UNDERHILL, EVELYN (MRS STUART MOORE).Theophanies; a book of verse.*$1.50 Dutton 821 17-5732
“Mystic and philosopher, both characters definitely clothe themselves in Miss Underhill’s verse. She has written most often upon mysticism, but the mysticism which reveals itself in her verse is not of the character which contents itself with symbols or the undefined, but always into the midst of her visions breaks the mood of questioning, and she falls to analyzing. ... Even melting into each other as they do the moods are distinctly separate in origin and remain through her poems quite distinguishable.”—Boston Transcript
“Though there are passages of very pure poetry here, it is her thought rather than her manner of expressing it which remains with us.” D. L. M.
“The poems on spiritual themes are not convincing, but ‘Any Englishwoman,’ altho it is a slight thing for so great a tragedy to inspire, seems to be as sincere as it is imaginative and well phrased.”
“The austere note of distinction, restraint, and painstaking selection is its chief characteristic. ... That these poems will not appeal to the multitude is inevitable. They breathe and have their being in too fine an atmosphere for that. ... Despite popular criticism, in the proper meaning of the term, she is certainly not a mystic. Rather is she a rapt and adoring pantheist.”
“Mystic and mystical are terms that have long been in fashionable currency. ... Miss Evelyn Underhill has done more than any living English writer to redeem them and to clarify their true significance.”
UNDERWOOD, JOHN CURTIS.War flames.*$1.35 Macmillan 811 17-12602
The poems of this book are for the most part long descriptive or narrative pieces in free verse, grouped by countries, Belgium, Germany, France, England, etc. In a prefatory note the author acknowledges indebtedness to various books, magazines and newspaper articles “from which material for many of his poems has been adapted directly, in part.”
“He ends, by sheer tireless weight of creative energy, in overwhelming the reader physically rather than emotionally. ... Such work is valuable for its influence on the poetic consciousness of the age rather than for itself. It is the material for new poetic coinage. At the same time it would be unfair to Mr Underwood not to admit that he has written a vivid and suggestive book, even if it is not entirely successful as poetry.” Conrad Aiken
“Mr Underwood has made prose poems, each one a realistic picture or story of the meaning of the great war in individual lives. They are very bravely and beautifully written, conceived with the utmost gravity and sincerity of spirit. No war book has seemed to me to possess a greater dignity.”
“There have been many books of war poems since 1914, but none so comprehensive, so athrill with the spirit that now animates America, the feeling that the cause of humanity and the divine principle of democracy are at stake, as ‘War flames.’ ... ‘The Marne,’ ‘The Lavoir,’ ‘Roads in France,’ and ‘Spring in Picardy’ touch the fount of the inspiration that gave the Marseillaise to Rouget de l’Isle.”
UNITED STATES. COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION.National service handbook. il gratis Committee on public information, Washington, D.C. 17-26652
“This book of two hundred and fifty pages is a highly condensed compendium of information. ... Some of the larger headings are the maintenance of standards of labor; welfare and philanthropic service at home; agencies for European war relief, the names and addresses of over a hundred being listed; religious organizations doing service; the capacities in which professional men and women can be of use; the financing of the war; the special impact of war on industry and commerce; agriculture and food supply; medical and nursing service—all this and more, besides full information as to the various lines of service in army, navy and aviation.”—New Repub
“The usefulness of the book for reference purposes in libraries and newspaper offices, and for any individual who has some service to offer and wishes to know where and how to present it can hardly be overestimated.” J. D.
UNTERMEYER, LOUIS.These times.*$1.25 Holt 811 17-10978
The poems of this book are arranged in groups: The wave; Thirteen portraits; Havens; Dick [six poems for a child]; Battle-cries; Youth moralizes; Two rebels. Many of them are reprinted from magazines, The Century, Yale Review, The Masses, The Poetry Review, and others.
“Rich in feeling but poor in artistry. Even when most successful he needs to concentrate and purify his verse and eliminate the dross from his metal. His ideas are bold, but he is too apt to philosophize anddivagate, and mar his pictures with hasty, random strokes and coarse metaphors.” E: Garnett
“Perhaps the most arresting quality of Mr Untermeyer’s work—the more so because it is so rare in our twentieth-century singers—is its complete objectivity. There is nothing of morbid introspection. ... His outlook is essentially clear and wholesome.” R. T. P.
“Mr Untermeyer’s ease in Delphi is comparable to that of some other persons in Zion. He profits by the restraints of brevity and the stanza; in space and freedom he unbends. He has a pleasant, buoyant lyric movement, rising sometimes to high resonance as in ‘Poetry,’ and his possession of the art that curves and crisps an epigram is demonstrated in ‘Faith,’ ‘A portrait,’ and ‘An old maid.’” O. W. Firkins
“One is grateful to Mr Untermeyer because he takes beauty into account, because he feels it, strives for it, and often, as he deserves, wins it for his own. For beauty too is grateful to Mr Untermeyer, one may fancy, and shines out through his work in many places. ... One trouble with Mr Untermeyer, indeed, is that he is not half enough content to be the good poet that he is. He is possessed of a gift and of a specialized, rather naïve philosophy of life, and his gift distinctly suffers for it. For life presents itself to him too much as being merely blind activity. ... Mr Untermeyer has fire, but it is not that which needs chastening. It is imagination he needs, the imagination of contemplation—the other half of poetry.” M. T.
“One section of the book, ‘Thirteen portraits,’ lives up to the promise of the former volume. ... Mr Untermeyer is at his happiest in the more formal rhymes. ... When we come to his attempts at polyrhythmic poetry, the less said the more charity.” Clement Wood
“Mr Untermeyer’s clearest claim as a poet lies rather in a certain gray, flickering, now-you-see-it-and-now-you-don’t quality of imagination that flashes here and there upon his pages. It is the quality which made him so good a translator of Heine; possibly it is what makes him so delightful a parodist of other poets.”
“The book is longer than his previous volume, ‘Challenge’ and has greater variety of contents. ‘Thirteen portraits’ are the best work in the book, for they afford the author a display of his technical gifts, his easy satire and cleverness of phrase. ‘Eve’ and ‘Moses,’ two pretentious poems in blank verse, are less satisfactory than the lyrics, which are beautiful and most melodious.”
“Mr Untermeyer has included too much in ‘These times.’ The best of his volume has his well-known qualities—a trenchant expression, an intolerance of social injustice, and an exhilaration in the force and beauty of nature, the strength and beauty of human affection. But there are poems here which are journalistic; that is, they interest us for the moment and we never return to them. ... The poet has grown intellectually since his first volume.” E: B. Reed
UPDEGRAFF, ALLAN.Second youth; being, in the main, some account of the middle comedy in the life of a New York bachelor. il*$1.35 (1c) Harper 17-12137
One can only believe that the rejuvenescence experienced by Roland Farwell Francis, somewhere between thirty and thirty-five, was in reality a first youth. Surely the deferential silk salesman as we first meet him, with his sideburns, gold-rimmed spectacles and black cutaway, had never been young. On Monday, March 13th, Mr Francis made an entry in his personal journal: “Noted another customer in particular to-day. Bought five yards of that new wild geranium.” Mr Francis had, as the note implies, noted other customers in particular, and he does not know at the time how very particular this one is to become, or that with the sale of five yards of the new wild geranium his youth is to begin. Mr Francis’s mild, but none the less amazing adventures will be followed with interest to their satisfactory close, when a feminine hand makes the final entry in the personal journal.
“Mr Updegraff’s first novel is so good that our first thought is one of wonder that he has kept us waiting all these years for it—years, to be sure, which have not been barren, for he has vitally aroused our interest by his poetry and his shorter fiction.” D. L. M.
“In America we have not enough of this sort of light-handed humor. There is a touch of farce in the postulated situation, which you have to grant and are very willing to grant. Once that is granted or accepted, you move along in a romantic adventure which is conducted in the true spirit of comedy. The material is of the quality that ought to make good plays.” J: Macy
“It is all absurd enough if you choose to make it so, but in the performance it has touches of characterization and serious feeling which keep it clear of the farcical and fairly entitle it to esteem as a bit of graceful and sympathetic human comedy.”
“It is as comedy that the story will most appeal—refined comedy of character, situationand manner, delicately portrayed and never lacking in genuine appreciation of the very things that are the subjects of its humor.”
USSHER, CLARENCE DOUGLAS, and KNAPP, GRACE HIGLEY.[2]American physician in Turkey. il*$1.75 Houghton 17-27881
“Dr Ussher went to Turkey about twenty years ago as a medical missionary. The call was sudden and urgent, but as soon as he could transfer his medical practice he sailed from Boston in the early spring of 1898, reaching Constantinople in June. His earlier experience had included the course in a theological seminary in Philadelphia and therefore he was as well fitted, if not better, for missionary work than many who are called upon to serve in that direction in foreign lands. After a period of travel, Dr Ussher established a hospital, hiring a private house for the purpose and being forced to overcome many obstacles. The closing chapters of this book tell of the massacres and deportations in Van and other provinces of Turkey.”—Boston Transcript
“Contains illuminating information with respect to the operation of the Turks in Armenia during the early months of the war.”
“Deserves wide reading on several counts.”
VACHELL, HORACE ANNESLEY.Fishpingle; a romance of the countryside.*$1.35 (3c) Doran 17-15975
Fishpingle, butler to Sir Geoffrey Pomfret, is the leading character in this story. He stands in close relation to the family, and is involved in the love affairs of Alfred, the first footman, and Prudence, the still-room maid, and of Lionel, only son of Sir Geoffrey, and Joyce, the parson’s daughter. The author tells us in his preface that there is an “obvious purpose underlying the adventures and misadventures of the story.” This purpose is to picture the type of country squire who is a “true lover of the soil but helplessly ignorant of its potentialities,” and to make clear that this type of man is likely to become extinct unless he justifies his claim to existence by sticking to the land and concentrating his undivided energies upon it. The author’s comedy, “Fishpingle,” was produced at the Haymarket theater in 1916.
“Those familiar with the comedy seen at the Haymarket theatre may remember that the piece was reviewed at some length in the Athenæum for June, 1916. Mr Vachell now provides people who do not or cannot go to a theatre with the opportunity of becoming acquainted with a modern Admirable Crichton.”
“A bit of very British comedy based upon a rather flimsy and perfunctory mystery. It might make a good movie-play, and that is the best we can say for it.” H. W. Boynton
“All that can be seriously commended in ‘Fishpingle,’ besides the title, is the attempt, rather half-hearted, to discuss in fictional terms the problem of the passing of England’s landed gentry. Beyond that, it is simply a conventionally cheerful story of the variety termed pleasant.”
“A smooth piece of writing, the work of an expert but uninspired craftsman. The book is neither stupid not sensational. It is a novel for the middle-class mind.” Harry Salpeter
“The tale is an interesting and a pleasant one, and it is told with a good deal of the charm that made ‘Quinneys’ so thoroughly delightful.”
“There are two delightful characters in this book—the old-time English country squire and his butler. ... Apart from these two characters the story is hardly equal to many of Mr Vachell’s previous admirable novels.”
“Sounds a warning to English landholders that they must modernize their methods of farming on scientific lines, or be ‘scrapped.’ The serious note, however, is submerged in a charming story, in which the author creates another delightful character somewhat after the type of the quaint Quinney. But the serious note is not so completely hidden that the indictment of antiquated farming methods in England can not be readily discerned. The story ranks with the author’s best.”
VAIZEY, JESSIE (BELL) (MRS GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY) (JESSIE MANSERGH).Betty Trevor.il*$1.25 (2c) Putnam
A story for girls. Betty is an English girl, daughter of a busy London doctor, and one of a big family of brothers and sisters. The Trevors live in an old-fashioned house on Brompton square. At the opening of the story they are new to the neighborhood and are finding their chief amusement in inventing romantic life histories for their neighbors. One of these is the “Pampered Pet,” a young girl of Betty’s age who appears to have too many of the good things of the world. But on nearer acquaintance she proves to be anything but the little snob they have pictured her. As the young people grow older they accept responsibilities and find their places in life. It is one of those stories that are on the borderline between girls’ books and grown-up novels.
“It has more substance, better character drawing than is commonly found, a somewhat romantic plot and very real human interest.”
“A clean, wholesome little volume.”
VALLINGS, GABRIELLE.Bindweed.*$1.50 (1c) Dodd (Eng ed 17-5403)
Eugénie Massini, a young girl with a beautiful voice, attracts the notice of Mme Périntot, a teacher of singing, who interests herself in the girl and offers to take her as a pupil. But she encounters the opposition of Eugénie’s aunt, a harsh peasant woman, who lives in fear that the girl may follow in the footsteps of a wayward mother. But, learning that the girl is already in danger from the attentions of Gaston Hypolite, an opera singer, she puts her under the wise care of Mme Périntot. Gaston, however, is not to be put off. He persists, with no other intention than that of making Eugénie his mistress. In the meantime the aunt, from long brooding on the girl’s possible fate, has gone insane. She attempts revenge on Gaston. From this experience he emerges a wiser man, and, having been won over to Eugénie’s own high conception of love, asks her hand in marriage.
“This new writer shows no mean power of characterization, inherited no doubt from her Kingsley ancestry. She can also create atmosphere and steep her readers in scenes from life. The development of her theme, on the other hand, reveals little deep truth and thought.”
“‘Pamela,’ warmed up in the French fashion and boiled down to one-fourth of its traditional length. ... The book promises no great distractionfor those readers who care to have their authors look upon life neither through a rose- nor a yellow-tinted medium.”
“The author is apparently familiar with certain phases of French life and her dialogue is often good, but lack of skill in the handling of the novel as a whole combines with its too great length to make it drag badly and fail to hold one’s interest.”
VANDERBLUE, HOMER BEWS.Railroad valuation. (Hart, Schaffner and Marx prize essays)*$1.50 Houghton 385 17-10693
A scientific study of one of the big problems before the Interstate commerce commission. It is not only a study in the economics of railroads but also a study in the economics of the distribution of income. Contents: Valuation and regulation; Physical valuation—“Cost of reproduction”—Land; Physical valuation—“Cost of reproduction”—Capital goods; Physical valuation—Unimpaired investment; The intangible elements of “fair value”; The return to the railroad; Bibliography; Index.
“Mr Vanderblue’s scientific study is a masterful resumé of varied, undigested, unassimilated, and discordant views and data, but it does not clear the atmosphere nor lift the smoke of battle.” A. M. Sakolski
“This book deals perforce with many legal problems of the past, and Dr Vanderblue covers these phases in a clear and praiseworthy manner. The unfortunate point is that the entire work appears colorless. It is a pity that Dr Vanderblue has not given a more individual treatment embodying his own ideas on a subject so much in the public mind. The present work is rather on the order of a summary of what has been accomplished.”
“The book is non-partisan in its attitude toward the problem, but highly technical and not to be recommended for popular reading.”
“The analysis of the principles of valuation for rate-making is the most complete, most closely reasoned, and altogether the best general exposition of the subject extant. The most important contribution of the work is its criticism of the practices of valuation. The author, however, radically overestimates the importance of the inevitable inaccuracy.” S. H. Slichter
“An interesting and valuable piece of criticism of a destructive kind. ... The available material has been well digested and its presentation is lucid and concise. Nevertheless, we cannot but wish that the author had introduced his discussion of detail by a positive and constructive statement of fundamental principles.”
VAN DYKE, HENRY.Fighting for peace.*$1.25 Scribner 940.91 17-30303
“Dr Van Dyke last spring resigned his position as minister to the Netherlands and Luxemburg, which he had held for four years, in order to be free to come home and write for the enlightenment of his fellow-countrymen of the doings of Germany as he had seen and known them. This book is one of the results of that action. Parts of it have appeared in recent numbers of Scribner’s Magazine, but to these he has added chapters on the causes of the war and the kind of peace for which we are fighting.”—N Y Times
“No contribution to the literary or strictly informative output of the war has been read with keener interest.” F. P. H.
“There is not much that is new in Dr Van Dyke’s account of the coming and the conduct of the war, but what he tells of the things he saw himself—and he saw much—has the interest of personal experience and the weight of personal indictment.”
“To anyone who may be in doubt about the anomaly of fighting for peace we strongly recommend Dr Van Dyke’s volume.” A. O.
“Dr Van Dyke speaks with no uncertain note.”
VAN DYKE, HENRY.Red flower.*50c Scribner 811 17-31290
“Dr Van Dyke’s experience as minister to Holland made him as it were a spiritual eyewitness to the inner consciousness of the war on both sides, and what this little book presents is a kind of verse report of what he felt rather than saw. ... Slender as this collection is, it is well defined in grouping, and through ‘Premonition,’ ‘The trial by fire,’ ‘France and Belgium,’ ‘Interludes in Holland,’ to ‘Enter America,’ he strikes the salient notes of the war from its beginning to his return home in the spring of this year. The little book is a memorial of the poet’s experience with the effect of this war upon his spirit and lays stress upon those notes that have a moral and national righteousness in the conflict.”—Boston Transcript
“Some of the most melodious lyrics given us by Dr Van Dyke’s ripened and finely tempered poetic talent are in this little book. Notable among them are: ‘The bells of Malines,’ and ‘The Oxford thrushes.’”
VAN KLEECK, MARY.Seasonal industry. il*$1.50 (3c) Russell Sage foundation 331.4 17-14558
In her investigation of the millinery trade in New York city Miss Van Kleeck “has penetrated to the one all-effecting aspect of the industry—its ‘appalling irregularity.’ ... In view of the constant depression upon wages by unemployment, the keen competition of a trade attracting a tremendous supply of labor, and the unorganized state of the industry (some slight attempt to unionize the workers is now being made), Miss Van Kleeck urges public control of the industry through the establishment of a minimum wage board and describes the beneficial results of such a system in Victoria. Around the central fact of the seasonal character of the millinery trade Miss Van Kleeck groups many interesting and valuable details. ... Throughout the study, comments by the workers themselves and pictures of their struggle to make both ends meet illuminate ‘dry-as-dust’ statistics.” (Survey) There are many tables, four appendices, and a number of illustrations.
Reviewed by Edith Abbott
“Miss Van Kleeck brings a point of view and a directness of attack to her field of study which make her conclusions convincing. Especially is this true of her demand for some sort of effective public regulation of the trade in the interest of the welfare of the workers.”
“Miss Van Kleeck’s exhaustive survey of enough facts to justify valid general conclusions becomes almost meticulous in its conscientiousness. Comparative tables and charts and median curves, all the technical instruments of the newer and more scientific method of sociological investigation, abound. ... The main outlines of the condition in the trade emerge with sharp enough emphasis to give the general reader a correct orientation. Andfor the special student there are the intricate and innumerable details. ... It is a real labor of love, the kind that is always distasteful to the easy theorizer. ‘A seasonal industry’ is a piece of first-class investigation and analysis.” H. S.
“Noteworthy for the amount of up-to-date information it contains regarding an industry of which comparatively little is known outside the ranks of the workers employed in it.”
“Part of the study was begun as early as 1908, when the Committee on women’s work was connected with the Alliance employment bureau. Later when the committee became a department of the Russell Sage foundation it directed the inquiry into the millinery trade for the Factory investigating commission of New York. Although the material has apparently been brought down to date, the interviews with employers and employes were held between 1908 and 1912, and the payroll study was made in 1914. Delays in getting the data into print somewhat invalidate the use of the statistics for present quotation.” M. C.
VAN LOAN, CHARLES EMMETT.Old man Curry.il*$1.35 (2c) Doran 17-25513
Stories about horses and horse racing make up this volume. The publishers announce that it is the first of a series by the author “dealing with the major sports of American life.” Old man Curry, a veteran horseman, with a faculty for adapting the wisdom of Solomon to his own ends, is the central character in the stories. Contents: Levelling with Elisha; Playing even for Obadiah; By a hair; The last chance; Sanguinary Jeremiah; Eliphaz, late Fairfax; The redemption handicap; A morning workout; Egyptian corn; The modern judgment of Solomon.
“Holds interest both because of the well depicted action of the race track, and the astute quaintness of the principal character. It is a story men will like.”
“They will find appreciation with devotees of the track and the paddock, as they have all the excitement and the dash of life on the turf.”
“Not since David Harum delighted his country-wide audience with the garnered wisdom of the rustic world have we had a hero whose talk was such a mosaic of wise saws.”
VAN SCHAICK, GEORGE GRAY.Top-floor idyl. il*$1.50 (1½c) Small 17-23651
“David Cole, who tells the story, is a middle-aged bachelor, a writer, quite content with his modest room on the top floor of Mrs Milliken’s boarding house, near Washington square, and his friendship for Frieda Long, an artist and a spinster, fat, good-heartedness personified. One day, however, it chances that the room across the hall from David’s is engaged by the young American widow of a French soldier killed in the battle of the Marne. Her baby arrives before it is expected, and David ... interests himself in the welfare of the young mother and her little Paul. ... Of course there is a love story, and everything comes out splendidly in the end.”—N Y Times
“Will be popular.”
“Mr Van Schaick’s new novel is a sort of fairy tale with the ogres and witches left out. With a single exception every character in the book of any importance—the baby included—is as good as gold. Some of them are considerably better. ... Touches of fun do much to relieve its sentimentality.”
VAN TESLAAR, JAMES S.When I was a boy in Roumania. (Children of other lands books) il*75c (3c) Lothrop 17-13431
After coming to America, the author studied in the University of California, completed a medical course, and is now a practicing physician. In this book he has written the story of his boyhood for American children. He writes of: How the Roumanians dress; Play time; Life in the hills; Taming the forces of nature; Out-of-door amusements; The Roumanian’s national pastime: dancing; Roumanian music, etc.
“Gives a clear picture of Roumanian national life.”
“This book, though written especially for the young, will give any reader an adequate idea of the habits, methods of study, amusements of the people of this once happy land.”
VAN VALKENBURGH, AGNES, comp. Selected articles on military training in schools and colleges, including military camps. (Debaters’ handbook ser.)*$1.25 (1½c) Wilson, H. W. 355.07 17-9594
The material in this debaters’ handbook considers the question: “Resolved: That a system of compulsory military training in schools and colleges should be adopted by the United States.” It consists of brief, bibliography and selected reprints. In the section devoted to General discussion various plans for military training, including the Swiss and Australian systems are outlined. Affirmative and Negative discussion follows. At the close there is a small group of articles concerning military camps.
“A timely volume.”
“This book will prove of considerable value, as the compiler has introduced much of the wisest theory that has been expressed on both sides of the question.”
“The compiler has been commendably impartial.”
“Topic leaves room for another book on the general question of compulsory military training and compulsory service. The London Nation can be drawn upon for eloquent arguments against conscription.”
“Miss Van Valkenburgh’s selection of material covers a wide range, from publications of the United States war college to educational journals and soldier’s notes. It seems to be a trifle weak on suggestions of methods for getting the good of military training without the bad, that is, on a strong program of physical education.” W. D. L.
“The section discussing military training camps will be specially useful.”
VAN VALKENBURGH, AGNES, comp. Selected articles on national defense; v. 2, including compulsory military service. (Debaters’ handbook ser.)*$1.25 (1½c) Wilson, H. W. 355.7 17-12949
“Volume one of ‘National defense,’ compiled by Corinne Bacon, was published in September, 1915, and was followed in January, 1916, by ‘Advance sheets’ of volume two. A small portion of the material in the ‘Advance sheets’ is reprinted here, notably the president’s message to Congress, December 7, 1915. ... The questions of aviation and submarine warfare areconsidered here only incidentally, and the allied topics of military training in schools and colleges and non-resistance are omitted altogether since handbooks have been published on these subjects. Since the question of compulsory military service is of especial interest at present, this phase of the subject has been selected for the brief.” (Explanatory note)
“Has a very complete and partly annotated bibliography (34p.).”
“Most useful.”
“A desirable addition to the table of readers who wish to hear both sides of a first-class social question and keep abreast of the deeper current of daily events.” W. E. K.
VAN VECHTEN, CARL.Interpreters and interpretations.*$1.50 (2c) Knopf 780.4 17-29869
A collection of papers by the author of “Music and bad manners” and “Music after the great war.” Some of them are reprinted from the Bellman, the Musical Quarterly, and other periodicals. The papers are divided into the two groups suggested by the title. The interpreters comprising the first group, are Olive Fremstad; Geraldine Farrar; Mary Garden; Feodor Chaliapine; Mariette Mazarin; Yvette Guilbert; and Waslav Nijinsky. Among the essays included as Interpretations are The problem of style in the production of opera; Notes on the “Armide” of Gluck; The importance of electrical picture concerts; Why music is unpopular. In “The great American composer,” another essay of the group, the author makes a spirited plea for appreciation of ragtime. In “Modern musical fiction,” he reviews recent novels on musical themes.
“Mr Van Vechten’s most pronounced opinions seem to be on the favorable arena which the ‘movies’ offer for good symphonic programs, and on the duty of the American composer to build his art on the indigenous raciness of Irving Berlin rather than on the classic forms. He is no more explicit than the other critics, however, as to how the composer is to use this material. ... The proportion between scholarship and thought is not maintained. In the present book there might be more of the latter commodity.”
“All who enjoy a discussion of things and people musical from the human rather than the academic standpoint will find much to interest them in ‘Interpreters and interpretations.’” Lavergne Miller
VAN VECHTEN, CARL.Music and bad manners.*$1.50 Knopf 780.4 16-23824
“The title essay of this little volume is a running commentary on the personal peculiarities of certain great musicians. Of more permanent value is the chapter on ‘Spain and music,’ which is said to be the first attempt in English to classify and describe Spanish music and composers.” (R of Rs) Other papers are, Music for the movies, Wagner’s ideals, The bridge burners, A new principle in music, Leo Ornstein.
“Excellent essays in musical criticism, popular but scholarly, and distinguished by clarity and humor. The monograph on Spanish music is a specially valuable study in a little known field.”
“The description of Spanish dance music and dances is exceedingly interesting as well as enlightening, and the whole chapter has a distinct value in acquainting the reader with the musical progress of a musical people whose records are nowhere adequately presented in English. ... It is impossible to test the theories and suggestions in these essays by any chemistry or mechanics. Their soundness or unsoundness can only be eventually a matter of history. But the essayist has his eyes turned in a promising direction, and his views will meet the approval of many close students of modern music.” Russell Ramsey
“Carl Van Vechten is fundamentally and whole-heartedly progressive. ... One of his longest essays, and the one most interesting to the general reader and music lover, ‘The bridge burners,’ is largely a refutation of Richard Aldrich’s criticisms, published in the New York Times. ... Last in the series is a sketch of Leo Ornstein, which throws new light on the psychology of that remarkable genius.” La Vergne Miller
VANZYPE, GUSTAVE.Mother Nature; Progress; two Belgian plays; tr. by Barrett H. Clark.*$1.25 Little 842 17-28823
There is an eight page introduction by the translator on Gustave Vanzype and the modern Belgian drama. In this Mr Clark states that “Vanzype believes that dramatists ought to use the stage as a pulpit.” “Mother Nature” (“La souveraine”) deals with the yearnings of a disappointed wife for motherhood. “Progress” (“Les étapes”) shows the struggle between succeeding generations; how the rising generation must always attack what the preceding generation seems to have established. It is the story of a family in which father, son-in-law, and grandson are all doctors. Both plays are said to have been successfully produced in Belgium.
“The first play is artificial; the second is much more moving and its theme seems to work out naturally in the conflict of characters and events.”
“Vanzype is said to be one of the most successful of his fellow-dramatists in depicting the character of the modern Belgian, and his plays, therefore, give an insight into the hearts and souls of the little nation whose heroism has won the admiration of the world.”
VEATCH, ARTHUR CLIFFORD.Quito to Bogotá. il*$3 Doran 918.6 17-15087
“In ‘Quito to Bogotá’ A. C. Veatch, who is a well-known British engineer, and the author of several books of travel, gives a narrative of a trip over the Andes from the capital of Ecuador to that of Colombia. His traveling companion was Lord Murray, a Scottish peer, who furnishes a readable introduction to the main work.”—N Y Times
“Holds more interest to the man planning an actual journey in the country or who is considering it as a field for commercial enterprise than to the arm chair traveler.”
“His is the careful study of a trained traveller, geographer and geologist, and it is prepared with a sympathetic touch that must please all lovers of these northern regions of South America.” T: Walsh
“Its business basis doubtless explains the lack of personal element in the book, altho that, too, lies often in the personality of the writer. Long, technical, and comprehensive narrative.”
“The author makes you see what meets his own eye, and you have the benefit of the deductions from what he sees in addition.”
VEBLEN, THORSTEIN B.Inquiry into the nature of peace and the terms of its perpetuation.*$2 (2c) Macmillan 327 17-16855
Professor Veblen has extended the investigation into the nature of peace begun by Immanuel Kant “into a field of inquiry which in Kant’s time still lay over the horizon of the future.” He says “The intrinsic merits of peace at large, as against those of warlike enterprise, it should be said, do not here come in question. That question lies in the domain of preconceived opinion, so that for the purposes of this inquiry it will have no significance except as a matter to be inquired into; the main point of the inquiry being the nature, causes and consequences of such a preconception favoring peace, and the circumstances that make for a contrary preconception in favor of war.” Contents: Introductory: On the state and its relation to war and peace; On the nature and uses of patriotism; On the conditions of a lasting peace; Peace without honour; Peace and neutrality; Elimination of the unfit; Peace and the price system. In chapter 3, On the conditions of a lasting peace, the imperialistic aims of Germany and Japan are examined. In the next chapter, Peace without honour, the beneficial results of non-resistance as exemplified in China are discussed. In the last chapter the author comes to what is to him the heart of the matter, the menace to peace inherent in the capitalist system.
“Among books [dealing with the problem of readjustment after the war] there can be found few if any manifesting a deeper penetration or a more impartial treatment of the mode of securing a permanent peace and of the obstacles which lie in the way of it than this volume by Professor Veblen. It is a dispassionate, objective, and uncompromising treatment of a most important subject. It is written in an attractive style. Droll humor lights up a page now and then, and in the treatment of the foibles of men and nations there is the trenchant irony that is characteristic of the style Veblenesque.” I. W. Howerth
“Mr Veblen’s manner of writing is symphonic; what he repeats is not repetition in the common sense of the word; no idea is quite the same after he has stated it twice or even three times. The theme may be the same, but the complex working out of the theme gives it the value of an entirely new composition. Above all there stands a masterly intellect, holding the various strands of fact and thought securely in its grasp and weaving them into patterns of compelling truth.” M. S. Handman
“Written in the author’s usual flowing and ironical style, always crisp though often wordy. The reader who has plenty of time will enjoy reading all that Mr Veblen has to say; the hurried reader will gather all that Mr Veblen means by skipping the last half of nearly every paragraph. ... Perhaps the most interesting thing in his book is the very definite set of peace terms which he proposes.”
“Thorstein Veblen is an American, was graduated from an American university, in the ‘eighties, and has been teaching in American universities ever since. ... It is hard intellectual labor to read any of his books, and to skim him is impossible. ... This new book of his, finished February, 1917, is, so far as I know, the most momentous work in English on the encompassment of lasting peace. ... The recommendation of Mr Veblen is not merely the recommendation of a great philosopher of industrialism. It is not his relentless logic alone that elevates him. It is the democratic bias which ‘The nature of peace’ indicates.” F. H.
“The work abounds in the peculiar quiet irony that marks many of his previous works, notably the famous ‘Theory of the leisure class.’ The reasoning is the dialectic method applied by Marx and other great socialist writers, and in this method Veblen is a past master.” J. W.
“It is only when one reaches the final phase of Mr Veblen’s argument that one clearly perceives that the whole work is, in effect, a bitter criticism of the existing social order. Yet, at lowest, Mr Veblen’s analysis is clarifying and his warnings are well-timed.”