The New York herald., 1921-07-17

is the fighting mind lie objects to be de-
scribed brilliant The model of Brandes
a portrait painter of ideas and individuals
is Veasquez. because Velasquez is not
brilliant but true
"Yet he is bEiiant and lucid, and steel
like, whether writing of Shakespeare or Las
sale. An ardent uphoder of Taine and the
psychology of race. he contends that in the
individual, not in the, people. lies the only
hope OF progress. He is altogether for the
psychology of the individual"
With. all that Brandes meant TO James
Huneker. it is pity that this brilliant writer
did not live long enough TO what the
Danish critic had accomplished in this his
latest creation OF the Florentine master of
the fine arts. Few men i'm America would
have known so well how to value the new
volume.
With Brandes attaining his eightieth year
next February IL Is a foregone conclusion
that not only i'm the literary circles Of Scan
dinavia. but in England and on the CONT
nent the event will be observed fittingy in
honor of this cosmopolitan writer. When he
reached his SEVENTEEN year IL was consid-
cred an important literary event abroad
Anker Kirkeby. himself an author OF repu-
tation. interviewed Brandes and wrote as
follows: "Georg Brandes is sitting IN his
apartment on the Strand Boulevard between
rows OF bookcases. reaching from floor to
ceiling. leaving no single place for pictures.
Only in the bay window one discovers a few
plaster casts of Florentine medallions. As
is his custom. Brandes intrenched him.
self behind his writing table. where writing
paper newspapers. letters and books appear,
as II in an interminabe flux between n broken
inkstand. tray with penholders and some
bottles of mineral water. while dangerously
near the edge of the further corner OF the
table stands a tall vase containing scarlet
red roses. On other tables. under the tables.
on chairs in the corners Of the room on the
window sill. everywhere. stacks Of books.
heaps of letters Light is furnished from an
electric bulb in she shape of a pear hanging
from the ceiling. a green shade protecting
against the glare.
THAT is ALL This is the workshop where
for fifty years the strongest spiritual
weapons OF liberty and enlightenment here
et home have been forged. Between that
broken inkstand and the glass with the red
roses one has been obliged TO seek for Den
marks mental focus during half century"
The PoHtiken carried another Interview"
with Rrandes's eight-year-old granddaugh
ter GSfda Phillip. who on being asked her
opinion about her famous grandsire
piled: "On the top OF bis cabinet my grand
father keeps n big stack OF yellow paper
that he uses to write n big book. Every
time visit him look TO see II he has been
busy. He certainly has. for every time
come the stack is getting thinner. His new
book IL about French author who Is called
voltaire. My grandfather has taught me to
read French, but IL isn't from Voltaire that
we are reading but from la Fontaine. La
Fontalne is funny and. perhaps voltaire is
funnier. but anyway, my grandfather In
the funniestl"
II is his understanding Of the child mind
as well as the mind Of such superindividuals
as Nietzsche that made Brandes's estimate
Of Hans Christian Andersen authentic And
he who can enter with equal sympathy into
the nature of little child or world genius
fas achieved unversality.