BY WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT
BY WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT
A Brief Expression of the Critical Reception ofDOWN AMONG MENOutlook: Possessed of a marvelous descriptive genius, equipped with a remarkably flexible use of English and impelled by the passion of a mystic—the author ofDown Among Menhas written a striking novel.The Dial: Seems to us the most exalted and appealing story Mr. Comfort has thus far written.The Argonaut: A novel of extraordinary power. It is good asRoutledge Rides Alone. It could hardly be better.London Post: Alive with incident, bounding with physical energy, dramatic in coloring, and modern in every phrase. He has a message delivered with vigor, inspired with tense passion.Atlantic Monthly: There is so much real fire in it—the fire of youth that has seen and suffered—so much vitality and passion that one grows chary of petty comments. The writer offers us the cup of life, and there is blood in the cup.Chicago Record-Herald: An almost perfect tale of courage and adventure.Chicago Tribune: Contains some of the most remarkable scenes that have appeared in recent American fiction.New York Times: Few richer novels than this of Mr. Comfort’s have been published in many a long day.New York Globe: We can say in all sincerity that we know of no recent bit of descriptive writing that can match this for sustained, breathless, dramatic interest.Springfield Republican:Down Among Menis perhaps the most ambitious American novel that has come out during the past year.12mo., Net $1.25.
A Brief Expression of the Critical Reception of
DOWN AMONG MEN
Outlook: Possessed of a marvelous descriptive genius, equipped with a remarkably flexible use of English and impelled by the passion of a mystic—the author ofDown Among Menhas written a striking novel.
The Dial: Seems to us the most exalted and appealing story Mr. Comfort has thus far written.
The Argonaut: A novel of extraordinary power. It is good asRoutledge Rides Alone. It could hardly be better.
London Post: Alive with incident, bounding with physical energy, dramatic in coloring, and modern in every phrase. He has a message delivered with vigor, inspired with tense passion.
Atlantic Monthly: There is so much real fire in it—the fire of youth that has seen and suffered—so much vitality and passion that one grows chary of petty comments. The writer offers us the cup of life, and there is blood in the cup.
Chicago Record-Herald: An almost perfect tale of courage and adventure.
Chicago Tribune: Contains some of the most remarkable scenes that have appeared in recent American fiction.
New York Times: Few richer novels than this of Mr. Comfort’s have been published in many a long day.
New York Globe: We can say in all sincerity that we know of no recent bit of descriptive writing that can match this for sustained, breathless, dramatic interest.
Springfield Republican:Down Among Menis perhaps the most ambitious American novel that has come out during the past year.
12mo., Net $1.25.
MIDSTREAM... A hint from the first-year’s recognition of a book that was made to remain in American literature:Boston Transcript: If it be extravagance, let it be so, to say that Comfort’s account of his childhood has seldom been rivaled in literature. It amounts to revelation. Really the only parallels that will suggest themselves in our letters are the great ones that occur inHuckleberry Finn.... This man Comfort’s gamut is long and he has raced its full length. One wonders whether the interest, the skill, the general worth of it, the things it has to report of all life, as well as the one life, do not entitleMidstreamto the very long life that is enjoyed only by the very best of books.San Francisco Argonaut: Read the book. It is autobiography in its perfection. It shows more of the realities of the human being, more of god and devil in conflict, than any book of its kind.Springfield Republican: It is difficult to think of any other young American who has so courageously reversed the process of writing for the “market” and so flatly insisted upon being taken, if at all, on his own terms of life and art. And now comes his frank and amazing revelation,Midstream, in which he captures and carries the reader on to a story of regeneration. He has come far; the question is, how much farther will he go?Mary Fanton Roberts inThe Craftsman: Beside the stature of this book, the ordinary novel and biography are curiously dwarfed. You read it with a poignant interest and close it with wonder, reverence and gratitude. There is something strangely touching about words so candid, and a draught of philosophy that has been pressed from such wild and bitter-sweet fruit. The message it contains is one to sink deep, penetrating and enriching whatever receptive soul it touches. This man’s words are incandescent. Many of us feel that he is breathing into a language, grown trite from hackneyed usage, the inspiration of a quickened life.Ida Gilbert Myers inWashington Star: Courage backs this revelation. The gift of self-searching animates it. Honesty sustains it. And Mr. Comfort’s rare power to seize and deliver his vision inspires it. It is a tremendous thing—the greatest thing that this writer has yet done.George Soule inThe Little Review: Here is a man’s life laid absolutely bare. A direct, big thing, so simple that almost no one has done it before—this Mr. Comfort has dared. People who are made uncomfortable by intimate grasp of anything, to whom reserve is more important than truth—these will not readMidstreamthrough, but others will emerge from the book with a sense of the absolute nobility of Mr. Comfort’s frankness.Edwin Markham inHearst’s Magazine: Will Levington Comfort, a novelist of distinction, has given us a book alive with human interest, with passionate sincerity, and with all the power of his despotism over words. He has been a wandering foot—familiar with many strands; he has known shame and sorrow and striving; he has won to serene heights. He tells it all without vaunt, relating his experience to the large meanings of life for all men, to the mystic currents behind life, out of which we come, to whose great deep we return.12mo., Net, $1.25
MIDSTREAM
MIDSTREAM
... A hint from the first-year’s recognition of a book that was made to remain in American literature:
Boston Transcript: If it be extravagance, let it be so, to say that Comfort’s account of his childhood has seldom been rivaled in literature. It amounts to revelation. Really the only parallels that will suggest themselves in our letters are the great ones that occur inHuckleberry Finn.... This man Comfort’s gamut is long and he has raced its full length. One wonders whether the interest, the skill, the general worth of it, the things it has to report of all life, as well as the one life, do not entitleMidstreamto the very long life that is enjoyed only by the very best of books.
San Francisco Argonaut: Read the book. It is autobiography in its perfection. It shows more of the realities of the human being, more of god and devil in conflict, than any book of its kind.
Springfield Republican: It is difficult to think of any other young American who has so courageously reversed the process of writing for the “market” and so flatly insisted upon being taken, if at all, on his own terms of life and art. And now comes his frank and amazing revelation,Midstream, in which he captures and carries the reader on to a story of regeneration. He has come far; the question is, how much farther will he go?
Mary Fanton Roberts inThe Craftsman: Beside the stature of this book, the ordinary novel and biography are curiously dwarfed. You read it with a poignant interest and close it with wonder, reverence and gratitude. There is something strangely touching about words so candid, and a draught of philosophy that has been pressed from such wild and bitter-sweet fruit. The message it contains is one to sink deep, penetrating and enriching whatever receptive soul it touches. This man’s words are incandescent. Many of us feel that he is breathing into a language, grown trite from hackneyed usage, the inspiration of a quickened life.
Ida Gilbert Myers inWashington Star: Courage backs this revelation. The gift of self-searching animates it. Honesty sustains it. And Mr. Comfort’s rare power to seize and deliver his vision inspires it. It is a tremendous thing—the greatest thing that this writer has yet done.
George Soule inThe Little Review: Here is a man’s life laid absolutely bare. A direct, big thing, so simple that almost no one has done it before—this Mr. Comfort has dared. People who are made uncomfortable by intimate grasp of anything, to whom reserve is more important than truth—these will not readMidstreamthrough, but others will emerge from the book with a sense of the absolute nobility of Mr. Comfort’s frankness.
Edwin Markham inHearst’s Magazine: Will Levington Comfort, a novelist of distinction, has given us a book alive with human interest, with passionate sincerity, and with all the power of his despotism over words. He has been a wandering foot—familiar with many strands; he has known shame and sorrow and striving; he has won to serene heights. He tells it all without vaunt, relating his experience to the large meanings of life for all men, to the mystic currents behind life, out of which we come, to whose great deep we return.
12mo., Net, $1.25
RED FLEECESpringfield Republican: The first genuine war novel.Outlook: The first novel of any real consequence dealing with the great war.San Francisco Argonaut: An extraordinary book. The reader of Comfort’s book is carried away on a storm of emotion.New York Tribune: Decidedly the first notable novel of the great war is Will Levington Comfort’sRed Fleece. Comfort sees in the moujik’s dreamy soul the seed of a spiritual regeneration of the world.The Dial: As a stylist, Mr. Comfort has never done better work. “His clothing smelled of death; and one morning before the smoke fell, he watched the sun shining upon the smoke-clad hills. That moment the thought held him that the pine-trees were immortal, and men just the dung of the earth.” It is not given to many men to write such English as that.Boston Transcript: This is a story written in wireless. It leaves a lightning impression.New York Times: This novel has one most unusual fault. It is not long enough.Churchman, New York: By far the most interesting and thoughtful book of fiction springing from the great war.12mo., Net, $1.25
RED FLEECE
RED FLEECE
Springfield Republican: The first genuine war novel.
Outlook: The first novel of any real consequence dealing with the great war.
San Francisco Argonaut: An extraordinary book. The reader of Comfort’s book is carried away on a storm of emotion.
New York Tribune: Decidedly the first notable novel of the great war is Will Levington Comfort’sRed Fleece. Comfort sees in the moujik’s dreamy soul the seed of a spiritual regeneration of the world.
The Dial: As a stylist, Mr. Comfort has never done better work. “His clothing smelled of death; and one morning before the smoke fell, he watched the sun shining upon the smoke-clad hills. That moment the thought held him that the pine-trees were immortal, and men just the dung of the earth.” It is not given to many men to write such English as that.
Boston Transcript: This is a story written in wireless. It leaves a lightning impression.
New York Times: This novel has one most unusual fault. It is not long enough.
Churchman, New York: By far the most interesting and thoughtful book of fiction springing from the great war.
12mo., Net, $1.25
Transcriber’s Notes:On page 123, side-ways has been changed to sideways.On page 130, banknotes has been changed to bank-notes.On page 310, waterfront has been changed to water-front.On page 336, eyelids has been changed to eye-lids.The name "Fomalhaut" was spelled multiple ways in this book; all have been regularized to "Fomalhaut" (a star in the Southern Hemisphere.)All other spelling, hyphenation and dialect has been retained as typeset.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Transcriber’s Notes:
On page 123, side-ways has been changed to sideways.
On page 130, banknotes has been changed to bank-notes.
On page 310, waterfront has been changed to water-front.
On page 336, eyelids has been changed to eye-lids.
The name "Fomalhaut" was spelled multiple ways in this book; all have been regularized to "Fomalhaut" (a star in the Southern Hemisphere.)
All other spelling, hyphenation and dialect has been retained as typeset.