The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-08
Francis Hackett's
Book of Criticisms
BY BARRETT H. CLARK.

well worth reprlntlng, and 1t Is the pleas
ant duty of the reviewer to proclaim
loudly the publication Of such collected
criticism as Francis Hackett's Horizons,
which originally appeared in the Chicago
Erenisg Post and the Nep Republic.
Horizons is wen named, for Mr..
Hacketx is the sort of critic whose COM
prehensive view Of things and clear and
forceful way of explaining them forces
one to think and to observe. You dip
into the book from idle curiosity, perhaps,
but you read On. leaving your made-to-
order summer fiction in your trunk; you
soon find that Hacketts remarks
whether they happen to concern Mrs.
Wharton or Henry James or the violation
of Belgian neutrality-sink in deep. Il
is unfortunate that the word "stimulat-
ing" has come to mean so little; if you
can imagine its being used say once every
three months, you will realize its force
when applied to this book.
Horizons opens with well aimed shaft
directed against the prim starched shirt
bosom of Mr.. Stuart p. Sherman. Exactly
the sort of thing that Professor Sher-
mans Contemporary Literature deserves.
Mr.. Hackett not only hammers away at
his victim; he tells us exactly why he does
hammer. Toward the end of the paper
he says: "The heart Of the matter, so far
as understanding Mr.. Sherman is con-
cerned, does seem to be in recognizing his
profound conviction that life is in no
sense an experiment; is in reality an in
genious examination paper set by God in
con function with Matthew Arnold.
Mr.. Sherman breaches a forlorn gospel
when he begs us to cover behind the moral
life of the race to peer at art"
Hackett's plea, on behalf of Henry
James's later style is ingenious; it is al
most convincing enough to induce one to
have another try at The Golden Bo,cl
again. This is the result of the writer's
ability to interest one in the work at
hand.
In the two admirable reviews of The
OM Wires Tale and ClayhanJer
Hackett has delved deeper than any other
American critic into Arnold Benefits
methods, aims and temperament. He
says, apropos of the Englisman's natu-
ralistic treatment of character: ain Ben
nett there is a suspicion of judgment on
certain Of his people which permits the
affections to have sway. There are oc-
casiOns when reason is transcribed and
depth seen in character and in person
atty which is as illimitable, as satisfying,
as the depths Of the sky. Before the
immutable mysteries, whether of love, of
intuition, of sex, of growth and evolu-
ton, of decay and dissolution, this reason
able man is reasonable enough to suspend
reason. He stands uncovered and I'M
ashamed, no longer the ringmaster of a
bourgeoisie easy to explain and to ridi-
eule, but the artist who is articulate in
reverence which has no sanction in the
ordinary traffic and intercourse of life"
Horizons is, as the author declares, n
miscellaneous collection of reviews. These
range in subject matter from discussions
on novels and novelists, the drama and
dramatists, to more or less philosophical
disquisition on the war, on the austere
books of Professor Veblen, and even in
clude delightful Elan essay on Whitd-
ker's almanac. His mind, after lazily
straying through the pages of that classic,
scars to the heights of poetry; he culls the
following vers libre gem from table of
some sort:
"Fish, fodder, fruit,
Sugar and tobacco,
Wine,
Bark waffle, buchu leaves.
Ostrich feathers, mohair,
Hides and skins and
Wool.
Asbestos, whale oil,
Coal, copper, tin ore,
Diamonds,
Dynamite and
Gold"