The New York herald., 1921-07-10

toms. My means: all sources recog-
nized by philology, in particular the
photographed. The inner way: to
test the correctness of vision and in
tuition by investigating the data. The
outer way: to establish the congenital
characteristics in their development
throughout life to their fullest flower
just before death. My goal: to unfold
the landscapes of soul from youth to
age in slow transpositions. My ideal:
the historical truthfulness of a cal
endar, the psychological truthfulness
Of a poem" Not a single date is given
in the text itself, except where world
history crosses the life line Of world
genius. This work palpitates with the
superfine Of this superman; it is fluor-
escent with the energies of his spirit
yet it remains kind of tour de force
"a schematic attempt, perhaps a sue
cessful one, to combine the method Of
Plutarch with the means Of modern
psychology. Interesting, too. is a
small book by Theodor Kappstein,
"Goethe's Weltdnsc schdnung," and a
large work by Franz Neubert, Goethe
and His Circle" (J. J. Weber, Leipzig,
which in some 100 illustrations WHITES
the Olympian and his period for us.
Other lands are also contributing to
this swelling and spreading literature
upon Goethe-as though an unhappy
and dismembered age would do honor
to his serenity. unity and universally
there IS Hume Browns Life of
Goethe" recently published in London,
and an impending work in several vol
umes by famous Italian scholar, as
well as the valuable and pithy book
by Georg Brandes to which 1 have al
ready alluded.
Brandes himself is in Berlin-on
visit to his married daughter. The
splendid old man, one of the few mas
ter minds left to the world, is almost
80, yet full of fire and freshness. His
turbulent, somewhat choleric tempera-
ment has grown little more mellow,
that Is all. We had last seen each
other in London before the war, though
We had maintained a desultory cor
respondence during it. He was anx-
ious to see the masterpieces in the
Dresden Gallery once more and was
also looking forward to a trip to Italy.
He was In his best narrative mood,
and anecdote after anecdote poured
from his lips, precise, assured, detailed,
casting a revealing, sometimes devas-
tating sidelight on the many famous
men he knows or has known. Georg
Brandes was undoubtedly the most
cotrted intellect in Europe during the
war. He was besieged by the intel
lectuals of every belligerent land, who
expected him to support their fierce,
one-sided fulminations and sign their
partisan protests, pronunciamentos
and appeals. His attempt to think or,
IL need be, protest for himself brought
him many enemies, one of the most
vindictive being his old friend Cle-
menceau. Brandes has now put forth
bis own protest and appeal under the
title of THE Second Part Of the Trag-
edy" (Friedrich Andreas Perthes.
Gotha), luminous summary, in which
a manly scorn and honest irony in
duced by human folly strive to conceal
the deep pity of one of the most hu-
name and liberal spirits of our time.
We spoke of American literature.
He was grieved to hear of the death of
James Huneker, whom he knew well
and treasured highly. In order that all
heartburnings and preening of plumes
among our own authors may be
averted. l shall refrain from repeating
his judgment upon some of them. His
attitude toward our literature is hos
pitable. inquisitive and amiably toler
ant. Brandes related several amusing
things of Henry James. and / was re-
minded of what Henry James once
said to me at the house of Edmund
Gosse in London, when I asked him
what impression he had received of
our civilization after his recent trip
to America: "Um-ah !-er-it's a bit
thin--a bit thin-you can put your
finger through it here and there"
And he poked plump forefinger
toward the fire and through an i'm
aginary screen. AS Brandes talked /
could see the post -bellum world arise
before me as he himself saw it
greatly mutilated. much-besotted and
malodorously defiled-and knew that
for once the men of the past genera
tion were entitled to triumph over
those of the present, were justified in
bra ndishing their good old times" be-
fore our eyes.
The Nietzsche Archiv at Weimar
has given the Consul Lassen prize
for the three most important books Of
1920 to DIR. Georg Dehio for his His
tory of German Art To Prof. Bruno
Bauch for his Emmanuel Kant" and
to Dr. Leopold Ziegler for his Meta
morphosis of Gods" The head of the
Ernst Haeckel Archiv at Jena, DR..
Heinrich Schmidt, begs all those who
may possess letters of the great BIZ
oogist to send him transcripts, as he
is compiling for publication several
volumes of Haeckel's correspondence.
Haeckel, Schopophauer, Nietzsche
would all be aghast could they rise
from the dead, even with the mob of
common spirits that are daily being
invoked. and look upon the epidemic
of splritualism, table rapping, ghost
conjuring and ouija boarding going
on in Germany, or could they behold
the stampede of great masses of the
population to the thin anodynes of our
"uplift" philosophy. But all this is