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World Affairs Institute
Witch Wood by John BuchanAdvocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 90, No. 4 (APRIL, 1928), p. 256Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20661897 .
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256 ADVOCATE OF PEACE April
drama. The problem is not church doctrine,
but, rather, the effect upon primitive human
nature of the man-made laws it cannot
understand.
A WREATH OF CLOUD. Third part of the tale
of Genji. By Lady Murasaki. Translated
from the Japanese by Arthur Waley. Pp. 312. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1927.
Price, $3.50.
The third part of this long Japanese novel
surviving from the early eleventh century is
quite equal to parts one and two. Lady
Murasaki, we learn from the extracts from
her diary in the introduction, found court
life both sordid and stupid. Therefore, she
constructed, in her imagination, a court as
she would have it. Since she was a born
story teller, her episodes have real unity and
the development of character and incident is
surprisingly psychological. The main interest, as before, is the living
picture of old Japanese culture. The book
sheds light not only on modern Japan, but on
China, which must always have been similar in background.
WITCH Woon. By John Buchan. Pp. 352.
Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1927. Price,
$2.50.
Here is a story of Scotland in 1644, a place and time when superstition was still power ful. It is staged in a village planted in a
pass between the ancient forests-the wood
of Merlin-arid the prosy midlands of the
South. The young dominle hero finds him
self engaged in a hopeless struggle with
sinister powers of darkness manifested in
the souls of his flock. But bigotry, backed
by hidden deviltry in high places, defeats
him. He disappears with a loyal follower
who was an old soldier. They seek the con
tinent and its wars, where a man may fight with visible foes. The little town of Woodi
lee is still debating as to whether the min
ister was carried away by the Devil, or
whether he was rescued by the fairies.
JALNA. By Mazo de la Roche. Pp. 347.
Ltitle, Brown Co., Boston, 1927. Price,
$2.
This novel of Canadian family life was
last year awarded the Atlantic Monthly
prize. Its author is a literary painter in
genre, delineating her characters with fine
finish. They are at the same time so strik
ing and alive that the possibility of further
books, featuring one or another, reminds one
of Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga." The robust feudal family is observed
through the eyes of a New England profes sor's daughter, who marries one of the sons
and comes to live at Jalna. This gives a
sense of detachment which greatlly heightens the effect. There is little plot in the several
love stories, the interest focussing entirely on characters. Of the characters, perhaps the greatest interest centers upon the two at
the extremes of the family, not involved in
any of the romances. These are the pre cocious boy of twelve and the domineering,
hundred-year-old "Granny," who has as
hearty an appetite for food as for praise or
power. They are both portrayed with
strength and delicacy, making us look for
ward with real anticipation to Miss de la
Roche's further work.
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK AND THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN. Two plays. By Sean
O'Case/. Pp. 199. Macmillan Co., New
York, 1927. Price, $2.00.
Sean O'Casey, from a sombre past of pov
erty and grim labor, has only within a few
years risen to his present high rank among modern dramatists. It was Juno and the
Paycock, with the winning of the Hawthorn
den Prize, in 1925, which introduced him to
the public. The play was then produced in
the Abbey theater in Dublin, and later In
London. During the past winter the Irish
Players have been in this country-the first
time for sixteen years and have given
O'Casey's plays here.
He writes vigorously of the tragedies that
come to the poor in the tenements of Dub
lin, and well he knows these trials. The
characters are homely folk. They quarrel and drink and are cheated; they are tender
and rough, hot-headed and warm-hearted.
Their sorrows are epic, however, because
universal. The iron which enters their souls
is of the same temper as that which pierces all down-trodden people everywhere.
But over and through all the rest, O'Casey weaves his spell of irresistible and uncon
scious Irish humor, the lilting cadence of the
Irish tongue, the turn of a phrase, the group
ing of pungent characters, which, all to
gether give these plays individuality, and a sure place in dramatic literature.
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