Page 14
University Daily Kansan Thursday, March 26, 1964
British Titles Include Cary, Huxley Novels
AN AMERICAN VISITOR, by Joyce Cary (Anchor, 95 cents); A HOUSE OF CHILDREN, by Joyce Cary (Anchor, 95 cents).
Since his death a few years ago what amounts to a Joyce Cary cult has come into being. These are almost unknown novels, published in a quality line and pointing to the need for more Americans to become acquainted with the frequently strange, usually engrossing, sometimes wildly comic books of Carv.
"The American Visitor" first appeared in 1933. It describes a young woman journalist who comes to 20th century Africa with Rousseauian notions of what she will find. She comes into conflict with the more experienced and more practical Europeans, and gains a bit of humility in so doing. One feels that some modern American diplomats might profit from this tale.
"A House of Children" dates to 1941. It is an autobiographical novel, one in which Cary describes a family of cousins, of many children, and an Irish summer they spent. It actually deals with a child's world, and is wise and funny, and always captivating.
ANTIC HAY and THE GIOCONDA SMILE, by Aldous Huxley (Harper Torchbooks, $1.95).
From the early twenties come these novels of Aldous Huxley, whose recent death has fixed attention on him, but who has been a force in western letters for nearly 40 years. "Antic Hay" may be the best-known of Huxley's works, outside "Brave New World." "The Gioconda Smile" is barely more than a short story.
The brilliant wit, the cynicism, the complexities of style that mark the later Huxley novels are present in these views of 20th century society. Like Evelyn Waugh, Huxley was adept at shattering our views of the upper middle class and telling us much about ourselves in so doing.
THE LIGHT AND THE DARK, by C. P. Snow (Scribner Library,
$1.65).
Knowing an unread C. P. Snow novel lies before one is a good feeling. Snow is one of the fine
writers of today, even though he is not known in the popular sense—heaven forbid—of an Irving Wallace. This book, which first appeared in 1947, is the second in the cycle Snow calls "Strangers and Brothers."
The narrator remains, of course, Lewis Eliot, who tells all the stories, but the central figure is Roy Calvert, who has shown up in some of the other books. Cambridge is the setting, and, like "The Masters," this book shows us the dons behind the scenes.
The crises concern whether Calvert will be elected a fellow of the college, and whether drink can help him solve his problems. Resolution comes in the RAF during the war. Once again, C. P. Snow gives us an amazing insight into the minds and ideas of the twenties and thirties.
This was George Eliot's last novel, and it is probably her least known. Here is an extremely attractive paperback, with an introduction by F. R. Leavis.
DANIEL DERONDA, by George Eliot (Harper Torchbooks, $2.25).
There continues to be some controversy about the theme of the book, and some critics suggest that the title character is not the true hero of the story. Most of the interest seems to attach to the heroine, Gwendolen Harleth.
Like "Middlemarch" this is a novel of considerable scope, almost Tolstoyan, in the view of Leavis. Though it is a minor classic alongside other Victorian novels it is one that deserves attention.
INDIGO, by Christine Weston
(Scribner Library, $1.65).
Here is a novel of 1943, exotic, well-told, and highly flavored. Christine Weston wrote of the India before independence, and it is one of the best stories written about that fabled land.
The story deals with the growth and development of young Jacques de St. Remy, and of the indigo factory of his family. We see the inevitable conflict between cultures, told in a leisurely fashion.
The novel has none of the flamboyance of Bromfield's "The Rains Came." It is much steadier and much more revealing, both of the
Indian and the occidentals who lived in India when that country was still a colonial country.
NIGHTMARE ABBEY and CROT-CHET CASTLE, by Thomas Love Peacock (Capricorn, $1.45).
Comparatively little known are these satirical novels by Thomas Love Peacock, which date to 1813 and 1831, respectively. The books are curiosities, unorthodox in form and deserving of examination by modern readers.
In "Nightmare Abbey," Peacock has a go at the trappings of Romanticism, which were giving us some of our best and also wildest Gothic tales. "Crotchet Castle" is almost entirely conversational, with odd talk and interesting eccentrics.
CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS by Rudyard Kipling (Dell Laurel, 35 cents).
In this famous boys' book, Kipling takes us aboard the schooner We're Here for a voyage in which 15-year-old Harvey Cheyne learns humility and compassion. It is a good story of the life of the Gloucester fishermen, of the captain, of Manuel the Portuguese who becomes the boy's mentor.
Kipling regarded this as his best book, and it is full of excitement and meaningful characterization. Though it will continue to find most of its readers in the younger generation, there are many adults who like to forget their problems and return now and then to the exciting tales of Stevenson, Dumas and Kipling.
A HANDFUL OF DUST and DECLINE AND FALL, by Evelyn Waugh (Dell Laurel, 75 cents).
These two novels go back to 1934 and 1928, respectively, and are among several by Waugh appearing in the Laurel line. Like most of the author's books they offer devastating pictures of 20th century English society.
"A Handful of Dust" gives us Waugh commenting on the upper classes, of Brenda, Tong and their circle, whose social and ethical standards are outside those of "regular society." According to
them, for example, any sin is acceptable provided it is done in good taste.
"Decline and Fall" is an amusing look at such British institutions as the public school, traditions of Oxford, sportsmanship, the gentry, the remittance man and so on. It is light and frothy and always entertaining.
THE ROVER, by Joseph Conrad
(Anchor, 95 cents); CHANCE, by
Joseph Conrad (Anchor, $1.45).
"The Rover" was Conrad's last novel, and, though a novel of adventure and of the sea, it is somewhat different in both mood and setting from the other works. Its time is the era of the French Revolution, its hero a man named Peyrol, a sailor, a gunner, a pirate. He returns to France at the time of the Revolution and is drawn into a love affair between two young people. And he is forced to give up the retirement he has yearned for.
This is a thoughtful tale, one that for the aging Conrad could have elements of autobiography. "Chance" is a story of love and intrigue, the affair between Flora de Barral and Captain Anthony of the vessel Ferndale. An atmosphere of doom hangs over this novel, as it does over several by Conrad.
THE SKY AND THE FOREST, by C.S. Forester (Pyramid, 50 cents).
An adventure tale quite unlike the Hornblower novels, but utilizing the setting of his "African Queen," is C. S. Forester's "The Sky and the Forest." It is not entirely successful, for on one level it appears to be a symbolic allegory and on another a tale written for readers of Boys' Life. It deals with the African native Loa, god and king of his village. First he is taken as a slave, but eventually returns home. Then again his land is invaded by Europeans, and Loa is killed.
Forester has done something here that is exciting and always interesting, though to some readers it may seem too grim and too violent. He might have done something as memorable as a Conrad or a Melville, but unfortunately "The Sky and the Forest" does not quite come off. It is still a stirring, entertaining book.
THE BLACK ARROW, by Robert Louis Stevenson (Dell, 45 cents).
It is quite a drop, or perhaps quite a rise, from contemporary fiction to this boy's novel, an exciting tale in the Laurel series. Stevenson his story in England during the War of the Roses, and it's about Dick Shelton, his scheming guardian Sir Daniel Brackley (familiar trappings), and the men of the Black Arrow.
Escape, disguises, secret passages, ambushes, dashing action—all mark this story. And, despite what you're thinking, you're really not too old for it.
A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS, by Eric Ambler (Dell. 60 cents).
This old friend from World War II days will never find itself on the reading list in English Lit. It doesn't even have respectability as a novel, for it falls into that even lower category—mysteries. And it's more fun than most of the serious bilge thrown at us these days.
Eric Ambler sets his investigator off on the trail of the mysterious and evil Dimitrios, who was mixed up in more shenanigans than even Bobby Baker. A bad nut. In the countries of the Mediterranean, in deep dark settings, in restaurants and saloons dark with smoke. Oh, you've seen it all, with Zachary Scott, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Now read the book. It's better.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, by Robert Louis Stevenson (Popular, 40 cent)—one of the greatest of all short novels and one of the most familiar tales in fiction. Stevenson gives here the exciting and symbolic story of good and evil existing side by side in man's nature. This book should be a standard on the shelves of those who want the greatest works in literature.
New and forthcoming titles in Indiana's quality paperback series MIDLAND BOOKS
By Edmond Cahn.
(MB-55) 200 pages. $1.75
THE SENSE OF INJUSTICE
By Edmond Cahn.
(MB-55) 200 pages. $1.75
MANKIND, NATION AND INDIVIDUAL From a Linguistic Point of View
BY OTHOM JEFFERSON
(MB.56) 208 pages. (Cloth, $4.50) $1.95
D. H. LAWRENCE: The Failure and the Triumph of Art
- Elisco Vivas.
(MB-57) 320 pages. $2.25
THE CHALLENGE OF EXISTENTIALISM
By John Wild.
(MB-58) 297 pages. (Cloth, $6.00) $1.95
THE JOURNALS OF JEAN COCTEAU
Edited and translated with an introduction by Wallace
Fowlie. With drawings by Jean Cocteaum.
(MB-59) 256 pages. April. $1.95
THREE GREEK PLAYS FOR THE
THEATRE
Translated by Peter D. Arnott.
(MB-60) 220 pages. April. (Cloth $5.00) $1.95
THE AMERICAN NEGRO
THE CHINESE EYE: An Interpretation of Chinese Painting
THE AMERICAN NEGRO
By Melville J. Herskovits, Preface by Georg K.
Neumann.
(MR.64)-428 pages. April. $1.65
By Chiang Yee. Preface by S. I. Hsiung.
(MB-268) 282 pages, April. $2.45
Recently Published
THE QUESTION OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
THE QUESTION OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
By Ernst Cassirer. Translated, edited, and with an introduction by Peter Gay.
(MB-48) 139 pages. $1.65
THE NEW APOLOGISTS FOR POETRY
By Murray Krieger.
(MB-49) 239 pages. $2.25
SPEECH: Its Function and Development
By Grace A. De Laguna.
(MB-50) 375 pages. (Cloth, $6.50) $2.95
ARIOSTO'S ORLANDO FURIOSO
Selections from Sir John Harington's translation, edited with an introduction and notes by Rudolf Gottfried.
(MB-51) 352 pages. (Cloth, $6.50) $2.95
THE ENCHIRIDION OF ERASMUS
Translated with an introduction by Raymond Himelick.
(MB-52) 224 pages. (Cloth, $6.00) $2.45
MARTIAL: Selected Epigrams
Translated by Rolfe Humphries. Introduction and notes by Palmer Bowie.
(MB-53) 128 pages. (Cloth, $5.00) $1.95
THE IDIOM OF POETRY
By Frederick A. Pottle.
(MB-54) 248 pages. $1.95
VERGIL'S AENEID
Translated, introduction, notes by L. R. Lind, Chairman, Department of Classics and Classical Archeology, University of Kansas.
A complete selection of MIDLAND BOOKS and INDIANA POETRY PAPERBACKS is available at your Union Book Store.
(MB-45) 352 pages. (Cloth, $5.75) $1.95
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington
A practical, new supplement to any "complete works" edition of Shakespeare Reading Shakespeare's Plays George R. Price Michigan State University
CONTENTS
Suggestions for Study
Shakespeare's Theater and Company
Elizabethan Attitudes
Shakespeare's Career
Canon, Chronology,and Text
Chronology of Literature
and Events,1557-1616
"READING SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS should prove to be a useful aid to the college student of Shakespeare at the sophomore, junior or senior level." —Sunday Advocate
"Although the book is only approximately 120 pages in length, it presents concisely and succinctly a wealth of information requisite to a proper understanding of the plays and the period." The Standard Times
THE F Baldwi
BARRON'S EDUCATIONAL SERIES, INC.
343 Great Neck Road, Great Neck, N. Y.
Please send me:
Few consice Next scaree! peared has cention petus James
copies, paper copies, cloth
READING SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
$1.25 paper $2.95 cloth
The Fire I Baldwai
mical matio-
a Repopea
appea greissi
Yorkkay
may no co
and
secon
It gives Musl Blac man. abou who hate prim dec^2
AFFILIATION___
ADDRESS___
CITY ___ ZONE ___ STATE___
564
SILI
Th not a yo pape cide time
0943 782 3156 782 3156