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World Affairs Institute Witch Wood by John Buchan Advocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 90, No. 4 (APRIL, 1928), p. 256 Published by: World Affairs Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20661897 . Accessed: 18/06/2014 05:23 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Advocate of Peace through Justice. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 188.72.126.55 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 05:23:42 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Witch Woodby John Buchan

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Page 1: Witch Woodby John Buchan

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 .

Accessed: 18/06/2014 05:23

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to Advocate of Peace through Justice.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.55 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 05:23:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Witch Woodby John Buchan

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.

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.55 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 05:23:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions