collected in police and supreme courts, and narrated by Mr. C. Iv. Thompson. New Century Press, 14 Panama Street, Wellington. 187 pp. Stead’s Monthly. —April number. Contains many stimulating articles. “Marong” writes on Australia’s Coal King, the late Mr. John Brown; J. Lynn Barklie contributes some interesting notes on “The Social Verdict on Immorality.” Other contributors include A. C. Willis, Dr. Reg. Ellery, William Mabane, Norman French, Cynthia Craig and Fritz Hart (who has something to say about jazz). From the publishers, 36 Flinders Street. Melbourne. C.l.