The San Francisco call., 1905-04-09

and gold.
! Among books in bellies lettres to be
published this season few will take
| precedence over Prince Kropotkin's
Russian Literature" announced by
Mcclure Phillips for publication early
| in April The book bears a subtitle,
/ localities and Realities" which shows
the point of view that Prince Kropotkin
has taken toward his subject. The
volume is complete history of Rus
sian letters from it's very beginnings in
folklore and mythology down to the
present day. laying stress upon the
great figures; such as Pushkin. Gogol,
/. etc.. especially men of recent genera
tions and of our time, such as Tolstoy,
Dostoievski, Tourgenieff and Cork,
with many of whom Kropotkin was
personally acquainted.
Early in April the Harpers will pub
| lish a book of original and very char
| acteristic short stories by Gilbert K.
| Chesterton. entitled THE Club of
| Queer Trades" This club is an asso-
citation to which only those who have
invented some absolutely novel way
/ of making living are eligible. The
strange adventures which befelI Basil
Grant, the originator OF the club, In
! his search for various men of strange
professions deserving the honor of
membership in the society, afford good
material for the effective display of
Mr.. Chesterton's gifts Of Imagination
and humor.
A welcome volume to the increasing
! thousands who are interested in the
J ethical culture movement will be DIR.
Felix Adlers new volume, THE Ren-
f, gion~of Duty" which is announced BY
McClure-Phillips for publication early
/ in April. The volume gives to the
principles and ideals Of the ethical cul-
ture movement the most complete and
authoritative exposition that they
have yet had. The leading thoughts
from DR.. Adler's sermons and ad-
dresses have been selected and weld
ed into consecutive essays under such
titles as First Steps Toward Reli-
gion," Changes in the Conception of
God" The Religion OF Duty" The
Ethical Attitude Toward Pleasure"
The Ethical Attitude Toward Suffer-
! ing" The Consolation OF the Religion
of Duty" etc.
Miss Harriet Monroe, in an article
on Literary Women and the Higher
Education in the April Critic has
clearly expressed her view that if the
results of such education have not yet
been great it is because the influences
have not been sufficiently extensive.
For the first time in history the world
as we know it is experimenting on
womens brains. and the change from
the errors of the past to the crude
truths of the present naturally in
wolves inconvenience When these
/ hindering details disappear the COM
bined minds of men and women will
give society a hitherto unknown i'm
pulse toward the invisible intellectual
goal.
Mrs. Gertrude Atherton in the Ar
gonaut publishes a letter in which she
expresses her admiration for the
works of Henry James What Mrs.
! Atherton says Is so much to the point
! that I quote one of her most salient
i paragraphs: His boom has come
at the right moment. Not only has
4
however unwittingly-to reappreciate
+, him. but psychology is once more the
| fashion, and no man so artfully COM
bines psychological analysis with the
great gift of the story-teller as Henry
| James"-The Critic.
Gorky's gospel is something like
| this: We are riveted to the rotten,
how to gild the nailheads. We are
battered beatitudes and goddess gods
| Our weaknesses are called virtues:
our cringings, tact. Caliban is thrust
| into the coal bin while Ariel with SEN
sen breath, reeking in an atmosphere
of mephitic boudoir odors, strums the
Rock of Ages" on the parlor piano.
We are ruled by an aristocracy of
asses. A pusillanimous and purblind
pietism-wfth a copy of Rabelais Sc
! cretad under his belt-sits in the sad