Wonsoe Winoor Rie—tiy It. Spence oval, fy ""Woltow, Jesus College. Cambridge, English Univer: ste Press, London. 8/=
The Astronomer Royal has fulfilled tone of the lighter and it is to be hoped pleasanter duties {n writing on astronomy for the benefit of the general reader. He performs this (ask gracefully and mercifully, " in that he avoids use of technical terms course, ho himself must be a master. "He slarts with the earth and its satellite the moon, snd then proceeds outwards into" space in describing the firmament. Tt might thought that Professor Spencer Jones was covering old ground, but, df course. with each year astronomers Prize-winning works of literature invariably challenge the approval of the reviewer. This book is s0 good that It is surprising that the author had to seek recognition by way of a publisher's competition. It would have been thought that he could have found acceptance for his manuscript purely fon its merits, and it he encountered lscouragement until the competition came his way, the fact seems to ect: adversely' on the intelligence of publishers' readers. His English is optionally good and he quite simply describes the life of a Russian artist to whom political upheavals were merely irrelevant, but at the same devastating, intrusions Into his career. In the process, therefore, he throws a vivid light on conditions in Russia. "He was thirteen years old when the Revolution broke out and the Tsar's abdication settled the fate of the Empire.
Born of a military family, his father was g colonel In the Ismailovsky Life Guards Regiment and was promoted to the rank of general on the Galician front, and his mother was the daughter of q Russian banker of German origin. It is not likely, therefore, that they were favoured by the new powers which the Revoluation brought to the front, and the Revolution came upon his family. at an unfortunate time. The father had Feturned from the War wounded in he leg. and there were other domestic troubles.
The former general tried to got food allowance by origaning in odd obs; but even the pluck of this family was unable to make headway against the growing menace of the political catastrophe represented by the Revolution. Sickness overcome the mother and the family endured great hardships.
For the children a philosophical altitude was easier than for the adults. 'When the time came for school the son of a Tsarist general had no opportunity of going to the university and he came to the decision to become a dancer. Against his parents' wishes he managed to secure training under Baron Schicksaal who had a famous dancing school which after the Revolution managed to get oficial recognition. Thenceforward the narrative gives an account of the author's career as a dancer, a career which took him seras Russia to far Harbin and finally brought him to Europe. It is an amazing story which he tells.
ry of the ups and downs of an the encounter with intrigues, political snd otherwise, and serious risk of danger, in the midst of which the philosophical spirit of his childhood germs to have sustained him, The character sketches which he manages to include in his narra-live are indicative of his power of acute perception.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.