Current Literature
OH ! YOU ENGLISH By D. F. Karaka Literary invasions of England by missionary foreigners, of which the first in recent years was that of the sprightly and malicious Dr. Renter, are becoming increasingly frequent— and, alas I decreasingly entertaining. It seems a pity that Mr. Karaka should have added to their number, because in his previous book, The Pulse of Oxford, in his term of office as President of the Union, and in some of his random incursions into journalism, he has shown himself to possess distinctive ability, an enquiring mind, and an individuality which should not be satisfied by mere imitation. But Oh ! You English (Muller, 5s.) is a sorry enough production, of which it is difficult to find anything to say in praise. It is intended to be an indictment of Western civilization, in particular of England, but it has been so poorly executed that if it is an indictment of anything, it is so of something quite other than that which Mr. Karaka intended. Mr. Karaka's criticism is rarely more than superficial, he permits himself countless highly vulnerable generalizations, and where he is unexceptionable he is generally platitudinous. He is sardonic at the expense of Bayswater lodgings and the Englishman's devotion to sport, is pained by the dreariness of London's night-life (and by way of contrast wistfully appreciative of Paris), indignant about the hypocrisy of Society charities, bewildered about sex and abusive about Mr. Churchill. And when he has examined these subjects to his satisfaction he asks us to look in our hearts and declare with him that, because of them, our civilization is on a lower level than that of the noble East ! It is quite possible that the civilization of the West is inferior to that of the East, but Mr. Karaka should have realized that no useful comparison between any two civilizations can be made merely by swapping trivial abuse of their worst features. It is necessary also to . record that, for shortcomings in the book's substance, the reader will find little compensation in Mr. Karaka's prose style.
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