PRINCE BISMARCK
By CHARLES LOWE, M.A.,
Author of Alexander III. of Russia, &c.
12mo. Cloth. Portrait. Price, $1.25.
This work of Mr. Lowe’s responds fully to the need that has been felt, particularly in this country, for a brief but comprehensive life of Bismarck. It comes to us from an author of acknowledged reputation, who has studied the career of the Iron Chancellor with great care, and undoubtedly possesses knowledge of his subject equal to that of any other person. It is the second biography he has written of the Chancellor. His other work appeared about ten years ago in two large volumes, in which the story of Bismarck’s life and public success was told exhaustively, full use being made of all material available at that time.
The work under notice is in no sense an abridgment of the earlier biography, but is entirely new. In writing it, though, the author has had the advantage growing out of his previous undertaking, of knowing his man thoroughly, and this advantage has enabled him to write in a free and bold style, which is the great charm in a biographical work. The new work is better than the old in another important respect also,—it is up to date. In the ten years that have elapsed since the earlier biography was written, a good deal has been learned about Bismarck and his associates, and the work they were engaged in, that runs contrary to the theories and estimates of ten years ago. Mr. Lowe has made use of this new material.
Still another advantage has been the knowledge that Bismarck’s political career has ended. The view that is now presented to us is that of a finished whole,—Bismarck may be spared for years to enjoy the love of his countrymen and the high esteem of the world, but he never again will serve the Empire of Germany in a public capacity.
Mr. Lowe’s story closes with an account of the reconciliation between Emperor William and Bismarck, which was completed a little over a year ago, when the Emperor sent that famous steel cuirass to Friedrichsruh. “May the solid steel,” wrote his Majesty, “which is to cover your breast be regarded as the symbol of German gratitude which enfolds you with its steadfast loyalty, and to which I, too, desire to give my eloquent expression.” “I shall don this new breastplate,” replied the statesman Prince, “as the symbol of your Majesty’s gracious favor, and leave it to my children as a lasting memento of the same.”
Mr. Lowe is a warm admirer of Bismarck, and his admiration shows itself in almost every page of his book. We fail to notice, however, that his prejudice has warped his judgment of persons and events. He has written a biography that is as fair as anybody could write at this time, and the fact that he has a warm place in his heart for the Iron Chancellor certainly is not to his discredit as a man and a historian.—New York Times.
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THE GREAT GOD PAN AND THE
INMOST LIGHT.
BY ARTHUR MACHEN.
KEYNOTES SERIES.
16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.
A couple of tales by Arthur Machen, presumably an Englishman, published æsthetically in this country by Roberts Brothers. They are horror stories, the horror being of the vague psychologic kind and dependent, in each case, upon a man of science who tries to effect a change in individual personality by an operation upon the brain cells. The implied lesson is that it is dangerous and unwise to seek to probe the mystery separating mind and matter. These sketches are extremely strong and we guarantee the “shivers” to anyone who reads them.—Hartford Courant.
For two stories of the most marvelous and improbable character, yet told with wonderful realism and naturalness, the palm for this time will have to be awarded to Arthur Machen, for “The Great God Pan and the Inmost Light,” two stories just published in one book. They are fitting companions to the famous stories by Edgar Allan Poe both in matter and style. “The Great God Pan” is founded upon an experiment made upon a girl by which she was enabled for a moment to see the god Pan, but with most disastrous results, the most wonderful of which is revealed at the end of the story, and which solution the reader will eagerly seek to reach. From the first mystery or tragedy follow in rapid succession. “The Inmost Light” is equally as remarkable for its imaginative power and perfect air of probability. Anything in the legitimate line of psychology utterly pales before these stories of such plausibility.—Boston Home Journal.
Precisely who the great god Pan of Mr. Machen’s first tale is, we did not quite discover when we read it, or, discovering, we have forgotten; but our impression is that under the idea of that primitive great deity he impersonated, or meant to impersonate, the evil influences that attach to woman, the fatality of feminine beauty, which, like the countenance of the great god Pan, is deadly to all who behold it. His heroine is a beautiful woman, who ruins the souls and bodies of those over whom she casts her spells, being as good as a Suicide Club, if we may say so, to those who love her; and to whom she is Death. Something like this, if not this exactly, is, we take it, the interpretation of Mr. Machen’s uncanny parable, which is too obscure to justify itself as an imaginative creation and too morbid to be the production of a healthy mind. The kind of writing which it illustrates is a bad one, and this is one of the worst of the kind. It is not terrible, but horrible.—R. H. S. in Mail and Express.
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DISCORDS.
A Volume of Stories.
By GEORGE EGERTON, author of “Keynotes.”
AMERICAN COPYRIGHT EDITION.
16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.
George Egerton’s new volume entitled “Discords,” a collection of short stories, is more talked about, just now, than any other fiction of the day. The collection is really stories for story-writers. They are precisely the quality which literary folk will wrangle over. Harold Frederic cables from London to the “New York Times” that the book is making a profound impression there. It is published on both sides, the Roberts House bringing it out in Boston. George Egerton, like George Eliot and George Sand, is a woman’s nom de plume. The extraordinary frankness with which life in general is discussed in these stories not unnaturally arrests attention.—Lilian Whiting.
The English woman, known as yet only by the name of George Egerton, who made something of a stir in the world by a volume of strong stories called “Keynotes,” has brought out a new book under the rather uncomfortable title of “Discords.” These stories show us pessimism run wild; the gloomy things that can happen to a human being are so dwelt upon as to leave the impression that in the author’s own world there is no light. The relations of the sexes are treated of in bitter irony, which develops into actual horror as the pages pass. But in all this there is a rugged grandeur of style, a keen analysis of motive, and a deepness of pathos that stamp George Egerton as one of the greatest women writers of the day. “Discords” has been called a volume of stories; it is a misnomer, for the book contains merely varying episodes in lives of men and women, with no plot, no beginning nor ending.—Boston Traveller.
This is a new volume of psychological stories from the pen and brains of George Egerton, the author of “Keynotes.” Evidently the titles of the author’s books are selected according to musical principles. The first story in the book is “A Psychological Moment at Three Periods.” It is all strength rather than sentiment. The story of the child, of the girl, and of the woman is told, and told by one to whom the mysteries of the life of each are familiarly known. In their very truth, as the writer has so subtly analyzed her triple characters, they sadden one to think that such things must be; yet as they are real, they are bound to be disclosed by somebody and in due time. The author betrays remarkable penetrative skill and perception, and dissects the human heart with a power from whose demonstration the sensitive nature may instinctively shrink even while fascinated with the narration and hypnotized by the treatment exhibited.—Courier.
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