The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-12-31

- - - sSss - ~ VIII IN f fSIfG
PHIL Q $ oPsHER 4EoWS TO
|. cHuRcH-PAPINI TELLS HOW
he CAME TO WRITE STORY or
cHRiST"-FAMoUs ITALIAN Az.
THOR DESCRIBES HIS JOURNEY
FROM skEPTlcIsM TO FAITH.
The sensation caused in literary and
religious circles by the appearance of
Giovanni Papini's "Storia di Cristo',
makes especially timely a character
study of the famous Italian writer by
Charles Phillips. which appears in the
November number of The Catholic
World. es
The meeting with the man whose
writings as a skeptic had attracted the
admiring attention of Bergson and
William James, and whose work since
his conversion has compelled the at
tention Of thinkers in every civilized
country, was a surprise to the inter
viewer
Atroeious portraits of him printed
in the papers, says Mr.. Phillips. pie.
lures that looked more like carica-
lures than portraits-coupled with a
slight acquaintance with his hand
writing, which at first glance seemed
to suggest all sorts OF imaginable &c.
centricities had somehow given me
the impression that he was of the
fire.eatins type, that he belonged to
that category of erratic and untidy
minds SO frequently labeled genius.
True, had not quite succeeded in
Ieconciling that impression With. the
! cameo-like cutting of his wonderfully
lucid prose. Nevertheless, that was
vaguely my preconceived notion OF
Giovanni Papini. had even imagined
him tonslcd and understood
Books From Floor to Ceiling
How different the reality! A tail
spare man. easily over six feet il
height, erect and so!diefly, With a face
at once strong and astonishingly
Youthful. indeed boyish, greeted me
and uslaered me into study that
! might have been the private Office OF
a railway director for all the signs
j gave OF the average literary worker
The heavy oak writing table by the
window. very plain and solid. instead
| Of being Uttered with papers, fairly
Sshole with order and precision There
was nothing on it but a blotter, an
ink bottle. and one book: not even
any cigarette ashes, although Papini
smoked continually. The. walls of the
little room were lined from floor to
| ceiling with boOks--but they were all
in place, and there were none either
| on chairs or on the floor! Only a big
bowl of lilacs, their petals falling to
the carpet. broke the severe rightly
of the authors workroom.
but Papini was not rigid. With
his slim figure dressed faultlessly in
the dark gray tweeds of a business
man. without trace of Byronic tie OF
other literary negligee, lie was as easy
| and as gracious as his own flowing
Italian. There was about him the
quiet charm Of man completely and
| unconsciously in possession of him
self. ('This conversion, i conmentet
inWardly, is no flash in the pan, nc
new. coat to be worn only while. its
co1ors seem bright. This man knows
what he is about.D
His shaggy head is the only mari
on him of the artistic celebrity--or o
| his erstwhile days of anarchy. De
spite the boyisbness of his face, i
4 has a rugged isculptnring; and The
| eyes are rather worn with study
| When he was Obliged TO peer closet.
at a paper he was writing, I learne;
| the secret OF his odd penmanship
which after all is, remarkably clea
land exact, despite its first appearance,
of carelessness.
| A Born Missionary.
"Papini knew my errand and spoke
of himself when questioned with thu
| direciness and simplicity of lega
mind. He should have been a lawyer!
OF course. he is long ago accustomed
Ito this sort Of thing: a man who ha'
| given his life to the literature o
| opinion is not to be embarrassed by ;
few queries from a stranger. But al
i that he told me seemed somehow to b.
in the spirit of an offertory- SAM
spi-it that enc feels permeating nj
4 sStofia iii Cristo.: told frankly ii
Thanksgiving for what he has gained
| and rot reluctantly, ii others ma.
| benefit by it. He is, in fact like al
radicals seven anarchists born mis-
sionary. THE whole inclination OF M,
character, he explained TO me later
has always been, even during tie lon
period OF unbelief and negation, tc
| ward the desire of helping and illun
mating Others
"Papini is only orty-and looks u
more than thirty--yef in his short ca
reer he has produced twenty-three. vo
umcs of published works which hav
run already into flftv-scyen editions
You See,' he laughed-just to shoV
me his acquaintance with thing
, American 'fifty-seyen varicties!
i How do you do it.? asked
had mental picture OF roonful g
typists and secretaries in the offing.
Ne lie answered. 4 never dictat
and have mover used typewriter. A
my work. for. twenty years, has bee
done in manuscript tYou are
human dynamo. them / commented