1959-02-14 — Page 14

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 14, 1959.

A royal exile goes home-to Russia

THE PRIVILEGE WAS MINE, By Princess Zincida Schokovskoy Cope, -161.

by George

NE day in 1917, little Zinuids, born in Mos- cow of a family that had the masters-although helped to rule Russia for them are all masters. 1,000 years, was puzzled by A strange disturbance of the routine at the Empress Catherine Seminary Petro- grad.

Malcolm Thomson

A detachment of the Tso's pātas, armed, clattered into the school. Later, the prayer for the Tar

was Onities The Reva Rukun kind broken out.

and to my

few

OF

Molotov," "a_robot untouched by honours or humiliations, an maty envelope with a can-

stantly changing address."

Yekaterina

Kaganovich, "the only one who resolutely refused to forget my origine."

Furtseva, First Lady of the Soviet Union, known as Catherine III; "She reminded me of the beautiful peasants of Tula,"

રા

3

་

General Y., who was usually I carried her off late exile, tipy, said to her at one diplo-

adventures, of matic

'You're reception; which the stinnifest of all wan Christian, a churchgoer. I'm that, 15 years later, she churchgoer." At that point a returned to the elty of

her vigilant

vilklat whisked the She did so as the wie general away. burth. of a foreign diriomat.

There was,

above all, the fabulous Khrushchev: "The only happy adult I met In the Soviet Union. Intelligence and mischier entivened blà hơnvy

Her Gift

From this rare, remarkable experience her book was born. It is the work of a practised, stilful writer with the Russian elt for evoking wood.

Princers Echakovskoy, upeņk-

fentures.

Behind that burlesque appear- ance lay decision, energy and dangerous for himself and for us-impulsiveness,"

She reports that Khrushchev

in Russian. thinking Russian is unpopular among Russians. but no longer feeling in Rusion,

moved about among the crowd: The search

of Soviet Muscow ("What was

the secret of those dull, with- • One night at dinner he was drawn trees that never seemed placed next to

General Berov:

to bunda), through the empty "Tell me the truth, do I look streets of Soviet Leningrad like a monster?"

He asked if she would like ("xacity as my memory had preserved it; grey and golden, him ind the surviving mem→ St Petersburg with its uscless bora of her family. Bul beauty, ranmhacle and im- princess preferred to enrry out perio").

The search for herself.

Everywhere she was haunted by the past and weighed down by the present.

She writes as an exile and n Christian; he regrets; the die opprovest the Is aware of an Innenre gulf between herself and the Russla át today. And→ "it saddens me that this race, though it is no longer mine, should not be happy.

:ךזה

Hers is the record of A sensitive

honest woman, blused, no doubt, but with eyes that see deeper than most into Russian realities.

the

It began with a study of the Moscow telephone directory. "One solitary Trubetskay, but nu Obolenskys, Shcherbatovs, Baryntinskys, Schakovskoys, or Volkenskys." At length Տ talked to a cousin on the tele- phone;' nearer than that she could not get.

From the one member of the old nubBity she did succeed In meeting she heard the first words in defence of modern Russia that reached her. One day she brought him a bottle of champagne And tia of tole

She talked with people she gras met in the streets and chops, I with her housebelp, appointed to spy on her, with the student who wore "Teddy Bay" clothes to show ha dislike of the glme.

She met the privileged class—— the Russions who con give £30,000 for n gem, the favoured writers who get more money thom they can spend. She met

suddenly found myself witnessing the ploient awaken- ing in this man's memory of a life he had learned to forget. I saw him struggling with regrets that he considered unworthy."

When Princess Shakovskoy spoke pessimistically about the future of the Russians, ክ። answered with R quotation: There is little light in them

but a great deal of warmth." Some of the murky ght has found its way to this hostalgle book, And some of the warmth,

ISLAND HAVOCI THE PRIVATE SEA. By Peter

Mayne. Murray 18s.

south of TREE hours sail

Athens is the island of Poros, on which Mayne bas sel a lighthearted

atory, a tragi- comerly, partly true, purtly Bction.

It describes how Julic, a beautiful und rich young Ameri- enn girl creature from the glossy magazines rather than the

causes havoc among

young men of Forus.

The Greek male is a patriarch by Instinct and tradition; he is promiscuous and polygamous, Since the girls are well aware of this, there is little companion- ship between the sexes and, on small island like Ports the young men are driven almost dotty by continence, as Mayno, puts 11.

Julle, who rems to adore this

THE ROBERT PITMAN BOOK PAGE

Mr

Another oath exploded. Behan tald: "Heat,

nothing. I was tight. Blanking light."

enough to let me know the cir cumstances which prevented you from using it."

Behan of Dublin makes the potted plants shake

Dublin.

WHEN I was first married my mother asked me: 'Are you missing my cooking, Brendan?' 'Sure,' I replied, 'and I'm missing the belly-ache that always followed it'." Mr Brendan Behan, playwright and author, put down his gin and laughed. In the Dublin bar the gilded glass partitions trembled.

Bu! I was not trembling. Despite Mr Behan's rumbustious reputation, I felt fine. It was nearly midday. We had visited five other bars since the morn- ing started.

Before midnight we visit many more.

would

erlife

Why? Why should a come to Dublin in order to car- ry out such a programme?

problem, creates new ones,

Well, look at the extra- Out of an elementary situa-ordinary story of the man I had tion, Mayne, a witty welter, come to see. At 13 Brendon wrings the last ounce of mild Francis Behan left school. At entertainment in this thin and If he was convicted at Liverpool elever book.

for being found with IR.A. dynamite in his lodgings.

VIGNETTES OF LIFE

"HOW MUCH TRADE-IN ON

MY OLD

BUS ?"

"I'LL GIVE YOU

'A NEW THREE-SPEED

RECORDER AND

TEN POLLARS

CASH!“

"WE'LL TOW IT -AWAY FOR TEN

BUCKS!"

~London Express Service).

THE TOP SIX

WHAT LONDON IS READING

RAHAM GREENE'S "entertainment," Que man in Havana, topped the 1st of best sellers London during last week. Previous week's positions in brackets; Action marked with an asterisk.

1-Our Man In Havana

Graham Greene. 2-The

** King Must Mary Renault (1). 3-Hornblower in the West Indies* C. 8. Forestor (2).

Borla

Great,

4-Dr Zhivago*,

Pasternak (3), G-Elizabeth the

Elizabeth Jenkins. -Elotce In Paris,

Kay

Thompson. Coupled with the co-opera- tion of the Army and Navu Stores Bumus, roles

Farro, Hatchards, Seifridnes W. II. Smith & Son, and ike Times Bookthen.

BIG DEALS

"NOPE!

-London Express Service).

CONVICTED

at

At 19 he was convicted Dublin for the attempted murder of two police officers. His Dublin sentence-14 years

Not a promising beginning, you might think, för u literary career. Not the sort of training on which T. S Eliot or Miss Daphne du Maurier based their work.

Yet see where has brought Brendan Behan. Next week his new play The Hostage is pro- duced in London. Like his first play. The Quare Fellow, it is bound to go to New York too.

The week after that his first book appears (BÖRSTAL BOY, Hulchinsons,

His 109.). publishers believe its success will be enormous, I have read it and I agree.

How *have

things these changed Brendan Behan? When he came to London for The Quare Fellows he was wearing on old sports jacket with no tie. As sat with me

in the Dublin bar he was wear- ing an old sports jacket with no e. The grimed collar 08 #1 Den while shirt stretched tightly at Els great neck,

CRITIC GOES

ON RAMPAGE.

WITH EXPERT

Beatrice Beban whispered to me: **They shut him up in room before the broadcast. Flub they were stupid ́enough to leave a botils of whiskey in The room ton." -

Ilehan nale: The next day people kept stopping me in the street. A bus driver halted his

bus and shouted: 7 saw you last night, Paddy. couldn't understand a word you said. But

never mind. I couldn't under- I never can." stand ruddy Muggeridge either,

Under the glittering chando- Hers Bolan laughed. He began to sing snatches of Irish rebel songs. With bread he mopped at the gravy on his plate. Then, while a roomful of genteel faces turned in our direction, Behan slowly raised his dinner plate and poured the rest of the gravy, into is upturned mouth.

TAPPED TIME

were

When we left the hotel the kies

overcast. Behen looked gloomy. He said: With

The hars here are shut from 2.30 to

We left the bar. Through the hotel in time for lunch, Expen- windy streets of Dublin Behan sive cars walted outside. reattered greetings like a king, glazed eyes the doorman looked A toothless old woman cat on at Bohan's uncovered stretch of a step, breathless with walking, brood red neck. Her mengrely alled shopping basket stood beside her, Behan stopped to chat, and left ve shillings in the basket.

In the foyer Behan told me: The last time I was here I was marched out-by two policemen. K.C. hud An Irish

come to A woman with her young address a religious society meet- con stopped us. Behan put ing. He was the K.C, who had money Into the boy's small prosecuted two men in England hand. "Her husband's --although an English Pro- Interned," Behan fold me. testont defended them. "An I.B.A. man,”

We entered another bar.

"Well, he

got up and said: As I've come to speak about the we drank Behon said: "People Blessed Martyr Thomas More. put all sorts of stories round. I shouted: 'And I've come to martyrs They've said I've cut myself oft speak about the two from my mother. That's non- you sent down.' I tried to sense. Why, she cften comes him, but they stopped me." out with me on the booze." We

moved on again. AL O

ANOTHER OATH' dbor marked "House of Mercy" Bren-

hit

But al

3.00. We call it the Holy Hour

The politician that Introduced In the Dail was shot dead an hour afterwards"

In Belan's typewriter I this reply:--

Dear for N. H. Briant,

30W

I don't know that it matters, but we misaet the train from Paddington and had to travel from Euston to Liverpool.

If you do want to give me back my twelve quid, do so. If you need it, keep 41.

I am not depending on li... God help any poor traveller that

1001.

I have more to do than be Gustering your silly letters. Send the noney or don't.

My time is valuable, I am tually paid more than twelve wicker for writing as much a chin.

for Brendan Behan,

BRENDAN BEHAN,

THE DAY THE SEAS

RAN DRY...

By RICHARD LISTER

In a tax we rattled out across cobbled stresía ană dis- used tramlines to a shabby council house estate. We reached the house where Behan's mother lives. Inside THE TIDE WENT OUT. By botiles of Guinness

Charles Eric Maine. Hod- fetched out for us.

dor and Stoughton. 121. In a sweet,

6d. clear voice the

course

were

songs

Bcross

elderly lady sang the which I had heard in matches THIS is a specimen of from her son. As his foot fondly science fiction by one time, I knew I had of its more serious expon- 1apped found the final ingredient In the Behan mixture the mixture ents. This means that it nf toughness, exhibitionist, does not dabble in fantastic warmth which had brought him monsters

and shapeless success as a writer. don knocked. To the elderly We entered the restaurant.

things, but that it tries to hun who opened it Behan hand- We had been joined by Behan's

little way push a HIS LATEST ed money. She looked bemused wife, Bentrice-quiet, sweet-

the boundaries of our pro at the tousled, tie-icss Behan. faced, smartly dressed.

Writing? Of He told me: "The old girl prob- the sight of her husband a hush

Behan sent scientific knowledge ably thought I had come for

and hardly found much time and see what happens there. a fell on the diners.

to talk about that But later, hand-out."

Loudly Behan ordered wine. amid the confusion of his

Suppose that the biggest of Gaelle oaths echoed among the ground-floor flat in Dublin, I the H-bombs tested THE INSULTS

potted plants. Then, while did see his latest piece of prose, Pacife were to fracture the walters hovered at a discreet

ocean bod; what would happen Across the broad, deserted distance, Behan dealt clutter- It was a letter to British as the level of the seas gradually roads we wolked on Nearby Ingly with a plate of oysters,

Railways.

ark? Such is the banla of Mr. two boys with a football shout- I remembered the Ume when Behan had claimed a refund Maine's latest novel "and t ed at Behan in Gaelic.

an almost speechless Behan had on a ticket to Fishguard. But makes the horrors that follow ""Inquite," sald Behan proudly, been interviewed by Muggeridge an official, algning himself "for credible by showing them "You couldn't print what those on television.

N. H. Brant," had written: through the eyes of a two kids have just callød me." In the restaurant I asked: "Before giving consideration to vincingly ordinary main char- By way of various bars we "Were you affected by the heat your claim for a refund I should acter. reached Dublin's most glittering in the TV studio?"

be glad if you would be good

Trade-Ins

GENEROUS TRADE-IN „ALLOWANCE ON YOUR.

OLD EQUIPMENT ·

"THIS CAR WAS NEVER.

DRIVEN BY THE OWNER –

HE DIDAY

→ KNOW HOW!"

”—A REAL ŠTRAL !

IT'S SO NEW IT

ISN'T EVEN NATURALIZED S

USED [FOREIGN

CARS

цени

CON. THE IT SUNERAL PRATURRE

A TO Z NETWORK

PRIVATE

By Harry Weinert

་

"I'D LIKE TO TRADE IN THE THREE HUNDRED

HANDBAGS PRIZE

FOR SOMETHING' TO PUT IN 'EM {“

TV PRIZE WINNER.

WHERE'S THE

CAN OPENER?

· EASY—"FIRST" ¡YOU BUY A CHEAP |ONE=THEN YOU

USE IT'AS A DOWN PAYMENT. JON SOMETHING

BETTER -."

THEN

I SWAPPED

IT FOR A COOK...

BOOK /

First hint

In

the

COM-

Phillip Wade is a moderately successful journalist, ⚫ rather weak pleasant fellow, who is un- faithful to his wife and rather wishes he weren't, who drinka 100 much but not enough to damage his capacities.

He edits an illustrated weekly and the first hint of trouble comes when a consorship ban is clamped down on his leading feature which has inadvertently El on the true expienation of the wave of earthquakes which have been devastating the Far East and have even reached Ergland.

From then on, things movo rapidly to disaster. The oceans are slowly but steadily ruming cut, Trade gradually decreases. Unemployment mounts. The threat of starvation is round the

corner.

The Ardde will eventually be the only place left with a supply of water. It is there that the Goyentiment have established the camps to which they are sending the small number, of selected survivors. The rest will have to be left to their fate.

On the list

Philip Wade, by virima of a fob in the propaganda departe, ment,, is one of the lam on the sectod list. His department is part of the rearguard left to do what can be done to keep things going fill the last minute.

80 from the comparative security of the

government watch - civilisation plague and fire follow famine.

Fone we dlsintegrating

The author leads us up to the aby, stage by stage, con- vincingly enough. “. But his descriptive powere ATO not (lucky perhaps equal to the anal horrors, and he turns his novel into a thriller. But it 201 still an interesting ons.

...

By an aecidas Wade gets separated from his collesTION on evacution day, and for-48 'horrifying hours, he has to Join the naked struggle for, exhalen.cm in an abandoned world, where, survival has become the only Vak.

Anda

good point, mede--he has to discover "In. 1.2is :; dompersiively "mild soa civilised self the yuthinamem which will enable him. tó SEA his way all too literally to the

EARL

BIRD

SPECIA