Evening star., 1946-12-29
Reviewing he New Books
Biography Casts New Light Engons Greatest Sea Fighter
And Presents the Heroic Fiqme in the Mode of Our Own Day
NELSON I,
BY Garcia Oman. Double
day; IS.
Reviewed by
MARY-CARTER ROBERTS.

uUVS pC./
Reviewed by
MARY-CARTER ROBERTS.
Commenting in her introduc-
ton to this volume that the
biographies of Lord Nelson to
date have been almost as taste
less and inappropriate as the
physical monuments erected to
the great admiral by his grateful
countrymen, Garcia Oman offers
as her reason for believing her
own work an amendment of it's
predecessors the fact that she
has had access to material hith-
erto unavailable.
Mainly this material is in the
form of letters not previously
published or else published in
incorrect form. The life which
Miss Oman has brought out of
her researches would seem to
Justify her claim. 1t is certainly
more detailed than any preced-
ing biography.
1t also performs a valuable
service in that it presents the
almost too perfectly heroic fig
ure of its subject in the mode
of our own day, not in any sense
of the word detracting from his
virtues, but showing him plainly
In moments of haraSsment, anx-
iety and indecision.
At the same time, the work
lacks something desirable in its
style. 1t has one of the most
heroic-romantic lives on record
for its subject and yet it almost
never seems to go. 1t would not
do to apply the traditional word,
pedestrian" to it's lethargy, for
that implies movement of a sort,
even though uninspired. static"
is what comes to my mind. 1t
is really fascinating to see with
ones own eyes what this work
achieves record of over 600
pages, all historical material of.
great human interest, yet almost
totally devoid of a sense of con-.
tinuous narrative. There is prac-
tically no drive in the book.
All Phases of Nelson's Career.
Even so, itis a valuable biog-
raphy for those who will stay
with it. 1t neglects no aspect of
Nelson's career and it does not
labor the great moments which
have been so generously ex-
plotted in the past. The con-
cept of the hero which it de-
velops, slowly but certainly, is
that of the mystic-the man who
identified himself with his coun-
try as completely as the saint
identifies himself with his faith.
And it is to something like the
saints otherworldly vision that
Miss Oman attributes Nelson's
greatness as a sea fighter, rather
than to the prosaic attributes of
seamanship.
He was, she says, "omniscient"
on the eve of a battle, exalted
and lifted out of himself. This
exaltation in a service in which
he completely and unquestion-
ingly believed governed the
whole condition of his life. 1t
provided him with the full re-
lease of self realization, in Miss
Oman's Interpretation, and con-
sequently he had no need toI
his authority in lesser
ways. Unlike many great cap
tains, he was devoid of harsh
ness in his rule. Toward even
his meanest subordinates he
used graciousness. and courtesy.
Nelson's Love Affair.
The celebrated love affair of
his life Miss Oman treats, with
fullness, but without giving it
attention for it's own sake. She
draws it into her general picture
of Nelson as the visionary. HIS
marriage, she demonstrates by
use of correspondence, was a
sensible union, entered on after
the young officer had built up
an impossible dream about an
unapproachable lady. The ex-
perience made him decide to
take a wife, and he did. But
his capacity for exalted emotion
was quite unstirred by his grave
domestic existence. Lady Ham,
ilton in due time became its OBJ
ject. His feeling for her, in its
consuming intensity, became his
personal expression of the kind
of worship which, in a larger
sense, he had for his country.
What Miss Oman says, in short,
is that Nelson was a man who
had to live on the heights.
Smallness was no part of him.
It is an old verdict, but she gives
it validity in a modern context.
With all this, she pays due at
tertion to the Representatives,
and tendency to worry which
accompany the visionary tenn
per&ment. His depression when
his services were not appreci-
ated, his distress over his early
poverty, his loneliness about
seeking favors-she brings out
all these. She provides, indeed,
a remarkably rounded portrait.
Fine Historical Coverage.
A great part of a naval off,
GERS life in those days was, it
seems, correspondence with the
L.