Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

time. the mood and the book were not
propitious, that better moment may
come around, that the mood will
change.
There Is no need for any book to
take on an offended look, or to be
hurt in its heart, simply because a
reader has shut its covers before he
has finished it.
What difference does it make?
Mrs. Taylor's monumental Leo
nardo," for instance. may feel quite
sure that we will return to 1t before
long. 1t rather staggered us, that was
all. II there ever was book which
merited the term, tour de force" this
is it. 1t is an experience. rather than
book, In that respect living UP to its
subject.
The best pages of it are highly remi-
niscent of Maurice Maeterlinck as ex-
emplified in any Of his essays. The
worst of it is rigamarole of art and
medievalism which only the special stu
dent can hope to follow. 1t contains
whole pages of disconnected phrases,
poetic images which are poetic ma
terial rather than poetry.
Leonardo the Florentine" Is one OF
those tantalizing books which make the
reader feel. as Goethe did about the
life of Napoleon, that there must be
more in it than appears on the sur
face. One may pass by Mrs. Taylors
book with Shrug, but it makes no dill
ference to the book. 1t waits until
you get ready for 1t.
We managed to wade through ex-
actly 40 pages of ShaW's Intelligent
Womans Guide" and we make no apol-
ogy to the author, to the book or to
ourself for disseminating it. Our can
did opinion is that out Of every 10
purchasers did the same!
Some day We expect to go back TO Mr.
ShaW's Guide" and no doubt we shall
enjoy it very much, if We happen to be
In the mood.
AS for Bertrand Russell's Philosophy"
we read about 10 pages of that; the
opening argument is one OF our pet dis
beliefs, and we could swallow no more
of it.
Mr.. Van Looms STORY Of Mankind"
was too much like H. G. Wells more
famous Outline" that was why we
stopped reading it. AS for the out
line" itself, We laid it down forever
when we finished Wells prejudiced
To us it is the most overdrawn, melo-
dramatic picture of a great man ever
penned by a great writer.
We left THE Man in the Iron Mask"
unfinished because in it Dumas makes
a character do something which the
character would not have done. This
is fault which the great Alexandra
seldom falls into, but falling into it in
the case of Aramis, 1t gave us shock
which makes further reading impossible.
Then, too, we did not want to read
about the death of d'Artagnan.
Dante's verse has always left us cold;
maybe If we could manage the Italian
we might like it. AS it is, however. We
have attempted THE Divine Comedy"
at least Is times
AS much as we love "Pickwick Pa
pers" we have never managed to finish
it. Usually We succumb to ennui dur
ing the famous courtroom scene. We
wish Dickens hadn't invented Mr.
Wrinkle. We dislike Mr.. Wrinkle and do
not care to read about him.
No one can blame us, we feel sure,
for having laid down THUS Spake
zarathustra" We defy any person to
point out wherein this is a great book
To us it is so much hash.
After all, one may have a suspicion
that many books left unfinished are so
left in order that the reader may go
back to them later, knowing in advance
where the good stuff lies.