Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-02
BOOK REVIEWS.

NIETZSCHE. BY Paul Elmer More
Boston: Houghton MifIlin Company.
AUL MoRE's "Nietzsche'' is q
model of economy In writing.
The little book bulks no larger
than an average essay. Yet It's
slight compass holds the core OF
Nietzsches philosophy and the perfna-
nently influential facts of his life ana
character In addition it stretches
thread Of philosophy, objectifed In
Hobbies, Locke, Hume. Adam Smith,
Rousseau and the German sentimental
lists This by way of placing Nietzsche
and sharpening his lines of contrast. Inc
whole is exhilarating. 1t Is so clean, SO
muscular, SO compact a body OF critical
statement. 1t is. moreover. a triumph OF
\ the authors Judgment over his feelings
F'or at the outset MIR. More admits re-
pulson, pity and reluctant admiration
FOR the subject Of his discussion. Yet,
despite the pull of this adverse complex
bf feeling, he keeps to the middle of the
road and comes out where Nietzsche Is
neither the "Galahad Of philosophy nor
The monster of immortality that he has,
turn and turn about, been made to ap-
pear. Mr.. More's most pervasive thought
throughout is that Nietzsche was a sick
mana man of strung nerves and vio-
lent behavior. Bewildered in what seem
ed to him a flagrantly purposeless ana
futile world he must needs find scape-
goat for this wasteful and ignorant state.
Selling upon the past in its religion ana
tradition as the agent of this evil. ne
poured maledictions and blasphemy upon
It. Clawing for any support that faced
a future he grasped the theory or par
win. gave it a new twist and upon TINS
built his superman. This superman, TINS
~ iYVrc ~
POSITIVELY to widen and deepen the dis
tinctions between man and man. Metz
sche conditions progress upon the pres
ervation and extension of these dlstlnc-
tions.
BY clear affinity Nietzsche is the philos-
opher of youth Youth. red-blooded in
mind as well as in body, is in itself
potential superman. pushed irreslstlply
to surpass itself through its own inner
ent life forces. This mpulsion is in sub
stance NietZsche's viii to Power. BY
these same forces youth Is an instructive
egotist confident of superpowers and
keen to draw distinctions between him.
self and the rest of mankind. Youth,
mystified by it's own warning ego set
down in an equally contradictions world,
and caught by this mind of lightning
flashes and this voice of thunder tones.
runs to take up the new without refiec-
ton. to set aside the old without ruth.
Nietzsche is in himself a prolonged ado
lescence. He is youth calling to youth
a phase of development, a stage of
growth.
WHAT TOLSTOY TAUGHT. Edited by
Bolton Hall, author of Three Acres
and Liberty, etc New York: B.
w. Huebsch.
The outlines of Tolstoy's theory Of re-
form are hidden. the large pattern of Its
development confused past easy unravel-
ment by a complicated and crowded in
filling. To an ordinary reader the mass
of his writings is little more than big
and hopeless clutter of detail, roundabout
and tiresome repetition, splendid glimpses
of ideality eclipsed by childish utilities of
practice. truth, half-truth and error bum
died together in the auarreling convic-
tions of last year, this year and next
Nevertheless. it bulks vaguely as a fine
and inspiring thing-if one could but
come at it. Sensed from its picturesque
surface alone, it visions twentieth Gen.
fury reformer advocating in full the So
cial gospel Of Jesus-universal brother
hood and absolute Inconsistencies the
most efficient and benef1cent social in
strument of the present. Now, just as
two thousand years ago, the dynamic
heart of this doctrine is love expressed In
terms Of work We must get on the
backs of the poor says Tolstoy.
Save for the SUDDENLY and strenuous
reader, Tolstoy is known by his novels
alone. These, splendid as they are. are
no more than partial views. illustrations,
of his full theory of society. For a
spreading out of his complete social doc
trine one must go to his writings on re-
ligion, education. government. art, eco
nomics. But there a middleman Is re-
quired to deliver Tolstoy over to his
readers. Many have already interpreted
Tolstoy. But, unfortunately, they. like
him, talk in volumes. The present study,
on the contrary, gives a compacted body
of Tolstoy'S idealistic doctrine. In its
pursuit. Mr. Hall shrewdly took the stand
of editor, rather than that of exegete
Confident that the great reformer is not
obscure and involved. but only scattered,
his task appeared to be that of gather
ing, co-ordinating. welding the widely diff
fused elements into a totality of view
The full substance of Tolstoy's teachings
are presented here. Penetration, enthu-
>iasm. sympathy, without concealment.
denial or apology, stamp this study. Its
effect is to release the great idealist from
burden of impedimenta from which he
stands clear in the integrity of his doc
trine alone. An admirable guide book to
the spiritual mission of Tolstoy.
SISTER CARRIE. BY Theodore Dreis-
er. author of Jennie Gerhardt
New York; Harper & Brothers.
The recrudescence of Sister Carrie"
after period of seclusion serves it's best
end in measuring the lusty growth Of it's
author. Theodore Dresser, as novelist.
Written several years before Mr.. Dreis-
ers second and latest novel. Jennie
Gerhardt." It is many times several
years behind the latter in conception,
power and finish. The two books are
alike in theme Each is the realistic
study OF a girl over-stressed by poverty,
youth, a certain beauty and the proxim-
ity of the male. Both girls are frankly
immoral. Each, more than once, enters
into quasi-marital partnerships. Here the
likeness ends. Jennie GerhSrdt" closes
IN consonance with its beginning. It's
whole course is squared to the life meas
ure of which 1t is a transcript. The girl
pays the worlds asurious toll for
womans single deadly sin. The man
the men have no debt. A fine, true sad
book of fiawless art. On the other hand
one leaves Sister Carrie in midcareer
The book stops. 1t does not close. AS a
chapter. 1t Is literary realism. a true
page of life. One sees the last of Sister
Carrie getting more and more of that
which she has always sought-more
pretty clothes, more rings. more admira-
tion, the stage. Carrie slips her lovers as
she does her clothes And in this case,
the men pagan affront to custom. To he
sure, near the end Mr.. Dresser makes
Carrie say that she is not happy. but one
knows that she is lying. partly to please
author who vaguely feels that she
ought to say IT, and partly to indulge
herself in sentimental phrase. Under a
stress of realism Mr.. Dresser pads his
book with irrelevant descriptions. One
comes TO dread open door, for Well he
knows that the author will drag him in
for ar inventory Of ha room