... Books By CECIL ROBERTS With Mr. Lloyd George's War Memoirs (Nicholson and Watson. 21s.) we come to what is probably the last of the War memoirs by a leading statesman who played an important part in the greatest event of modern history. I think Mr. Lloyd George will spring a surprise even on his admirers. Few certainly can have suspected that he had a pen almost as gifted as his tongue, for ...

... 1/ C Verlaine, the Lily of the Dunghill: Leonardo, the Over-rated: Historical Fiction: An Autobiographical Discovery By CECIL ROBERTS The preparations for Henley Regatta this year have taken place in ideal weather. My reading, in a punt tied to the Berkshire bank, has been constantly interrupted by the passing of crews at practice, and for the first time in my life I realize that an English ...

... BOOKS-- Biography at last Escapes from Stracheyism By CECIL ROBERTS If we are to believe many of the smart young men of the Stracheyan age of biography, this Empire of ours was built up in the nineteenth century by a host of ninnies. Not only the Empire, but our literature was created by simpletons and half-wits. There was Tenny son, whose jingle amused our grandfathers; and Dickens, whose ...

... --PLAYS Empty Theatres: Ballet: Films: And Historical Tragedy By PHILIP PAGE Sundry pessimists, either with short memories or with memories which do not extend to pre-War times, are declaring that all is wrong with the Drama because an exceptionally large number of theatres happen to be closed. As I write fifteen theatres are shut, many of them in order to prepare for new productions-- an ...

... The WORLD of BOOKS A Further Analysis of Current Trends and Statistics in the Publishing Industry The Phenomenal Growth of the Twopenny Libraries, and Other Alafters of Interest By VERNON FANE UPON this page last week we dis cussed some of the causes of the increase of the number of books published year by year. Our figures showed that the total increase last year was 1,242, which was greater ...

... SHORTER NOTICES OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, by Joseph Redlich. (Macmillan. 21s.net.)-- The history of that tragic figure which from early youth to ex treme age swayed-- or was swayed by-- the Austro- Hungarian Empire makes enthralling reading. Cursed by the Countess Karolyi; seeing his family die one by one about him; his son a suicide; his consort the victim ...

... A ff Norman Collins Again Proves Himself a Master An excursion to suburbia Reviewed by Vernon Fane MR. NORMAN COLLINS is a master of the common place theme. He proved with his last novel, set in an agreeably fantastic South America, that he could take successful journeys down side-lines, but it is in suburbia or the Drovinces that his muse is happiest. With LOVE IN OUR TIME (Gollancz. 7s. 6d. ...

... - Some Classics Exposed as Trivia: An Admirable Life of Rousseau: The Prima Donna Complex: A Sensitive First Book: Unnecessary and Inaccurate Medicality By CECIL ROBERTS There are a few reputations in literature that always surprise me. I cannot understand why critics continue to speak of Flaubert's Salammbo as a masterpiece. A more rubbishy work, badly concocted and full of errors, I have ...

... SHORTER NOTICES OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS Statesmen of the War in Retrospect, 1918-28, by William Martin. (Jarrolds. 18s. net.)-- In this work the foreign editor of the Journal de Genéve has endeavoured to assess the true worth of such diverse figures as Lloyd George, Pachitch, Wilson, Wilhelm, and Mercier. The result is a hook that probably achieves its purpose. Certain it is, however, that ...

... THE TRAGEDY o( a POET The Life of James Elroy Flecker and other Literary Matters of the Week By CECIL ROBERTS Mrs. Flecker, the wife of James Elroy Flecker, the poet and author of Hassan, which brought him posthumous fame, has just issued a collection of his letters which is as near to a biography of the poet that we are likely to get. There is nothing startling in this book, Some Letters from ...

... Current Drama Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE DR. JOHNSON declared that he found Coriolanus-- surely one of the least popular of Shakespeare's plays-- amusing. Unless the word in this case has some special Johnsonian meaning of which I am not aware, the Doctor must hare been, like the friends of Mr. Peter Magnus amused very easily. I did not find the production at the Old Vic last week at all ...

... Time and Mr Priestley: Johnson Over Jordan the Wanderings ol Ralph Richardson's 3 Notable Morality Play Telling of ommonplace Man After Death four de Force at the New Theatre Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE WHERE was Mr. Johnson-- or, if you like, the late Mr. Johnson-- during Mr. J. B. Priestley's strange play? Was he in Hell, in Purgatory, at the Judgment Seat? He certainly was not in Heaven, ...