Jottings

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 9, 11 September 1931, Unnumbered Page

Jottings

N a letter. to the editor of this page, ".H, speaks of it in appreciative te Coming from a musician and writer, his tribute is most welcome. During the past six months he has been a. prize-winner in this Section of the paper, and mentions ‘that, though over 70 years "of age, until last year he had --$yritten no poetry. While playing his violin one day, however, inspiration came to him for a sonnet on Tartini, the discoverer of the third note in music. The result was an ably-written _ md .-exceedingly delightful sonnet, "which we have been . privileged to "sesperuse. This, with several others, he offered to a noted English journal, the fine literary character of which has -long been established, and three out of >. four jvere accepted. In conclusion the = Writer says: "I think your fortnightly acompetition an excellent institution, nd admire the ingenuity of your _"eriticisms and the kindly spirit which ’saetuates:them." He adds the interesting comment that,:>had he been a sub‘seriber/to the "Record" at the time of "forwarding his poems to England, he ‘would have preferréd submitting to "*t this paper one of them with a typically . New Zealand theme, as he would-have . liked better for it to appear in'a New Zealand journal, even though receiving for it less remuneration. We appreciate the compliment and 1 applaud the patriotism. | +e m i Times" Captain Brun, of the Danish R.F.A., describes his‘ personal. experiences in Russia during ; and after the Revolution. He was in Petrograd. when the Kerensky Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks. Representing: the Danish , Government, he went to Turkestan to watel, the: interests of "Austrian and Hu} ian prisoners. There he was in continual peril of his life, was arrested, andthrust into gaol, and got out of the eountry. with difficulty eighteen months Jater. His letters to his wife,. now printed,. give a vivid account of the- early . period of the Revolution-when life was gheapest and law mostly" disregarded. ji Two years ago "Colette, " published . "Tia Seconde," and. ‘this delicate trifle now appears in an ‘English dress. yery faithfully copied from the original by Miss Viola Garvin. "Fanny and Jane’ has all the charm and all the unexpectedness of the best of its preecessors. You think you will never ; "quite understand the few people who .. ‘stroll through it, and at the end it is as ’’ though you had lived with them all your life. . There is Farou, a successful dramatist, his wife Fanny-and Jane, his secretary, and later his mistress. This is a wise and witty book, and Short enough to be read through’ ata _- =. a

stay with her sit all day in their topcoats." We find the same lightness of touch, felicity of expression and acuteness of observation whether the author disecurses on a visit to a poulty farm in England or a tea plantation in the East; a passing contact with a stranger in a train, or an interlude with a tippling cousin in Colombo, who insists on regarding him as a "drummer" in the rubber trade. A versatile and vivacious chronicle

BVENTEENTH-CENTURY Virginia is a good background for romance, and in "Gideon’s Lady," by G. Kent Oliver, the author has missed none of his opportunities, Gideon Hawkins, who left the plough in Deyon to make his fortune in the New World, was a very rough diamond, and Anne Wilding, the exquisite daughter of a strolling player, was a very unsuitable wife for a pioneer planter. Gideon marries her, not for her pretty ways, but for the 50 acres of Jand that were hér portion. The winning of Gideon and‘the wooing of Anne, the troubles that beset her and the devotion of the gentlemanly "felon" are features of this excellent story. A ‘first novel, one imagines, and one of definite achievement. * * * "po That First Naked Glory," by Mr. Lawrence David, is what may be termed a rattling good yarn, full of unusual excitements. Young Pierre Vande succeeds to the island of Manoa, and, like a true blue republican, believes in the divine right of kings. He is a born leader of men, and is familiar with the private history of Louis XIV, and makes a most successful attempt to emulate it. In this he is aided by his cockney valet, and by the stupid be~ haviour of those formerly in power. He is a magnificent modern, almost too good to be true, but most attractively _limned. This is a picturesque and highly-entertaining romance, * oo * ISS HELEN WADDELL has transJated "Manon Lescaut" from the original French text (1731) of YAbbe Prevost. Miss Waddell has done her work well in her version of one of the marvels of literature, which is, as Mr. George Saintsbury says in his introduction, "a thing that is completely complete and perfectly perfect." There is nothing to be added to all that has already been’ said and written about this sad and beautifully told love story, but there is much to be told anent the interesting and unfortunate personality of its author, and both Mr. Saintsbury and Miss Waddell shed a great deal of light on the many facets of character of this intriguing litterateur,