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Notes on Current Books


ISSUE:  Spring 1944

Biography & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Persons and Places, by George Santayana.

Whatever George Santayana touches he adorns, makes luminous in thought and expression. Rarely docs one find in these days so happy a union of matter and manner, such mellowness of thought and style. “Persons and Places” is a book of memories and opinions covering Santayana’s early years in his native Spain, his boyhood in Boston, and his student days at Harvard. It is a fascinating bit of portraiture by a man who inherited the romantic traditions of old Spain and who lived for a time in the afterglow of American Puritanism. He constantly harked back to little Avila, where his Spanish father lived; meanwhile he himself was studying and forming friendships in his mother’s adopted city of Boston, though he was essentially a lonely and meditative soul. He managed to combine into a sort of spiritual synthesis old world and new world backgrounds; be was convinced, however, that “fixity of tradition, of custom, of language is a prerequisite to complete harmony in life and mind.” As a poet, philosopher, and one-book (“The Last Puritan”) novelist, he found variety in his dual attachments, Protestant America and Catholic Spain, and this spiritual dualism furnished food for his philosophy and colored his diction. He himself is cosmopolitan, but there is much more of the old world in him than of the new. Happily, we arc promised a continuation of these autobiographical sketches in another volume.  Scribner’s $8.60

A Professor at Large, by Stephen Duggan.

At the end of the first World War there was established, largely through the instrumentality of Elihu Root and Nicholas Murray Butler, the Institute of International Education to promote understanding and good-will between tbe United States and foreign countries. Dr. Stephen Duggan became its director, which post he still holds. If there is little good-

will among nations today, it is not Dr. Duggan’s fault. He worked zealously at his job, and between 1919 and 1989 was responsible for sending several thousand American students to study abroad and in bringing more than 2500 foreign student} to study in the United States. The In-stitute has brought also hundreds of distinguished foreign scholars to lecture in our universities and has aided many refugee scholars and students. This book is an account of Dr. Duggan’s activities in all parts of the world in behalf of the Institute, interspersed with an interpretation of foreign cultures. At home lie dealt largely with private agencies, but abroad his relationships were with government officials, and the book is packed with anecdotes of men in high place.

Macmillan

Clemenceau, hy Geoffrey Bruun.

“Note carefully what I tell you. In six months, a year, five years, ten years, when they wish and as they wish, the Bodies will invade us.” Thus spake an embittered Clemenceau in 1927. He had been a life-long student of the Franco-German problem, and the German danger was an unchanging obsession with him, For his fears he was assailed before and after the first World War, and in view of the revival of German militarism, Mr, Bruun’s biography of the Tiger is of peculiar interest. Clemenceau, a son of (ke rugged Vendee, graduated in medicine in 1805, and came to the United States in the same year. Here he remained for four years and married an American woman. Mr. Bruun tells little of the Frenchman’s early years, but the biography does not purport to be definitive. Distinguished by fine writing and J scholarly approach, it is a reappraisal of Clemenccau’s place in modern history, with special emphasis on his activities during the first World War and in foe ensuing Peace Conference. To tbe thoughtful reader, the book will suggest several disturbing parallels.

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Jfwim Litvinoff, by Arthur Uphntn Pope.

Soviet foreign relations and the role of Russia in world politics arc recounted ia the career of Maxim Litvinoff. Acknowledging that “the life of a statesman cannot be fully recorded while he j, siiU at the height of his career,” Mr. Pope ha3 woven the available speeches ant! documentary materials into a story which depicts the high ideals of the man and his diplomacy.  Fischer $8.50

My Revolutionary Years: The Autobiography of Madame Wei Tao-Ming.

This concise and spirited account is more than the autobiography of one of China’s foremost citizens. It is tbe story of events connected with the emergence of the Kuomintang and with the astonishing development in the status of women in China. Deeply serious, Madame Wei speaks for an optimistic, freedom-loving people.  Scribner’s $2.15

The New Sun, by Taro Yashima.

A Japanese anti-fascist here tells in a series of some three hundred black and white drawings the story of his life as an artist, of his struggle against Japanese militarism, and of the imprisonment and suffering of himself and his wife. Not always clear in his ideas, he nevertheless hates the imperialists of his country with a passion which leads him into bitter caricature. It is unfortunate that because of omission and incoherence of parts, his account should lack the impressiveness which in its sincerity it seems to deserve.

Holt $2.76

Tchaikovsky, by Herbert Weinstock.

Within the past twenty years so much new biographical material about Tchaikovsky has been discovered that the publication of a new life of the composer has been inevitable. Mr. Weinstock is the first to write an extended biography in English based upon this new material. He has done a competent piece of work, and this volume will undoubtedly be the standard biography for some time to come. “I a laudable attempt to deal objectively with this most subjective of composers, die author at times gives the impression oHeing out of sympathy with his subject. ” this seeming indifference be a fault *’

The Plain Man’s Guide to the Key Issue of the War and the Post’War World

PEACE by POWER

Hy LIONEL GELBER

“An articulate and honest statement in defense of the status quo raised to the level of a post-war system.”—-New Republic. “Mr. Gclbcr’s tough-minded little book redresses the balance of much discussion of peace programs.”-—N. Y. Times Rook Review. “Sharp and incisive, thoughtful and brilliant.”-—Saturday Review of Literature. $1.50

Winner of the Southern Author’s Award for 1943

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN

Confederate Statesman

By ROBERT DOUTHAT MEADE

“The most illuminating biography of ‘the Brains of the Confederacy’ that has yet come from the presses.”—A7. F. Herald ‘Tribune Boole Review. “This biography is compact, impartial and exhaustive. It gives us a skilful picture of a striking Civil War personality, and for all its candor is by no means devoid of sympathetic warmth.”—Saturday Review of Literature. $3.75

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1 Id Fifth Avenue New York 11

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xxccvii is excusable, since Tchaikovsky has suffered too often at the hands of the overly emotional writer. The excellent list of compositions, the bibliography and the indexes are not the least valuable parts of the book.  Knopf $6

Charles T. Griff es; the Life of an American composer, by Edward M. Maisel.

The years which have passed since the death of Charles Griffes have done little to dull the beauty of the music which he wrote, and although he may not ultimately rank with the greatest of American composers, his work is of sufficient importance to merit the present detailed and sympathetic biography. Mr. Maisel has written with understanding of the man and his music. It is to he hoped that the volume will stimulate further interest in Griffes’ music, particularly in the all too rarely performed songs. Knopf $3.50

The Autobioe/raphy of Joseph Addison Turner, 1826-1808.

The subject of this brief autobiographical sketch was a lawyer, a farmer, a politician, a publisher, and a minor literary figure of Central Georgia in the period just before and during the Civil War. He was a contributor to the Southern Literary Messenger, DcBow’s Review, and other journals. He wrote poetry and essays but his main claim to fame is that the youthful Joel Chandler Harris came, for a time, under his influence, This sketch, reprinted from the pages of one of Turner’s publications, is simple, frank and revealing, Turner was probably a fairly typical Southerner of his generation, but he does not fit the usual picture of such a character.

Emory University Publications 50 cents

James Moore Wayne, Southern Unionist, by Alexander A. Lawrence.

Wayne was a Georgian “who made love of the Federal Union the governing principle of his political and judicial career.” After serving as Mayor of Savannah, Judge of Circuit Courts, and Congressman, he was appointed by President Jackson to the Supreme Court where he played a significant part in the expansion of the

jurisdiction of federal courts. Particularly interesting is his connection with the Dred Scott decision, and the dramatic days of 1801 when his son went South to fight while Wayne remained in Washington. The lack of Wayne manuscripts makes the picture sketchy and the overload of judicial cases makes it dull in spots, but the biography does portray a gentleman of the South representative of many of his times.  North Carolina $$

Celestial Homespun: The Life of Isaac Thomas flecker, by Kathcrine Burton.

A sympathetic portrait of one of the most interesting and likable Brook Farm-Concord social reformers of a century ago, whose questioning and seeking led him to embrace Roman Catholicism, to become a priest in the Redcmptorist order, and ultimately to establish a distinctively American missionary order, that of the Paulist Fathers. Mrs. Burton, herself a com-crt to the same church, writes of this Yankee priest for the general reader with understanding and appreciation, and with little of the over-zealous partisanship that so often mars works on religious subjects, Unfortunately, the value of her portrait for the student of our cultural history is lessened considerably by her resort to such devices as invented conversations and by her failure to point up, by a fuller and more critical development of the ecclesiastical and social background, the significance of Hecker’s insistence upon the compatibility of Catholicism and American democratic institutions.

Lone/mans, Green $$

Orestes Brownson, by Theodore Maynard, To this generation the New England transccndentalists, with the exception of Emerson, are little known. Of late years, however, Margaret Fuller and Dromon Alcott have found competent biographers. The most picturesque and vocal of the religionists and philosophers associated in the public mind with that group was Orestes Brownson, whom his latest hiog-raphcr labels “Yankee, Radical, Catholic.” After uneasy allegiance to several Protestant sects, Brownson in middle life became a Catholic, and to his connection

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vjth this faith Dr. Maynard, himself a Catholic convert from Protestantism, devotes nearly three-fourths of his hook. fjrownson, vigorous editor and lecturer jnd a roaring controversialist, was much given to the logic-chopping and metaphysical shadow boxing which characterized theological discussion a century ago. He was an able political philosopher who had a genius for stirring up hornets’ nests in church and state, as his co-religionists well know. The present biography is fnllv and carefully documented, the work of a thoughtful scholar who knows his man and his church. For the general reader of today, however, who shies at tendencies toward tacdium theologicum, expositions of Brownson’s philosophical and theological views are of far less interest than more intimate revelations of his ebullient personality. Macmillan $8

Good Night, Sweet Prince, by Gene Fowler.

For sheer entertainment there have been few biographies to equal Gene Fowler’s life of John Barrymore. The author knew Barrymore well and loved, and admired him, He has told his story with an abundance of anecdote and no inhibitions. The earlier part of the book is laid in Philadelphia with the household of the, elder Mrs. John Drew as the setting. The whole tribe of Drews and Barry-mores supply the narrator with a roistering variety of vigorous lives. Barryrnore’s grandmother and his father arc especially (fell portrayed. There is much comedy and not a little pathos in the story of this “heart-break Hamlet.” but the final effect is one of tragedy, Mr. Fowler has the reporter’s art of making the reader see what he has seen and the. vivacious manner of narration of the good raconteur. His hook deserves a great current popular success and will have lasting value for students of the history of the theatre.

Viking $8.60

WAR & PEACE Common Cause, by G. A, Borgese.

Here is a challenge to America and “dtain, together with Russia, to rise to real vision in the crisis of our times. A leading historian and philosopher, Professor Borgese carefully examines the causes

WALTER CLARK

FIGHTING JUDGE

By Aubrey Lee Brooks. Tho story of n great “dissenter”—who fifty years ngo advocated the eight-hour day, property rights for women, mid lashed out against the monopolies and child labor interests.

Illustrated, $3.00

PATRICK GEDDES

MAKER OF THE FUTURE

By Philip Boardman, with n Foreword by Lcwi9 Mumford. The life and work of a pioneer in city and regional planning, source of many of the ideas now current among planner*.  April 8, $5.00

JUSTICE AND WORLD SOCIETY

By Laurence Sfaplclou. How can Nazism be criticized and condemned if no universally valid idea of justice exists? How did this concept disappear from the social sciences?  March 11, $2.00

THE LEAGUE TO ENFORCE PEACE

By Buhl J. Bartlett. The story of a powerful peace movement at the close of the first World War, of tlie organization that hncked Wilson’s plans, of how those plans were wrecked, and who did the wrecking.

March 4, $3.00

THE ROAD TO SALEM

By Adelaide L, Fries. Illustrated, $4.00

PRACTICAL FARMING FOR THE SOUTH

By Benjamin F. Bullock.

Illustrated, March 18, $2.50

MACHIAVELLI’S THE PRINCE

Edited by Hardin Craig March 25, $3.50

HAWTHORNE THE ARTIST

By Leland B. Schubert. March 25, $3.50

The University of North Carolina Press

CMAPIl HH^J h}c.

wwoticc of the war, the characteristics of our present concepts, and convincingly outlines the common philosophy which is basic common action if we would reject tbe domination of a world empire, such as Nazism implies, and renounce a return to chaos. This is a deeply significant book, beautifully written, and well rooted in our heritage and in the realities of today. It deserves wide attention and discussion.

Ducll, Sloan # Pearce $3.50

Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, by Harold J. Laski.

Laski sees our time as a political and economic revolution of which the war is but a symptom. Systematically and ambitiously extending ideas expressed in his earlier works, he analyzes with considerable objectivity the Russian revolution, the significance of Fascism (perhaps treated too exclusively in economic terms), and the mixed-up currents of dying capitalism. Laski suggests, too, the basis of a better democracy in which a more just national economy would promise a foundation for improved international co-operation. His keen and brilliant dissection is often marred, alas! by his involved and obscure style.  Viking $3.50

The Pillars of Security, by Sir William H. Beveridge.

On the authority of Beveridge the fact-gatherer, Beveridge the advocate makes a cogent case for social measures against Want, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. In the light of the twenty-two essays and addresses included here, the famous “Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services” is seen as part of a larger scheme for British social reform, More fully elaborated than in the “Report” is Beveridge’s belief in his plan as a stimulus to help win the war: “Democracies, like Cromwell’s armies, need to know what they fight for and to love what they know.” ’  Macmillan $2.50

Empire, by Louis Fischer,

Mr. Fischer’s attention is devoted especially to India, for which he. advocates a guarantee now of complete freedom after the war. No attempt is made to

examine exhaustively the problem of inj. perialism or the complexities of the In. dian question, although Mr. Fischer pre-sents some interesting information gathered during his recent visit to India. To assure the welfare and advancement of the more backward colonies he recommends international control. The full co-operation of the colonial peoples in this war, and a genuine peace following it, cannot be attained without the dissolution of empires. While this thesis is not new, the virtue of this little book lies in its timeliness and in the eloquence, sincerity, and logic of its attack upon im-peralism. Ducll, Sloan ty Pearce $1

Mother America, by Carlos P. Romulo.

In “Mother America” Colonel Romulo, outstanding Philippine journalist, presents a forceful and provocative plea for the end of an imperialist system which brought to tbe Far Fast the hated dominance of the white man, with his racial arrogance, economic exploitation, and political authority. This imperialism led to disaster when the colonial peoples, excepting the Filipinos, refused to support the Western powers against Japan. Colonel Romulo’s contention, deserving of widespread consideration, is that America has offered, in the successful program of Philippine evolution toward independence which he describes, a unique solution to the problem of Asiatic imperialism. Extension of the Philippine experience, which has won respect for America in the East, to other colonial areas would, he hopes, foster harmony between the East and the West Doubleday, Doran #50

Behind the Steel Wall, by Arvid Fred-borg.

Here is news from inside Germanji authentic and encouraging. Arvid Fred-borg, who was Berlin correspondent fori leading Stockholm daily until he was warned to leave the Reich last spring, has set down vivid and exciting first hand impressions of how war’s fury affected Germany’s people from the June, 1911* attack on Russia up to the Allied invasion of Italy. Writing of what he has seen and heard, Mr. Fredborg describes the difficulties of newspaper work in Germany, balances Nazi power against underground opposition, praises the efficiency of Allied military intelligence, appraises the declining strength of the Wehrmaeht, and adds a few pointed suggestions on the making of the peace. Viking $8

Makers of Modem Strategy, edited by Edward Mead Earlc.

This book is one of the by-products of the seminar on military affairs which Edwin Mead Earh: has been conducting at the Institute for Advanced Study these past few years. These chapters by military, naval, economic, and political experts tell the story of developing military thought from Machiavelli to Hitler, giving appropriate space to such non-military men as Adam Smith, Marx, Trotsky, and Clemenceau, but excluding many important military leaders such as Marlborough, Lee, Jackson, Grant, and Sherman “either because they were more tacticians than strategists or because they bequeathed to posterity no coherent statement of strategical doctrine.”

Princeton $8,16

Beyond Victory, edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.

“What will man do with his new opportunities after the war?” To find an answer to her question Dr. Anshen has obtained the advice of experts from many lands. In her introduction the author says she is seeking agreement about basic, changeless principles toward which “the inner dynamism of necessity can be our only guide.” After her nineteen contributors have made thought-provoking comment on various segments of the broad problem, Dr. Anshen voices doubt that the right question needed to evoke the right answer has been discovered.

Harcourt, Brace $8.60

Toward a Better World, by Jan Christiaan Smuts.

In this collection of twenty-one of his outstanding speeches delivered during the period from 1017 to 1918, Field Mar-

shal Smuts, Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, sets forth his views on a wide variety of subjects. These range from the race problem in South Africa to the League of Nations, from biologj to his own contribution to philosophic theory, “holism.” Although the introductory historical and biographical material is too sketchy, the speeches provide an insight into the constructive and humanitarian ideas of a most eminent statesman, scientist, fighter, and philosopher of on? time.  Ducll, Sloan <y Pearce $$.11

H1STOHY

Freedom’s Ferment, by Alice Felt Tyler.

This is a study of the various cults and reform movements that developed in the, United States between 1800 and 1860. Revivalistie religions and humanitarian crusades furnish most of the materials, with such groups as the communistic societies, the Millcritcs, spiritualists, Rap-pists, Mormons, Shakers, and abolitionists coming in for serious consideration, It is difficult for most writers to avoid facetiousness in dealing with many of these manifestations of the early American mind. Not so with Professor Tyler, She treats them all as significant manifest* tions in the development of the life of the nation. But her seriousness is not deadly. The human element comes to the fore in all her discussions, and her narrative is as entertaining as it is instructive. This is certainly one of the best boolo yet produced in the field of social historv.

MhinCSOttt $

The, Complete Jefferson, containing hit major writings, published and unpublished, except his letters. Assembled and arranged by Saul K. Padovcr.

This fat volume of thirteen hundred pages is a compilation of Jeffcrsonl major writings, drawn almost without exception from his published works, and arranged without explanatory background commentary under the headings of politic* and government; speeches; books, jour* nnls, and essays; religion, science, and

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philosophy; education; and personal papers. Although two poems not written by Jefferson are included, the documents on the whole arc well-selected, and each is given in full. It is far from being “The Complete Jefferson”—for that one must await the promised fifty-volume Princeton edition, which will of course include the private letters so essential to an understanding of the man.

Duell, Sloan ty Pearce $5

Jefferson and the Press, by Frank L. Mott.

This little book attempts “to bring together in epitome Jefferson’s philosophy of tbe press and to recount briefly bis experiences with the newspapers of his times.” Jefferson, says Mr. Mott, “stands out as the foremost exponent in history of the necessity of a free press in any system of popular or democratic government. No other man has stated that principle so well.” Here the facts are collected and arranged to prove Mr. Mott’s statement, and here is refutation of the charge that Jefferson was inconsistent in his attitude toward the press. This is a worthwhile contribution to tbe literature of tbe bicentennial.  Louisiana State $1

Free Negro Labor and Property Holding in Virginia, 1880-18G0, by Luther Porter Juckson.

A first-rate, monograph, sponsored by tbe American Historical Association, which will force a revision of views commonly held respecting the economic status of the free Negro in the thirty years preceding the Civil War. In spite of general hostility and drastic restrictive laws, the free Negroes of Virginia made remarkable progress during this period. They were enabled to do so because of the economic revival that began about 1830. Diversified and scientific farming, tbe growth of commercial manufactures, and of transportation facilities caused an increasing demand for their labor, and this demand nullified the severity of discriminatory laws. The author, who is professor of history at Virginia State College, ex-

amines with scholarly minuteness tlielcgj) status of the free man of color in a sl «t economy, the impact of the economic revival on labor, the occupations of the fr « Negro in town and country, and the gaim made in property holding. Contrary it the usual opinion, these gains were impressive and they were made in the main not by tnulattoes but by blacks. Althoojl restrictive laws seemed to spell their doom, the free Negroes in I860 wen twice as well off as in 1830, and perhapi three times as prosperous as in 1800 oi 1810. Moreover, contrary to the vier that the Negro has made progress in property holding only since the emancipate of the entire race in 1805, the Virginii group of free Negroes held as much land in 1800 as tbe entire race held in this state in 1891.  Appleton-Century $S.U

Jiehind the Lines in the Southern Cot-federacy, by Charles W. Kamsdcll.

The life-work of the late Professor Ramsdell is, at least in part, summarid in these posthumously published lecture*. They constitute the best exposition thai has yet been made of tbe non-military causes of the collapse of the Confederacy, The conclusions arc concise, and to the effect that a disorganized currency and tin; failure of transportation facilities wen the primary causes of defeat. Back of these lay tbe lack of a balanced economy and of experience in dealing with com plicated economic problems.

Louisiana Stale P.

New Viewpoints in Georgia History, hy Albert ]J. Suye.

The first two chapters of this little volume discuss the proprietary period ol Georgia history, the new viewpoint being that there is no evidence that dehtor’l prisons furnished any of the settlers, though some of them landed in such qua’-tcrs after they reached the colony. It is also pointed out that the prohibition ol slavery and of the rum traffic were not “noble experiments,” but “practical” ei-pedients which proved to be impractical The remainder of the volume amounts to

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a constitutional history of Georgia to 1789. Though the last of the colonies, Georgia iras in many ways distinctive, and this 5tudy is helpful in assessing the significance of her institutional peculiarities.

Georgia $2.50

Czechoslovakia in European History, by S, Harrison Thomson.

Here is an effort to trace the development of several of the more acute problems of the most westernized of tbe Serb States, in a competent and sympathetic manner. Mr. Thomson has carefully examined historical origins of the present difficulties, and has wisely related them lo the whole European picture from the Middle Ages to the present, considering as he does so, Czechoslovakia’s contacts with such international organizations as the Holy Roman Empire, the Napoleonic and Mctternich systems, and the prewar alliances of the 1900’s and tbe 1930’s.

Princeton $8.76

.1 Short History of Russia, by B. II. Sumner.

Seven chapters deal with the basic influences which have shaped the destinies of Russia: the frontier, the state, the land, the church, the Slavs, the sea, and the west. It is not so readable as Bernard Pares’ one-volume history of Russia, but a good deal more critical.

licynal and Hitchcock $8.76

The. Soviet Far Fast and Central Asia, by William Mnndcl.

As a part of the Institute of Pacific relations Inquiry Series, this concise and k’cll-documented study carries on the investigations into the political and economic policies of the bar East. It as-scmhlcs and spotlights available information on the natural resources, transportation, population, cultural and economic development, and relation to the present crisis which will help to point out the probable future importance and rhanging policies, Maps, statistical tables, “”d appendices are included. Dial $2.50

The Russian Enigma, Hiamhcrlin,

by William Henry

Mr. Clminhcrlin starts untangling the Plli «lc that is Russia by giving a running

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George h. Newton —cManager i account of her past heritage, the peoples and the vastness of the land they inhabit, the wars that have swept over them, the absolute autocracy of the government, and the various uprisings that had a climax in the revolution of 1.917. Then he points out the chnnges which he saw as a foreign correspondent through the next stormy period up to the present and looks to the future of Russia, offering some speculations about her role in a postwar world. It is an easy reading introduction to a rich country. Scribner’s $2.76

A Literary Journey through Wartime Britain, by A. C. Ward.

In the lover of English literature this short pilgrimage evokes two emotions, one of gladness that he once saw these shrines intact and the other of sadness at their mutilation or destruction. Along with this goes a prayer of thankfulness that so many escaped. St. Paul’s looms wounded among the ruins, Canterbury is badly scarred, the great Abbey likewise, St. Mary le Bow is gutted, the Inner Temple wrecked; but John Milton at St. Giles is only thrown from his pedestal and Samuel Johnson still sits outside the roofless St. Clement Dane’s. Outside of London, monuments and buildings fared better. Those memorials that are left and those capable of restoration arc still numerous enough to tell the vivid and heroic story of “this sceptered isle.” Mr. Ward’s little volume is an artistic, timely, and cheerful sketch of battered England and her monuments.  Oxford $2

Literary England. Photographs by David I’i. Schcrman and Descriptive Text by Richard Wilcox.

In the. preface that he has written for this book, Christopher Morley recalls that “When I was a boy on a bicycle exploring England, more than thirty years ago, I wrote among earnest notes of ambition a memo that a wonderful book of English literature could be made, with bicycle and kodak.” This is not that text book, but, with its fifty photographs and

their accompanying descriptions and appropriate quotations, it makes a brave start in that direction. Tbe photographs range from Stonehenge and Tintagcl Castle to the Spaniard’s Inn on Ilnmpstcad Heath and what is left of the Thirty-nine Steps. The photographer may be a little too fond of silhouettes; the margins may seem a little generous for a wartime book; but any scrutinizcr will be sure to find much to delight him and make him wish for more. Random

The Earliest English Poetry, A CrHkd Survey of the Poetry Written before Ik Norman Conquest with Illustrative Tram-lotions, by Charles W. Kennedy.

Intelligent readers who lack a knowledge of the first forms of our language sometimes regard Anglo-Saxon poetry a) a small body of verse completely surrounded by scholars—with the scholars noting not as guides but as guards. This impression may be heightened for the fe* who attempt to storm the sanctuary without help. They arc beaten back by vocabulary and grammar and baffled by articles which argue obscure points and apparently have, nothing to do with poetry, Professor Kennedy’s scholarly and readable book should go far toward providing the common reader with the rapport which be has lacked. Surveying the whole field of Anglo-Saxon poetry, Professor Kennedy describes the life out of which the poems came and supplies the frames of reference necessary to an understanding of the individual poems. His ability in criticism and translation has already been proved; his new book shows an unusual skill in synthesis. He summarizes all important scholarship in such a masterly fashion that lie makes an endlessly perplexing task look easy. Doubtless some things are lost in the summary, but the remarkable thing is not what Professor Kennedy may have omitted but what he has been able to include. He does not set out to “popularize,” and the qualities of blurred generality and partial if!’10’ ranee which often belong to that kind of activity certainly do not attach to Ms work. ’ But the’ excellence of his book is that it will serve not only as a survey of

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crly per-ome the ssor t he not ities Kiw-il of his noot vof

jcbolarsliip (one which will be of great jerricc to advanced students of literature

iho rct «rn ^romtncirn °^ *ncamc thrower to the pursuits of peace and tbe {re that burns in the belly of tbe dragon in “Beowulf”) but also as a means of interpretation for tbe intelligent reader tf)io lacks a scholar’s tools. Oxford $8

from Shakespeare to Joyce, by Elmer Edgar Stoll.

That eminent Shakespearean critic, if not the ablest certainly one of the two or three ablest in America, E. E. Stoll, has gathered, in what be predicts will be bis last volume, twenty-one essays on literature and life. In some of these papers he returns to topics that he has discussed before, Lear, Hamlet, Shylock, Jaques, and Falstaff. In others, such as “Poetry and Passions” he ventures upon comparative literature or presents studies of >lmses of Milton as a “romantic.” There a great variety of topics in the essays, ranging through Middleton, Byron, Dickens, and Browning. The essay that will ilcasc conservative readers most (and arouse the ire of certain critics) is entitled “Psychoanalysis in Criticism.” In it Mr. Stoll says be is moved not so much In question “the sanity or the. sensiblcncss” of Joyce as be is of the critics who eulo-pzc him, or else bis own. Many of his readers will have bad Hie same feeling. Mr. Stoll writes a prose that is not easy to read nor does he wear his scholarship lightly. His essays are packed with lliought and based upon great erudition. The best papers in this volume, are, as might be expected, tin; Shakespearean ones, They make a substantial epilogue to Mr, Stoll’s several volumes of Shakespearean studies. Doubleday, Doran $S/tO

The Elizabethan World Picture, bv E. M. Tillyard.

For the “ordinary reader” Mr. E. M. W. Till.vard, the Milton scholar, has attempted in this little book “to extract and npound the most ordinary beliefs about the constitution of the world as pictured die Elizabethan age.” His chief topics ire order, sin, “tbe chain of being,” the ‘orrcs};ondencies. nnd the “cosmic dance.” The ordinary reader may be disappointed m finding the, discussions less easy rcad-

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Virginia Quarterly Review?

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iiiiv ing tlian he may have been led to believe, but he will certainly find them good preparation for a more understanding reading of his Shakespeare, Spenser, or Donne. Mr. Tillyard does not attempt, as Theodore Spencer does in “Shakespeare and tbe Nature of Man.” to indicate the extent to which a changing view of the, universe disturbed tbe Elizabethan, lie rather tries to give the commonplaces so taken for granted that the Elizabethan scarcely thought about them.

Macmillan $1.7f>

Milton’s lioyalism, by Malcolm M. Ross.

Scholars have long recognized in the poems of John Milton a marked dualism of sentiment and imagery, attaching him to two periods. He was a belated Elizabethan, employing Renaissance symbolism and indebted to Spenser, and at the same time a literary Puritan, abhorring the trappings of that kingship of which Elizabethan poets were inordinately fond. In this scholarly study Mr. Ross “attempts to analyze and explain the use of royalist symbolism in the. antiroyalist context of Milton’s poetry.” In Ids earlier verse Milton made free use of the royalist tradition, but in “Paradise Tost” he evidently felt the contradiction between the symbol and the republican idea, though he was unable to free his work from royalist coloring (the epic genre seemed to demand it). In bis later verse, however, he is no longer the singer of royal pomp, but the Puritan saint. Hut even the Puritanism of “Paradise Regained” and “Samson Agonistes” is touched with Renaissance humanism. lie was evidently caught between the afterglow of an old tradition and the sunrise of a new society. This dilemma Mr. Ross discusses acutely and appealingly, with illustrative quotations from the poetry. One willingly agrees with him that the poet’s “royalisui is an involved and difficult thing.”

Cornell $2.M

The. Anulomu of Nonsense, by Yvor Winters.

Winters regards himself as a reactionary in the realm of literary criticism, lie attempts in the four essays of this

work to clarify his own position while attacking the positions of others. Hjj first essay, “Henry Adams, or the Creation of Confusion,” brilliantly traces lion Adams came to regard the universe at meaningless and estimates his worth as a historian. “Wallace Stevens, or the Hedonist’s Progress” contains excellent analyses of several of Stevens’s poems and attempts to show that his Epicurean theories have weakened his art. “T. S, Eliot, or the Illusion of Reaction” argues that Eliot’s conversion to Classicism and Catholicism was merely nominal ami thai he has done no more than reflect chaos, “John Crowe Ransom, or Thunder without God” examines in detail and condemns without exception the bitter’s doctrines. Winters can be very perverse, but he » always readable. Nexv Direction! $

The New Treasuri) of War Poetry, edited by George Herbert Clarke.

“This anthology,” says Professor Clarke in bis introduction, “attempts a poctie survey of the objectives, deeds, and experiences of the United Nations- and ol their subjective defences and advances as well.” The contributors to the volume arc well-known British and American (including Canadian) poets, with a few others less famous; the subjects of the verses are various aspects of the second World War besides general reflections on the conflict and the ultimate victory. Some of the finest war poetry of the past fo »’ years is here; perhaps the most moving section of the book is the one. entitled “The Fallen,” ending with Canadian Agnes Aston Hill’s noble “Recompense.” As in bis “Treasury of War Poetry” ol World War I, Dr. Clarke has made in this new anthology an altogether admirable collection. Tndecd. in range, quality, and variety this volume surpasses the earlier, though in some of the poetry there arc, inevitably of course, cc hoes of the older, Only an editor-poet could so aptly illustrate in these selections his assertion that “the poet’s interpretation of war is a spiritual enterprise, conditioned upon liis peculiar quality rather than upon this or that objective contact.” The motives and significance of the global conflict in its vliilt

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mj phases have been deeply sensed in tee spiritual interpretations.

Houghton Mifflin $3

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lark )oclie [1 fi-id of â– es 3! iliiint

i(l (then

,’erses VorU l the Sow ; four lovinj! (titled Agnes As

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Ctronoh DV ^’au’ Claudel. Translated Sister Mary David, S. S. N. 1). ,h the publication of some of Claudcl’s best Catholic verse, Pantheon increases the debt of gratitude »hich many readers must already feel for Ihc recent, handsome editions of work by ‘e’gny, George, de Coster, and Aragon, is well ns several other modern Continental writers, nil of whom deserve the American recognition now given them for Ihc first time. This sequence of poems inspired by liturgy and celebrating the lives of the saints and the great feast Jays of the. Church year, communicates heantifully a virile mysticism and faith, diy Claudcl writes in long-lined couplets, his language colloquial and earthy. The translations accompanying the French often come verv near their originals in spirit.  ’  Pantheon $2.75

GKNKRAL

The Land of the Great Image, by Maurice Collis.

In retelling the journeys and adventures of a scvcnteenth-ccntury Augustin-ian Friar, named Manriquc, Mr. Collis employs his penetrating and sympathetic knowledge of the East to beautiful advantage. His strange account is of such variety as to embrace. Portuguese conquests and rich settlements in India, astonishing customs and events in the small Indo-Chinese kingdom of Arakan, Catholic and Uuddhist dreams of n world state, the Inquisition at Goa, and the amazing fortunes of the corpse of St. Francis Xavicr. It comes ns an added pleasure that in Ins concluding observations on the “wide, conceptions” sketched in his hook, ti.e author should assume the role of a serious and philosophical historian, contributing to an understanding of tlie present problems facing Asia and America.  Knopf $3

Horace Walpolc: Gardenisl, by Isabel Wakclin Urban Chase. Horace Walpole’s versatility embraced

many interests—art, architecture, writing, printing, gardening, and, to a small extent, politics—and he expressed himself freely on all of these subjects in letters and books. Among his permanent influences gardening ranks high, for it was through his writings and those of his poet-gardener friends that we enjoy the naturalistic gardening prevalent in this country today. Mrs, Chase, lias made a memorable contribution to our knowledge of the part Walpolc played in the informal garden design. Her well-edited “The History of Modern Taste in Gardening” gives us firsthand insight into his concepts of gardening. Her explanatory notes illuminate Walpole’s ideas. In an estimate of Walpole’s contributions to landscape architecture, Mrs. Chase discusses the background of his ideas on landscape design and shows the inter-relations of poetry, landscape painting, and gardening. She discusses tbe part that poets and landscape painters contributed towards molding the ideas of gardenists. Especially well treated are the chapters on Walpole’s ideas on gardening. This required a sound background of landscape gardening as well as of literature in general. Mrs. Chase possesses both of these.

Princeton $3.50

An Irish Journey, by Sean O’Faolain. Specially illustrated by Paul Henry.

There is much to excite and absorb the reader in this acute and sensitive interpretation of Ireland, north, south, east, and west, good and bad, old and new. For this is not an ordinary travel book. Scan O’Faolain knows and loves his Ire-lanu. All through the book, one is aware of that, and aware, too, of his strong feeling that the Irish problem now is “to find a formula of life as between the old traditions and the new world pouring into us from every side.” If all Irishmen were, like O’Faolain, there would be no difficulty.  Longmans, Green $8.50

God’s Englishman, by I.eland DeWitt Haldwin.

As the .subtitle—”Tlie Evolution of the Anglo-Saxon Spirit”—suggests, this volume traces the British love of liberty from early times to the present. This passion for individual freedom is grounded in the Common Law, whose flowering is the English and American (predominantly Anglo-Saxon) character. Out of the Common Law heritage stemmed tbe theory and practice of democracy, winch today is not simply a racial but a world force, many races having been transformed by it. And in this triumph of the Anglo-Saxon spirit lies the emancipating hope of the future. Various aspects of the English character as shown in England’s social and political history are cited, with illustrations from poets, philosophers, and statesmen. Indeed, one of the most striking features of this commentary on England’s contribution to world democracy is the frequent apposite quotation from Eng-

lish literature. Many familiar versenj prose passages point a moral and a talc. The book is a brilliant interpret, tion of the English mores through ft centuries, enlivened with wit and hum “The gospel according to the AnA Saxon,” says Mr. Baldwin, “is that borship in the British Empire is a got antce of freedom.” And he acutely n marks of the Saxon: “His sound cotnti sense taught him that in a practical woil while there might be some good, tha must also be considerable evil and bn tality; therefore God must agree to wij at a reasonable modicum of wickedness.’ This volume is an illuminating additit to the many current books on the groit eHV.ctiveness, and promise of (lemocria which the present war has stimulated hi torians to write.  Little, Ikotn^i

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