Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-01
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
1. C. NJ.
ST. AUGUSTINE. Giovanni Papini
Translated by Mary Pritchard Ag
nett. HarcOurt. Brace & Co.

ST. AUGUSTINE. Giovanni Papini.
Translated by Mary Pritchard Ag-
netti. Harcourt, Brace & Co.
The survival of man as biological
sequence is probably secure-securc
enough. 1t is the dilemma of indivld-
ual man. of John Smith. SO speedily and
defnitiyely obliterated that on the one
hand brings dismay fear, impotence.
futility and on the other urges to
such activities as lie at the foundation
OF genius working out through every
form of art itself Along this road OF
-perpetuation, through great work OF
one sort and another few have sur
Vlved. a few John Smiths have eX-
ceeded their allotted temporal holdings.
A handful of conquerors, a saint or two.
sinner here and there of superpower
in evil rare genius in one or another
OF the ways of art. Only a little COM
pany of survivors. A way to prolong
individual life is by high quality of
achievement. Another is to identify
ones self as completely as may be with
! acknowledged greatness. And here we
are, we two, st. Augustine and Giovanni
Papini
This book is a birthday celebration,
the 1,500th birthday anniversary of st.
Augustine, Numidian hailing from
North Africa, but Roman after all in
time and understanding and interpreted
ton. 1t is the story of this saints life.
1t Is also the story, in essence Of the
life of Papini Not that it is planned to
be that-not at all. Rather does the
likeness lie in temperament. in the SYM
pathy of the author for mis- great sub
Ject, in Papinls intuition toward the
essence Of his theme, toward the heart
OF his man. Having studied and
brooded and weighed his subject, hav-
ing caught certain klnships between
| himself and the character under his
rapt consideration, Papini in this case
clearly eliminates the historic holy
man by the candle of his own expert
ences, of his own nature and its i'm
pulsions Why not? There is no pre-
sumption in this. That a clearly subtle
thinker, a fine scholar, a keen pSycholo-
| glSt, a maSter-man with words should
| discover kinship between himself and a
great one out of another age is merely
the wise artists use of material lying
| at hand. Clearly, Papini finds much OF
himself in the open human nature OF
the saint who, maybe, stretches far be-
You'd himself, very likely does do so
But In the measure to which identity
| is recognized, to that measure is the
author winged in his equipment for
true portrayal, So by way of this UNI
| Outstanding and partaking man, the
reader goes along the Papini road to
| Rome and st. Augustine. A sort OF
! road to Damascus it turns out to be-
since with both of these it is the new
way of life opening toward them that
gives point to the great story itself
There is to be sure, the picture of the
Roman period of'St. Augustine that is
! spread here in its own gorgeousness OF
barbaric implications, in its unachieved
Christian way of life, in the barriers OF
| paganism that are hard to overthrow
! Here is history of true pattern And
here is potent and enduring central
! figure that is illuminated, first by a big
bulk of piled-up chronicle and next by
the clear genius of Papini for insight
understanding, sharing and for putting
The whole into an easy, informal and
yet into a poetic interpretation Biog-
raphy provides the author with an in
comparable chance to write about him
! self-that is, it gives him the chance
to choose a subject that is kin to him
self. And because Of such tie he is able
to write under what is called a true
inspiration. Every author writes about
himself and about not much of any
thing else. That is natural and that
is right. Right or wrong. it is what he
does. So Papini has written about st.
Augustine by way of himself to the
great enriching of the reader in his
understanding Of that other day and
that other man.
Papini's "St Augustine" provides ma
terial, the sole material and the whole
story for the July issue of the Book
League Monthly. And, by the way, this
is most interesting venture or adven-
ture. 1t is worth looking into. Ga
maliel Bradford, Eugene O'Neill, Van
Wyck Brooks, Edwin Arlington Robin
son, Hamilton Holt, Alice Roosevelt
Longworth its board of editors.
y X + X