New-York tribune., 1915-09-25
GOETHE AS NAN, POET
AND THINKER: A STUDY
A Popular Life of the Poet, with
Interesting Illustrations.

GOETHE with Special conslde-auon Of IIs
Philosophy By Paul Carus. With Isl portraits
and other historical illustrations No pp IL
3-- Chicago. The open Court Publishing Com
pany.
To add still another study of Ger
many's greatest poet to biographical
and critical literature that has already
reached large proportions in English
as well as in German would at ilrst
blush appear TO be a work OF super
erogation, but there certainly will be
room for this work Of DR.. Carus's, for,
contrary TO expectation, 1t Is intended
for popular reading far more than Tor
the special student. II needs hardly
be added in view of its authorship,
that the book is scholarly as well as
popular: and it contains a number OF
translations of Goethe's poems hitherto
not rendered into English.
That DR.. Carus's life of the poet
CLOSES over some of its aspects cannot
be denied. We are invited, and not for
the first time. to look upon his sus-
ceptibility TO the Eternal Feminine IN
an idealistic light: lie was so frank
about it all because there was so little
that really needed concealnont. Per-
haps. though that is a view of his many
DnllHHUtIllEN
mend itself TO the sterner. stricter
American attitude. Senile amorousness
repels us. And. though our author does
his best for his client, it can never be
maintained that Goethe was a great
patriot. He was a little German,
concerned only with the interests
of his grand ducal patrons little duchy
Even as he had failed to see the sig
nificance of the French Revolution, so
did he fail to respond to, perhaps even
to feel. the magnificent surge of that
other IeDfe en- nldsSe of nation, the
War Of Liberation of 1913. He wrote
some patriotic verse, DR.. Carus points
out. True, but among the great pa
triotic poetry of that period IN Ger
many it has never ranked and never
will. And another flaw which his
latest biographer ignores his treat
ment of Fran Rat in the closing days
of her life was far from an example of
filial piety. The world can afford to
admit the spots on the sun Of Goethe's
greatness.
He was not a philosopher, but he
had q UeltnnschnuunG. and this Or.
Carus examines and eXpounGs with ad-
mirable clearness. He was believer,
but not a Christian a panthoist and
mystic And it is with the mystic
significance Of Faust, that the author
is mainly concerned in his study Of
that drama, thus linking it closely to
the medieval legends on which 1t IS
based. Faust" the most subjective Of
the worlds great epics, is at the same
time a world in itself into which can
be and have been read infinite riches of
thought and knowledge it is a store
house, inter ala, of medieval Ger
manic lore but, for his popular pur-
pose, DR.. Carus's viewpoint is perhaps
the best, and certainly the most sug-
pcstive of all lie wisely draws freely
upon Bayard Taylor's translation, a
rare masterpiece Of a difficult art.
A word should be said about the
illustrations. There is, first of all, an
exceptionally comprehensive gallery OF
contemporary portraits; there are nu-
merous reproductions of interesting
old prints, and in addition. many
others of illustrations Of the poets
works by great artists, and OF famous
pictures inspired by them.