Evening star., 1924-04-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE STORY OF THE RENAIS-
sANCE. Sidney Dark. George III.
Doran Company.

THE STORY OF THE RENAIS-
SANCE. Sidney Dark. George II.
Doran Company.
Not interested in the Renaissance?
Not surprising. For it carries none
of the appearance OF general current
the first place-three centuries and
quarter at the least. And upon the
face of this intervening distance
there is no likely promise of vital
points of contact between that period
and the present. a mistaken view
this. according to Mr.. Sidney Dark.
Again, the Renaissance. along with
the rest of formal knowledge, belongs
to the painful period of schooling, a
process that serves clearly, though
incidentally, to knock full of holes
at least one time -honored truism!
For education as a process does in
fact not only lead its pupils to the
fountains of knowledge, but it makes
them drink: as .well-till. swollen
and puffy from these forced over
draughts of learning, they are finally
pronounced finished" Looking the
part, and feeling ii too, they are
then turned loose into a world of
and obligation. Here they spend
priceless years in the effort to find
a working connection between educa-
tion and the business OF making a go
of life. This familiar experience sours
them against the burden labori-
ously gathered. now so deplora bly,
useless. Wrong again, says Mr.. Dark.
And, once more, the world is SO
crowded with arresting things, spec
tacular exciting things-the airship,
a hn nj
that the whole past, or any part of
1T, is remote. Irrelevant, alien, dull.
So, along with the rest of the past.
the Renaissance has dwindled to a
name, used in loose designations of
certain derived forms of art, or used
to give to gesture an implication of
modern culture. All wrong.
* r r x
In the obvious intent of both au-
thor and publisher The Story of the
Renaissance" is offered in support of
the new movement in education, a
movement existing almost wholly
outside the formal institution Of ed
ucation itself Among the active sup
porters of this fresh departure are
James Harvey Robinson. Wells. Van
Loon. goodly group of naturalists
and some others. William James be-
longs here. So does John Dewey. Old
Erasmus began IL, but between him in
his bright vision and these it's latest
proponents the black clouds of for
malism ntervened-thinned some
what. but still intervening. The
source of this movement lies In the
assumption that all knowledge is
some form of human experience.
| That. as such it is forever vital and
potent. That it is a legacy handed
down for continuous use. That it is
fiaming torch passed on for perpet-
ual guidance. That il is perennially
of the moment. alive and importunate
TO be Incorporated at this receiving
of which it is an essential and in
fiuential part.
The Story of the Renaissance"
shows this theory working out in ac-
ton. Just a moment. Our common
notion of the Renaissance. a sketchy
i one to be sure, is that it was n period
| of splendor whose definite influence is
still strong in certain lines of art
architecture, painting. Literature.
This impression is. of course, a true
one. And this phase of the period
Mr.. Dark presents in sumptuous pic
lures of great men and great achieve
ments. Important as is this aspect of
/ the Renaissance in it's influence upon
all subsequent art and general cul-
ture, IL is not the one of prime inn
portance. The supreme contribution
! of the Renaissance to the world as a
whole. particularly to the world in it's
pre- sent stage of development. is q
| political one. 1t is at this point that
Mr.. Dark begins his story.
Z nf hap apin
would identify the author with the
| new movement to make a vital con-
nection between the present and the
past of that particular present Here
1.-THE author sets out the Renaissance as
! the origin and true parent of modern
, ,nationaiism. Step by step he shows
the effect of the new learning, releas-
! ed by the fall of Constantinople. find
! ing refuge chiefly in Italy. A pagan
learning preaching joy, beauty. free
dom-the gospel of individual happi-
ness. The individual. free and happy,
! becomes the individual daring and
then encroaching. The seeds of mod
ern nationalism, rooted in individual
! initiative, individual triunphs, indi-
vidual tyrannies. The story pictures
Milan. Venice, Rome-rising to splen-
! dor and power in commerce, art
learning. At the head of each is some
masterful prince, let loose by this
; new freedom of pagan revival to fos-
! ter it's own powers and advantages to
! a degree that was bound to prove ex-
! elusive of the lesser powers of lesser
individuals. This great Renaissance
prince, a. son ready to take his place
| is the seed of the modern dynasty of
kings. the modern political invention
! of nationalism. Out of the Renais-
sance the author moves on through the
succeeding, and dependent, years to
the Towering of this idea of the ma
tion in western Europe. To the Eng
\ land Of the Tudors and the Stuarts
on to Cromwell And; in our own
F., day, to the modern nations-all born
! of the Renaissance spirit, all rooted
| in individualism whose great impell-
/ ing force is, of course, Self-achieve-
lment-therefore the clashing of rival
res between nations, the modern po-
.litical expression of that old pagan
freedom of the Renaissance.
| X X X
| You will GO along here-convinced
! delighted, asserting. You will have q
! glow of self esteem in following the
logic of this situation from the Re
naissance to the present. Any one
outside of this new movement. so you
say, would never have seen this logi.
| cal sequence or, seeing it, would have
buried it deep in words This is q
| highly dramatic passage as we'll as
! an orderly one. 1t is filled with grea'
| figures and high deeds and the marcf
. of progress, with all of which yor
| will have the sense of a personal par
! taking. This effect is due. in tht
main, of course, to Sidney Dark'S OWL
sympathy with the subject, to his owl
], convictions about it, and to the keeI
! sense of drama that causes him t.
| set aside all the clutter of detail il
| order that the great moments herr
! may have ample space and freedom
All through the story you will ap