Evening star., 1928-04-17

This Is not the sort of thing meant.
We speak of good books. fine books,
worthwhile books. Even with these
there come moments of doubt, when
one wonders what 1t is all about
What Is a book but an attempt at
expression?
Such expression, however, Is no such
expression as real action in motion.
The satisfaction OF sports war. love,
travelling. adveuture--in word, liv-
ing~are such as no book knows
The best books are those which give
some reflection. pale though 1t may be,
of life as 1t Ii lived. This Is why the
creative book. the one that brings into
the world of the imaginationA wholly
new men and women, or children such
as never have been seen on land or sea,
are the greatest books
Creative literature is the highest art.
because 1t not only gives life to words
but also because 1t gives words to life
A great novel does that unparalleled
thing. 1t achieves that unequaled feat
of bringing into the world new thoughts.
unheard of combinations OF sentences,
unknown men and women.
A good story clears the brain for the
time that 1t is in progress through it's
very reading, like an adventure III the
physical world. For the time that the
reader reads he is free from doubt,
money worries. resentment or any of
the perplexing states of mind. and is
wandering with the characters in new
life
This is why Kipling Is great writer.
His stories and some of his poems re-
lease the reader from real life into a
creation strictly the authors own. He
roams the jungle or goes into the native
life of India. He is at large in new
world-the world of the imagination.
y
Books can scarcely be an end In
themselves. but an aid to living. help
full in so far as they are properly used
to augment the JOY of life.
There Is no travel book so good as
the actual travel itself. although the
writer may have gone through any
amount, OF tiresome struggle TO get his
material
There is no war book" as stressful
as the war itself, no book on love as
palpitating as the real thing: no book
OF adventure as thrilling as Lindy's real
trip across the Atlantic must have been.
No library can take the place OF liv-
Ing. just as no grandstand seat can
take the place of playing base ball
Reading about life is one thing. living
1t another Watching the game is
well, just watching the game: not even
the enthusiast would claim that 1t is
exactly the same thing
Our momentary dissatisfaction. then,
traced back 10 its true source. comes
from lack Of living life TO the full.
Those heroic characters who throw
themselves one moment into the jungle
and the next into the study to write a
book about 1t possibly never become
fed up on books ESPECIALLY their
own.
Most Of us. however. are by no means
heroic persons. IL is for us who can
scarcely be heroes in the everyday life
to so order our lives that We shall get
as good balance OF living and reading
as possible.
Even then. no doubt, there viii come
moments when one feels that there is
something lacking in most books. Let
him always remember that what he
misses Is the Ideal Perfection. II exists
In books no more than In life, except
at those rare moments and in those
exceptional passages when one is al
lowed to catch a glimpse OF perfection
for the good OF his immortal soul.