FIRE AND SWORD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 816, 18 March 1955, Page 14

FIRE AND SWORD

THE CORNER STONE, by Zoe Oldenbourg; Victor Gollancz, English price 15/-. SCOTLAND’S BURNING, by Nathaniel Burt; Victor Gollancz, English price 12/6. THE TWO TOWERS, by J. R. R. Tolkien; Allen & Unwin, English price 21/-. THE FURY, by E. V. Timms; Angus & Robertson, Australian price 16/-. ‘) HE world of the middle ages-the 13th Century-is presented to us skilfully and attractively in Zoé Oldenbourg’s novel, translated from the French. In her satisfying book we see the age of faith in all its rich paradox, the old crusader leaving his possessions to set out again for Palestine as a penniless pilgrim, the minor nobleman greedily acquiring property and power, and his son, after vain pursuit of chivalric love, |seeking refuge in a monastery, The de- | votion and the cruelty, the piety and the crime, the dynastic marriage and romantic love, appear side by side-in -a_narrative full of strength and colour. Of | course, it is the most villainous character whose tomb (selected and paid for in anticipation) is a work of art. Scotland’s Burning is a well-construc- | ted novel about an American boys’ school where the atmosphere of a boarding | school with its artificial scale of values

and its heightened emotionalism is well portrayed. There is even a heady whiff of scandal. The second part of J.-R. R. Tolkien’s imaginative heroic saga follows hard upon the first. The éffect becomes massive, although not even his excellent and simple style can do much more than garnish the labels placed on most of the people-human, elf or indeterminatethe same old goodies and baddies; and many a savage orc, like a Redskin, bites the dust. The same simple labels are employed by E. V. Timms in his novel of goldmining days in Victoria, except that he has created one attractive character, the orphan girl from the outback farm. Much Australian history — Eureka Stockade and all that-is laid on with a careless

trowel,

David

Hall