BOOKS AND WRITERS

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20281, 25 August 1937, Page 12

BOOKS AND WRITERS

COMMENTS AND EXTRACTS. The American view or the negro? This Is simplicity Itself. The negro does not exist.”—James Agate.

THE TRAGEDY OF NIJINSKY. A DRAMATIC STORY. FAMOUS DANGER’S EARLY LIFE. In “The Tragedy of Nijinsky” Mr D. Lyman has “Interpreted” Anatole Bourman's verbal translation of his original Russian manusorlpt. The story Is written In the first person and told very dramatically, and purple passages abound. Nijinsky, -here, Is hardly allowed to be human; Destiny, according to M. Bourman, pursues him throughout his life. Nijinsky and M. Bourman were schoolfellows at the Imperial Russian Ballet School, and, becoming friends, they worked side by side until Nijinsky’s greater talent was recognised by Diaghilev. Later M. Bourman Joined Diaghilev’s “Ballet Russe” and toured in Europe and in South America with Nijinsky; he also acted as Nijinsky’s acoompanist on many occasions. He tells of the striot rule of the Imperial School of Ballet, of the devilish behaviour of the young boys at the school —Nijinsky was nearly killed by a jealous classmate. He describes how Nijinsky had to fly for his life from the Cossacks’ drive in 1905; how as his fame grew he was spoiled by adulation of the Court, enjoying his glory too much; he describes an occasion when Nijinsky misguidedly gave a party to the poorest prostitutes in the streets. Aneodotea Recalled. Many anecdotes are recalled, always dramatically expounded. The best part of the book is the incidental portraits of Mme. Nijinsky and her daughter Bronia, and their family loyalty; M. Bourman has a real and very evident affection for the family, quite apart from his friendship with Nijinsky. M. Bourman’s book is mainly concerned with the early part of Nijinsky’s life, and he plays a lesser part in those events which have already become public property—suoh as the relationship between Dlaghliev and NaJlnsky, and the effects of the famous marriage—because he had ceased by that time to be Nijinsky’s particular confidant. “LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.”

DEATH IN NEW YORK. ORIGINAL OF FAMOUS CHARACTER. (Times Air Mail Servioe.) LONDON, July 27. The man who came to look upon a ' velvet -suit with loathing and who hated silk ruffles, the original uf “Litttle Lord Fauntleroy," has Just died here, says the New York correspondent of the Daily Mail. lie was Mr Vivian Burnett, aged 61, son of Mrs Frances Hodgson Burnett, ] author of the famous book. He coli lapsed from heart failure after saving I the lives of four occupants of a boat | which capsized in Manhasset Bay, i Long Island. I The exertion of helping them on 1 board his yawl was too much for him and he died at the wheel. The •story of which Mr Burnett was I the *hero was written after he had asked his mother to “write a book j that little boys can read.” But he never ceased in later life to express • his hatred of the little velvet suit that . became famous in every nursery.

WOMEN AND LETTERS. SOMETHING TO GIVE WORLD. “THEY ARE OPPORTUNISTS.” “On the whole, women accept rather than challenge. They regard men’s Institutions as fantastic and a waste of time. They have no respect for precedence, and they are opportunists,” said Miss Helen Simpson, visiting Australian novelist, at a lecture on “Women and Letters” at the University in Sydney. The guests, the majority of whom I were professors, lecturers, and their wives, and undergraduates, were received by Major Booth and Dame Constance d’Aroy. Miss Simpson insisted that women had something to give to the world of letters, and she proceeded to trace Just how and where their work differed from the writings of men. The difference did not lie in the subjects, because there were few fields into whioh women had not wandered. Emily Bronte wrote of almost every passion, and other women had delved into the mysteries of murder problems, she said. Work* of Mon and Women. Fpeaking of style, Miss Simpson said that, in comparing the works of men and women, it has hard to allot the trousers and the skirt. “The lady novelist who was the butt of newspapers for so long uo longer exists. Women have a strength and a precision comparable to that of men,” remarked the speaker. “Women are necessary to, although different from men. Their physical make-up has a definite effect on their minds, and this is reflected in their writings,” added Miss Simpson, who went on to say that women always remained individuals, even during crises such as revolutions and wars. Women in the recently-besieged areas in Spain continued with their cooking and other domestic duties during the fighting. The primary things of their natures went on unchanged.” Miss Simpson illustrated her talk throughout with letters from the novels of Jane Austen, Fanny Burney, Emily Bronte, and Mary Kingsley. She showed by the various extracts she chose that women were not interested in wars and the like, but were more concerned with domestio problems. Very Little Originality. “Women have contributed very little that was original. They have given something delicate and delightful which, no man can give, nay, can not even imitate,” concluded Miss Simpson. £IOOO FOR 11 LEAVES. AN EIGHTH CENTURY BIBLE. APPEAL IN BRITAIN. The appeal to secure for the British Museum eleven leaves of an eighth century Bible written In the North of England has resulted In over £4OO being subscribed. The donations ragged from £2OO by Viscount Wakefield to a shilling'; £IOOO is required. THE POPULAR TABTE. PEOPLE’S LIKES AND DISLIKES. WHY, NOBODY KNOWS. Speaking of the freakl-shness of the popular taste in books, Ml*s Dorothy Sayers points out that people don’t like books written in the form of letters. Why, nobody knows. Nor do they like books written in collaboration. Again, nobody knows why. Nor do they like books written In the first person. Mis* Sayers tell* of an extraordinary reason she once heard given for this antipathy. She was in a library in a small town when a young woman oame to to borrow a book. The borrower refused one that was offered her by the librarian on the ground that, it was written in the first person. “I don’t like books written in the first person,” she explained; “it make* them seem 100 real.” HOPELESSNESS AND FUTILITY. DANGER TO ENGLISH NOVEL. ARTIST'S LOSS OF FAITH. According to John o' London's Weekly, the danger to the English novel is not, as sometimes suggested, the difficulty of discovering new types and new scenes, but rather the feeling of hopelessness and futility that lies over Western Europe like a miasma. When the artist loses faith in lifa and man, art comes to a full stop. Given that faith, the realtive rlohness or poverty of the material he has to work upon is of small account.