Some Books of the Week
IN his introduction to Punch and Judy (Allen and Unwin, 3s. 6d.) Mr. C. H. Grandgent says : We begin to understand why Mr. Punch is so popular with us all, and why he appeals most irresistibly to the young. It is because we see in him the fulfilment of our repressed desires. He is the Spirit of Revolt. Mr. Punch is not only the hero—he is also the typical superman, the supreme Self-Expressionist." Yet the average reader, looking at Mr. George Cruikshank's century-old illustrations, will see no superman, but an old friend—the raucous, terrifying villain of his childhood. He will hear once more Mr. Punch's high-pitched titter, " He ! He ! He ! " as he throws away the baby, and will be thankful to meet him again. The text of Mr. Grandgent's Punch and Judy follows a version of the puppet play that is more than a century old, and is longer and less refined than the one that is now (so rarely, alas !) played at the street corners. It is an altogether admirable production, and the black-and- yellow cover might have been chosen by Punch himself.
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