17 SEPTEMBER 1932, Page 26

The subject matter of this vigorously written and very readable

little book, Shakespeare Through Eastern Eyes (Herbert Joseph, Bs.), falls into two parts. The first deals with the procedure adopted—it is not wholly different from that which finds favour here—to instil attention to Shakespeare in the Indian student, the methods by which his plays (in forms which neither their author nor a Western audience would recognize) are presented on the Indian stage, existing transla- tions, and so on. The second part is critical : but the indifferent arrangement of the author's material makes it difficult to distinguish between those opinions which are set out as his and those which are held by the normal educated Hindu. Both attitudes are coloured by the dogma, endemic to Indian culture, that " Art is Religion " ; unless this is implicitly to be accepted, the claims which are made, both for and against Shakespeare, are critically valueless.