INSIDE SPAIN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 871, 13 April 1956, Page 14

INSIDE SPAIN

THE MASKS OF. SPAIN, by Henry Gibbs; Frederick Muller, English price 15/-. SHOULD a Spaniard say to a visitor, ~ in the courteous phrase of the country, "Senor, my house is yours," and leave him to enjoy himself in a pleasant and fragrant garden, the visitor may if he wishes to be perverse go to a corner of it, ensconce himself before the dung heap and watch it and smell it all ‘afternoon. If there is no dung heap he can imagine one. When he comes to narrate his experiences they will of course be coloured dark brown. This is what has happened to Henry Gibbs. Fortunately, this sort of book, rather cheap, dogmatic, prejudiced, does create interest in Spain and its people, and causes others to go and see for themselves. The author, once a ‘correspondent in the Civil War, devotes much attention to to the history of Spain over the last 100 years from the left-wing angle; brought up to date and into fashion by dealing a back-hander at the Russians occasionally. He also examines the Gibraltar question. It is difficult for a New Zealander to see what all the fuss is about since the Americans are now pouring millions of dollars into Spanish naval and air bases and are firmly installed in them with full Spanish consent. There are some observations on the stupidity, the ignorance, the covetousness, the sloth, the incontinence and the hypocrisy of the Spanish clergy, their oppression of the poor, and I forget what else One rather feels that some of the instances selected, say the Borgia Pope Alex. VI, and some Fourth Century protests against the celibacy of the clergy, might have been selected more to influence Anglo-Saxon readers than to present a considered judgment. My own opinion, for what it is worth, is that the Spanish clergy compare quite well with those of Mr. Gibbs’s_ native country, and as to their luxurious living one feels that if Mr. Gibbs himself had to exist on their stipends and work as hard, he would soon be screaming with Pain and veering even more sharply to the left. There is a commentary on the New Testament references to celibacy of the clergy and it affords an_ interesting example of a private untutored judgment on some much discussed Biblical

texts.

F. J.

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