New-York tribune., 1922-04-30
ay Tribunes News and Reviews of Books and Authors
A Bookznan's Day Book
By Burton Rascoc

they were called used formerly to as
semble-thnt is to say, five or six men
who had writ plays, or at least pro-
iogues or had share in a miscellany.
came thither and entertained one an
! other with their trifing composures in
so important an air as If they had been
the poblest efforts Of human nature"
caustic but remarkable man,
Swift.
APRIL u
A T LUNCH Ernest Boyd took issue
with my statement that Emile
taGuet was great socio political irri-
tant in &c Cutie &c Incompetence"
but negligible literary critic, but my
knowledge Of Faguets literary essays
ia confined to the textbook. he wrote
on French literature. Boyd told me
that Faguets monumental work or
eighteenth century literature is n mas
terpicce Of discernment and erudition.
Faguet's two books, procura-
bic in excellent English translations.
The Cule Of Incompetence" and ''Tho
Dread Of Respon oiity,' l should like
put into the hands Of every youth;
they are Nietzschean precepts strained
through French temperament, and
they arc go much more intelligent than
.he handhooks Of success and "inspi- |
ration" written by American hacks and
sod to clerks and drummers. /
Mpr-
II Is splendid issue. with superb
woodcuts BY John j. A. Murphy and
drawings by George Bellows, j. Scott
Williams and Rockwell Kent. and It Is
flied with interesting reading matter,
including new story by James Branch
Cabell, good article Oh Dada" by |
Sheldon Cheney, and 8 fine short story
oy Thomas Beer. Read some |
of the lives Of the Sophists tonight in ,
the Loeb translation OF Philostrntus !
and Eunapius. I have q weakness for |
the Sophists; they were tho first to
treat ideas as playthings Of the intel
iect' They were utterly without con-
v.ctions, which means that they had a
charming urbsnity, People with opln-
ions like; but people with convictions
are usually tedious.
APRIL q
no LUNCH with Jerome Frank sra
Harold Friedman and VIC talked
OF ant'-Semitism, the Couoa conference
tho theory Of the behayio,ists and
Stendhal. Jerome said that most in.
tcillgent jews we're intellectually anti.
Semitic, but cmot!onaIly race Conscious
70 the point OF sentimentality, ard I I
Fc .liod that that was psychic otru9ele
common to all Intelligent people;
struggle between an intellectual dis
t2ato for the proletar!an and an in
st;nctlve sympathy with his pltght. |
1t is the balance achieved bv
this struggle which accounts. say, for
the art Of Claire Briggs; the sting In
MS satire directed against the average
futile and muddlc-headed malo Is soft
ened by his sympathy with the Great |
H'c pathetic futility' My
seven-year-old son and l made our
weekly visit to the Metropolitan
Museum this afternoon. was AGAIN
impressed with Che profound sense OF
abstract form which children have be-
fore their minds are cluttersd I'D with
experience and associations. NV son
never shows any interest in Rubeps.
Velosque2 and other pictorial dramat.
lses, but picks out to admire Chinese
screene, Japanese prints, Cezann..
Matlsse, Van Gogh and the woodcuts
and otchings Of the moderns. T BOUGHT
canvas by Kantor at the last auction
OF the moderns. a work in abstract
lo''n' and have woodcut by J. J. A.
murphy called Chaos" and my son re-
Gently told me that I ought to throw
away my Lepape. Zorn and Drtan and
Keep only the Kantor and Murnhr
pieces. To Petitpas for dinner TO-
night with Ernest and Madelaine Boyd,
Guy HOLT, Joseph Kerrlean and Miss
mcCuilough, and afterwards we went
10 hoyd's house, where we vere ,o;noa
ny martha Saxton. Kcrriean sang that
eiass'c with the line about "her hair
hune down in ringo!ets" and told us
more ABOUT that extraordinary charac.
ter, the poet Goga-ty, in Dublin. who
writes beautiful poems in Irish. ];ves
IN oltches. cuckolds professor in tbe
university and is, all in all. an ~,
principled, unwasiled, unsoc;ay b,t
amusing person who writes narvn1ous
lyrics.
APRIL 81
ROB NATHAN came to the borsa +h;s
afternoon and told me In verv
excited manner (for Bob about E. f.
Cummings's "The Enormous Room "
ho reclteo coarse detail Of particu-
Iar audacity in the book, and askcd
MN II that was all the book had IA
recommend It. He waved his arms
about and said, "No. The to.a, effect
~ extraordinary. The book weighs
down on you. You get sense Of an
enormous nebulous depression. It's
really an amazing piece Of work. Makes
'1hree Soldiers look like kinder
eaf'eh DOCK Enthusiasm for
anything in Bob is so unusual that its
stimulus must be phenomenal. =.
Montgomery Belgion and Jerome Frank !
dropped in later for q chat, and Jerome
told Us about Flovd Dell's peculior WOW