Evening star., 1936-04-18
By Mary.Carfer Roberts

THIS is novel on ecstasy, a
study Of ecstacy through the
three avenues by which, ac-
u cording to the author, it may
be reached. These are, says Mr.. Nor
gan, art, the act of love and death.
They are examined through the life
of Piers Tenniel, Lord Sparkenbroke.
Sparkenbroke is artist, he Is lover and
he has, since his boyhood, been OBJ
sessed with the belief that in death
alone is to be encountered the supreme
rapture. To this obviously limited
idea all the rest of the book is sub
ordinate.
This limitation is true to an aston
iShing degree. The characters are 90
qualified to illustrate the theme that
they become no more than lay figures
exquisite lay figures, to be sure, but
figures severely without humanity.
They are pushed hither and yon 20
help or hinder Sparkenbroke in his
quest; that is their sole function.
TT " do not live and neither does ne.
This is, in fact, book in which only
the idea lives. But, so fervidly, So
one had almost so ecstatically-does
the author pursue that idea that his
work, taken as a unit, without analysis,
has vitality that is almost shocking.
1t has an impact for the emotions
that is bound to be felt by any reader,
and on the nature of that impact criti-
cism must center itself. If it be the
true emotional catharSiS," then We
have a great book. But one asks one
self, is this accomplished? For the
true release surely must sweep the in
tellect as well as the emotions, and
with "Sparkenbroke" this fails of being
the case, and with singular precision.
For the intellect will most certainly
reject the work; it will find it lifeleSs
and unconvincing. And, at the same
time, with almost complete division of
faculties, the emotions will react to it
irresistibly. Its pure emotional force
cannot be gainsaid-it is a force as
compelling as that of music.
The question is whether or not
greatness can be conceded work on
grounds so single. The answer could
be affirmative, if the artistry of the
author were at all times supremel7
good But in "Sparkenbroke" this is
not SO. In spite of some passages of
hypnotic power (notably the closing
chapterS) the writing is not evenly
fine. The work lagS at times through
repetitiousness the method of develop
ment-long conversations between
characters and longer disquistions oy
the author-is irritatingly tedious at
times. Only in the sweep of the book
Is there mastery, mastery that Swal-
lows up these occasional lapses in
single powerful impression.
Works as little connected with the
need for intellectual confirmation have,
of course, achieved place in our litera-
ture, but their authors have seldom
presented their themes as Mr.. Morgan
does his-that IS, as philosophy. For
he does present Sparkenbroke's OBJ
session as such. He seems to wish TO
commend it to his readers intellectual
examination when it is, by its nature.
impossible to be SO received. He quite
literally argues for it. And yet at
the end, he is obliged to fall back upon
q piece of pure romancing-his heros
voluntary death (not suicide) in the
1ennily tomb which has been a symbol
of escape for him since his boyhood.
This somehow does not seem fitting
conclusion for a philosophical argu-
ment.
Perhaps it is this inconsistency that
keeps the reviewer from an undivided
opinion of the books desserts. Yet,
that it is work of power and genius
most certainly can be said. Perhaps,
too, it comes just little late. Fifteen
years ago 1t would have been con-
sidered dangerous" somewhat as the
works of D. H. Lawrence were, Of
which works it is reminiscent. But to-
day as We are turning away $50 do
fashions change) from our worship OF
neuroses and We bring to our critical
outlook an older acquaintance with the
fruit of the tree of knowledge. Neu-
roses We are apt to find more childish
than romantic. But, granted the es-
pousal of one for a theme, we have
here mastery treatment. "Sparken-
broke" is a work to be read. That can
be stated definitely.
CAESARS MANTLE. The End of
The Roman Republic. Translated
from the German by Eden and
Cedar Paul. BY Ferdinand Main
Zer. New York: The Viking Press.
"A FTER the great man has died
there usually comes, as history
shows us with monotonous regularity,
the dull day of the clerk. After the
hero has dropped his heroic tools,
and the disciplined severity of empire
making has given way to confusion,
the rise is naturally for the shrewd
little fellow who, above all, possesses
o sense of order. For the people will
be tired, by then, of the wind OF vast
movements, and will welcome neatness.
So, when Caesar fell and Rome
came down with him, it was indicated
that the next successful leader of the
Romans should be something more
tolerable than a genius. Geniuses,
happily, were no more often to be
met than ever. Two men con-
tended for the place that Caesar had
left empty. One-Antony-was a.
soldier and politician; the other-Cae-
sar's grandnephew-was by nature a
clerk. The clerk triumphed, and |
history thereby vindicated its long
established custom. |
This is, substantially, the story |
which Ferdinand Manner tells in his
history, Caesars Mantle" He begins
his narrative with the assassination of
Julius and carries it down to the final
establishment of Octaviaus, who
changed his paltry given name to
i"Imperator Caesar Divi FiliuS" and
was late to his triumph because he
had caught cold in his head.
It is a well-planned history which
shows once more in all conclusiveness
that it was the substance of Julius |
Caesars mantle from which the empire |
was built, that it was the wind Of