Hors d'CEuvre
WHO is Etiemble? Some will recognise the name as that of an arabist who is also a sinologue, as a literary journalist of charm who in the world of ideas is ever starting hares. His running commentary on an anthology of ex- amples of calligraphy from all times and places is well worth reading. Scripts designed for recording and communicating ideas are in general part phonetic, part ideographic, part calligraphic. This applies as much to the MS of a Bach fugue as to writing proper. While the emphasis here is on beauty of gesture, from pictogram to the runes of Madagascar and the Zen-grams of Mark Tobey or Klee, the special plea is for the misunderstood virtues of the classical Chinese character : the one facet of their reactionary past which the Pekingese of the extreme left have so far been powerless to eradicate. Unlike so many exponents of script systems, Etiemble is fair to all. It is therefore to be regretted that the producers of the English edition have insultingly inverted a lovely piece of cursive Persian, and a quote from the Qu'ran in quadrangular Kufic, hors texte; and in the text itself not only all the Chinese numeral figures, but also the figure for woman.
The visual lure of volcanoes is always worth a camera shot. Plain or coloured, the plates in the second of these volumes will not disappoint. M. Tazieff is an active volcano-fancier as well as an expert on their geology and performance. He stalks and pokes, his enthusiasm is akin to that of the peak-scaler and the speleologue. Laymen may wish to know whether past vol- canic eruptions can be dated to provide evidence for the archaeologist and for the interpretation of myth; and whether major blowings of tops do not modify weather. No help here about questions like that. But these two elegant albums inaugurate a distinguished little French series worth more than frivolous attention. It will be sad if their surface gaiety relegates them to the occasional table, among the cocktail appetisers. They don't go too deeply into anything, but they do promise more than a nine days' wonder.
HUGH GORDON PORT.EUS
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