ford)
‘ass “Dhis’ is neither the sugar-_

BOOKS

Barke’s fifth volume concludes
monumental life of Robert Burns

“JAMES BARKE’S final and

. crowning volume in a monu-

mental series of five. books on the

life of Scotland’s most beloved

son, Robert Burns, is The Well of
the Silent Harp (obtainable here
atthe People’s Cooperative Book-
store, 337 West Pender, price
$2.50).

. Preceding: novels in. Barke’s

The. Wonder Of Al! The Gay
World, and LE aradgl Of Tne
Broken Wave. :

‘series on Burns, are. The. Wind.-
That Shakes The Barley, :. The...
Song In’ The Green Thorn Tree, .

smabla bobloperttays witha brik
fiance of its own ‘the’ phases: of |

the Bard’s-life from the stubborn

Soil of his father’s farm of Mount :

zs h he Millb: '
i eae aa ne sn secs : cise pittance could ill afford.

Dumfries: :

i

“In these five historical novels

en the life of Scotland’s national

bard, Barke makes a great con- :

‘tribution to a growing. literature

‘on the genius of Robert Burns. ©
He portrays the Bard with the .
vivid reality so well illustrated by
‘DeLancey Ferguson in his Sele€ct-

ed Letters of Robert Burns (Ox-

: ébated poet of the Birthday orat-

-ers nor the profligate of the —
. smoke-room anecdotes.

This is
the man himself, as he lived and
loved, as he sinned and repented
_and endured.”

‘The Well Of The Silent Harp
is like the slow drawing together

of a great curtain — the years

when life’s burdens became ex-
tremely heavy for the Bard, more
difficult, and for genius which
cannot soar with wings clipped
to conform, more repressive.
The job of government excise-
man, collecting and safeguarding
royal taxes, held little appeal to
Burns. But a man must some-
times pocket his pride if his
family is to eat. Still less did the
Bard liked the thought-control ma-
chinery of the Pitt government,
out to crush all sentiment in Scot-
land for the French Revolution

with its “infectious stimulant for :

democratic reforms.

not unlike the McCarthys of this
age, was out to crush all progres-
sive thought and action. The

books of Tom Paine and other ad-

vanced thinkers were proscribed.
The Scottish society known as the
Friends of the People was brand-
ed as. “subversive” and as such

met with extreme repression.

And Robert Burns, singing the
songs of life and love and liberty
of and for the people, was also
counted among the banned.

Intensely patriotic, with the

patriotism . of the common peo-
ple,, Burns enlisted in the “‘Dum-
fries Volunteers” — as a measure
of safety against the witch-hunt-
ers. of his. day. Economically
however, this was a step which
was to plague him to the hour of
his death, since each “volunteer”
had to pay for his own uniform
and equipment, an outlay which
a rebel poet on a miserable ex-

‘The closing drama of his last
illness and death is poignantly

1

portrayed. No author, not hav-
ing experienced and lived through
the searing blight of poverty and
the mighty force of human grand-
eur it calls forth in its darkest
hour, could so vividly have por-
trayed the death of Robert Burns
as Barke does here.

Amid dire poverty,.his Jean
pregnant and heavy with new life,

‘ the voice ofa genius who made

the very. cobblestones of his na-
tive land sing, is silent — but
not. before that voice has made
its last tribute to the man and
the farm. where first its genius
blossomed — to John Rankine of
Adamhill.

Every lover of Robert Burns
will treasure this final volume of
James Barke on his bookshelf,
and, in a quiet hour will read and
re-read some sections many times.

—TOM McEWEN.

Film captures charm
of Beggar’s Opera

MORE THAN 200 years ago
John Gay’s The Beggar's Opera,
poking robust fun at the manners
and morals of the ruling class,
swept Italian opera off the Lon-
don stage and breathed new life
into the theatre. —

Now here’s Herbert Wilcox’s
screen version of The Beggar‘s
Opera, not quite so robust but
every bit as sweet and a good
deal more — perhaps too much
more — polished.

It is in bringing these popular
classice of literature and the stage
to the wider movie audience that
British films have their best claim
to pre-eminence.

Gay’s rogues, with their comic-

.. -ally inverted moral code in which
. Dundas, then secretary of istate;

honest marriage is a girl’s shame
and love “a misfortune that may

_ happen to the most discreet wo-

man,” are burlesquing the cor-
ruption of the gentry.

And the tunes to which his
simple lyrics are’ sung are all
popular songs and traditional mel-
odies of the period.

To Gay’s achievements have
now been added a variety of first-
rate talents. Christopher Fry has
added some dialogue and songs.
Peter Brook has come from the
stage to direct with style, though
sometimes a little slowly, in a
notably warm Technicolor.

This is not Tne Beggar’s Opera
as Gay wrote it, but it has been
transferred to the screen with
vigor and considerable charm.

It would be even better if some
of the charm and whimsicality
had not been so overdone as to
rob the piece of much of its
sharpness.

Despite the rascality of the
characters this is The Beggar’s
Opera in smart clothes, disinfect-
ed and perfumed.

‘

Magozine reports world youth events

WHEN Steve Endicott, former leader of the
National Federation of Labor Youth in B.C.,
visited India recently, his impressions of that
country were described

Magazine.

The Youth Friendship League, 25 Cumber-
land Street, Toronto, is now the Canadian
agent for this magazine which is the official
organ of the World Federation of Democratic
Youth. The rate is $1 a year, and 500 new
subs are being sought.

World Youth Magazine is a lively journal
with a wide appeal.
_ stamps, films and dancing are regularly featur-
ed. A recent issue carrried a discussion on the
question of love and marriage. Such questions
as “Should a wife work?” and “Should husband

and wife share joint NS for house-
work?” were debated.

Not long ago the first Transvaal Youth
Festival’ for Peace and Friendship was held on
a farm near Johannesburg, South Africa. In a
country where race hatred
African, Indian and Chinese young people met,
danced, sang and talked together for two days.
First full report on this historic gathering was
published in World Youth Magazine.

in World Youth

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