The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-12
LITERATURE OF TODAY
"DREAMERs OF THE GHETTO
ZANGWILL'S LATEST BOOK
"War of the Worlds" an Unpleasant
Romance by H. G. Wells
american Ideals and Other Es-
says" by Theodore RoOsevelt-
"a Bride of Japan" Also Unpleas-
mt, by CarIthn Dove.

% !
In 'Dreamers of the Ghetto" Zangwin
has attempted. with less than his
usual success. to do fine and interest
ing thing. Between the lids Of this
volume he has sought to reassemble
the opponents Of type. In his own
words: This is "a chronicle Of dream
ers who have arisen in the Ghetto from
its establishmentNin the sixteenth CEN
fury to its slow. breal1ing-up in our
own day. Some have become historic
in Jewry, others have penetrated to
the ken Of the greater world and af-
forded models to illustrious artists in
letters. and, but for the exigencies of
my theme and the faint hope OF throw
ing some new Night upon them, I
should not have ventured to treat them
afresh; the rest are personally known
to me, or are. like Joseph the Dream
e", the artistic duplication of many
souls through which the great Ghetto
dream has passed"
Where the author has followed his
own will, creating from his own ex-
perience and insight the individual to
wear the garments of the type he de-
sires to portray, he. is almost always
successful. ''The Palestine Pilgrim"
"a Child Of the Ghetto" 1.-The Concil-
iator Of Chris'tendom," and the young
man in "Chad Godya"-all figures for
which, probably, life gave the inner
heart and intuition wrought the outer
garment-are among his successes But
when he tries to, project himself into
type of mind alien to his own, and
make historic parsonage with whom
he has no vital sympathy live and
move before us. the result is dry. hard.
inadequate, even tedious. His account
of Ferdinand Lassalle, '"The Peoples
Savior" is SO unsympathetic as to be
embarrassing. 1.-THE Turkish Messiah"
'"The Master Of the. Name" and "Uriel
Acosta" are almost equally so. The
stup1dity-it is little 1ess-of these lat
ter tales reminds the reader of some
thing he had been persuaded to forget
namely, that even the cleyerest art
list has his limitations, beyond which
he cannot go. Zangwill Is so trans
cendently clever SO brilliant, so daz-
zling. when at his best, that it is a
shock to realize that his intuition has
its sharply defined limits, and that no
amount of intellectual resolve can
drive his sympathies beyond their nat
ural reach. The emotional mystic, the
self-deceiving prophet is an alien and
repugnant creature to him, and his
account of such a. one, even when, as
in 1.-THE Turkish Messiah," his effort
to be comprehending is obviously great,
leaves the reader scold. But, on the
other hand, whenft is question Of a
temperament with which the author
is fundamentally in sympathy, his
oneness with his subject, his intuition
and sympathies are something mar
Vicious, as well as delightful. From
Mattrass Grave" is worth more thar
all the rest Of the book besides It is,
indeed, worth half of all the other work
Zangwill has done. The theme is the
dying Heine. lying Eau cinquieme" in
Paris, and holding converse with the
heroine of the little episode with LA
@""ohn." 100 hc~ has thrown
himself so heartily into his work that
what is of Heine and what is of Fang
will in his article become indistinguish-
able and blind in q fascinating whole
which gives, perhaps, the best picture
of the true Heine that ever has been
drawn. To read 1t is to desire to re-
read it and to share it with Others
If Zangwfll were iconten4 only to do
such work as this, his name. one fan
cies, might finally stand somewhere be-
side that Of the other son Of Israel
whom he celebrates
'Dreamers of the Ghetto'' by l. Zangwill
H.50. Harper & Bros, New York For
sale by the st. Paul Book and Stationery
company.