it. Alen & Unwin, London. 1/6, Twenty men and women authors =the sexes are equally divid contribute essays on various the art of writing. The symposium has been skilfully chosen and inter-sparsed between the 20 are epigrams and. pithy sayings from fneient and) modern writers, the Whole being designed to assist the craftsman to arrive at certain. ime portht. conclusions regarding the handling of his art, Each author pleasantly reveals his or her attitude Towards the composition of novels oF whatever form the work of art takes, fand itis once more shown that genius bated on the art of taking infinite pains, Mr. Harold Nicolson, for ex-Ample, in disclosing his biographical methods, tells of elaborate note-taking rounded off bya personal visit the actual localities Identined with the subject of the biography. Fascinating. self-revelation, is. forth coming from Jeanette Eaton, who, flories in her status as the writer of Juvenile "books, "and she effectively shows that the writer of such books thas to maintain two characters in be-Ing performer and audience in one. For unless the writer can be a child there isnot the. slightest' good attempting to put pen to paper {or the consideration of what Miss Eaton describes as our most exacting audience. Such writers have to be extraordinarily "self-restrained; long. eseriptions which might. pleasantly display their gift "of picture language have to be sternly eschews because. the youthful audience. Insists on being iold the story as simply possible. That is why Aeipling wilt cal to. them with his) "Jungle Book", and it is to be feared that in hose days Sir Walter Scott with his Jong historical dissertations la left on thesshelf, or, ax Miss Eaton puts it, submerged "Beneath the waters, of The aphorisms interspersed pleasantty enhance the value of the book, though some of the modern comments not ring a8 sincere 9s they should, For example, Pearl Buck's sini sentence:
Never, if you can. possibly help Unwell. aete ed write a. navel. Th'is'a thor hardly worthy of inclusion, {tis so manifestly" the product of a false sense of modesty and cannot be excused because Mr. Bernard Shay, on age 104, characteristically observes:
You shut not suppose, because T am aman of letters, that T never {ried corn on honest living.
But this defect is not only to be found in feminine writers, for Mr. Sinclair Lewis allows himself to state that "writing ts dirty work", and Mr, Belloc tat he hates his trade, Famous men and women must be permitted to nod at times, but it is unfortunate that their Japses have to remain per= manently enshrined in an otherwise estimable book EM.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.