Evening star., 1933-09-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G.. BOWERMAN.
BLAKE. BY Alan Clutton Brock.
Great Lives Series. New York:

BLAKE. BY Alan Clutton Brock
Great Lives Series. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
1T has often been said that William
Blake, being born in the middle of the
eighteenth century, was born out OF his
time But it is hard to think of any
state of civilization in which he would
have been more comfortable" Blake
was one of the introvertS, before the
term was invented by the psychologists.
He was no more at home in the world
of men than Fitzgerald of the Rubaiyat,
Dante Gabriel RosSetti or Francis
Thompson. He lived within the re-
cesses of his mind, and his contacts
with the outside world were often
oblique and disconcerting." AS we
should expect to find, he was a diffi-
cult child but what is surprising Is that
his father, a hosier and Dissenter,
seems to have had intuitive under
standing of his character and needs.
He did not send him to school, but had
him taught drawing from his early
wears. He was not. however, SO IN
dulgent in the matter OF his sons
visions of God. Ezekiel, and other
prophets, which the child began 10 Tell
about at the age OF four. TO the matIel
of-fact father these were plain neS,
deserving of beating. Most blahe
critics agree that to the decloeoly ao-
normal poet and engraver ms latHeI
later became the symbol OF all hatelul
authority. 1t is hard luck to be the
parent of psychopathic Weaking'
even though he be genius, ana 10 pc
come the focus of all sorts OF maj
complexes. The elder Blake, not know
ing that he was to become sucn d
iur,..; sent his son to an art scnooi III
the Strand at the age OF Ten, pousl'
him casts and prints, and later ap-
nrrnticed him to an engraVer. Durihg
This apprenticeship William Blake pc
gan to write poetry, some OF tne poems
which afterward appeared IN ;an roeti1a,
Sketches All the formal euuca'iu,, "a,
which he ever had was completed Wy
studies In the Royal Academy Scnooa'
blake was no more quallhed 10 nlahe
q annd husband than he was to make
good son, VT he married. he was nv
esnecially happy in marriage, nor, II ls
likely was his wife. He seems at lllnes
IN have had a clear and conscious or
sire for polygamy; he even recomiIehu
I'D community of wives. and TAXED u.
bringing concubine into the nouSe.
His wife. Catherine Boucher, oaughtei
of BatterSea market-gardener, pa
tent devoted. a good housekeeper, was
probably the only kind OF woman VINO
could have managed TO live with nun
though life. which she did. DuIlie ili3 2
last days, when his visions hao oesei teu
him. he said to her: You nave eNel
been an angel to me. l will draw you;
She had long since said Of him: i
have very little Of his company. ne y
aIwavs in s.au Sc" Blake'S artlstlc
achievement is rightly what he is known
bv-his poems. Songs of Innocence
and Songs of Experience and MS en-
cravings especially those illustrating
the Book of Job. the prophetic DOCKS
of the Bible. and Dante's Inferno
but this little biography in the exceliehI
Great Lives Series reveals a PERSONA
life Of unusual interest because OF lIS
eccentricitieS.
MODERN GERMANY: A Study OF Con-
fiicting Loyalties By Paul kosok-
Chicago: The University OF Chlcago
Press. ,;.,,
This is a condensed work IN Ehglisn
of a much longer one originally written
in German. Prof. Kosok believes that
the continuance Of Nazl power oepeIos
entirely on whether Hitler and his party
can solve the economic problems III
Germany. or rather the acute economic
problem of unemployment and conse-
uuent lack of purchasing power II
they fail in this primary task. tney
will have to face the very forces they
we're organized TO combat, the lorces
of social revolt. Revolution Will Ioi4o"
Hitler's etforts to reconstruct mooelh
Germany. The book is not merely
discussion of the immediate present. lile
Hitler regime. 1t follows the course Oh
development of the republican govern
ment which came into existence altef
the war. its social educational. rellelous'
military. agrarian and polltlcal accom-
plishments, and shows how and why
that government failed to remain IN
poWer, That Germany would have been
better off today If it had remained
Prot. Kosok seems certain. He has as,
sembled q mass Of carefully selected
material on his subject and has ar
ranged it in systematic form. the re-
suit is a book less popular and dramatic
than Edgar Ansell Mowers Germany
puts the Clock Back but filled with As
well authenticated facts and more
calmly written.
The fur trade was an important factor
in the development Of North America.
+ w Gilbert in his book The Ex-
ploration of Western America tMac-
MILAN, with the aid OF his many IN
teresting early maps. shows now geoe:
raphv and its influence on that almost
instructive need Of man. trade, nave IN
fiuenced our history. Lewis ana Clark
whose purpose in starting westward
from the farthest Western settlement III
Missouri was not primarily trade. were
nevertheless influential in assisting the
fur trade. They were during part OF
their Journey in contact with Hudson
Bav Co. traders and England watcheo
with interest. and perhaps some anxiety.
the course of their trail. Astors great
fur speculation. the equal OF any recent
inflated scheme, later caused the most
intense hopes and fears all along the
Pacific Coast. in Canada. and in Lon
don. He was always proud OF his A.
toria company. though it lost him much
money and was finally taken over by
British traders DR. Gilbert does not
overemphasize the fur trade II his
account of early exploration in the West.
but it forms one of the most stirring
parts of his book.
The underworld Of great cities seems
often to have fascination for people
who would on no account explore that
inferno for themselves. That Is why
books on the subject are usually poDu-
lar Herbert Asbury. in his book The
Barbary Coast (Knopf. delves into
San Francisco's depths of sin. He did
similar piece of work in his Gang
sters of New York" The Coast" he
tells lis, began to form in the gold rush
of '49, when the waterfront OF the
beautiful bay was the resort of the scum
of the country and even of the world,
there for the purpose of getting rich
without work by robbing miners of their
ore. When this did not bring in enough
they set fire to the town and looted
the ruins There were two principal
gangs. each worse than the other; the
Hounds originating in New York. and
the Sidney Ducks. an overflow Of Aus
tralia's convicts Vigilance committees
were organized to fight these gangs and
protect those who were in San Fran
81 30 h