And yet he endows this paralyzing bourgeoisie with astonishing life. One turns back from much more exciting literature to these ignorant, conceited, restricted and undistinguished people.
One turns back to them because Mr. Bennett shows one the tragic humanity, eternally and mysteriously fascinating, to be found beneath these vulgar and unlovely exteriors. Nor when it comes to the problem of sex itself is this writer less of a master. Never has the undying conflict, the world-old struggle, between those who, in the Catullian phrase, "love and hate" at the same time, been more convincingly brought into the light than in the relations between these uninteresting but strangely appealing people.
Arnold Bennett's knowledge of the Five Towns gives to his work a background of significant congruity whose interaction upon the characters of his plots has the same kind of weight and portentousness as the interaction of Nature in the books of Mr. Hardy.
Such a background may be in itself materialistic and sordid, but in the imaginative reaction it produces upon the characters it has the genuine poetic quality.
100. OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE.
This is by far the best anthology of English poetry, its only rival being the first series of Palgrave's Golden Treasury. Those interested in the work of more recent poets and in the latest poetic "movements" in England and America would be wise to turn to Putnam's "Georgian Poetry"—two series—and "The New Poetry" by Harriet Monroe, published by Macmillan. The compiler of this selection of books feels himself that the most poetical among the younger poets of our age is Walter de la Mare and of the poems which Mr. de la Mare has so far written, he finds the best to be those extraordinary and magical verses entitled "The Listeners" which seem to come nearer to giving a voice to the unutterable margin of our days than any others written within the last ten years.
The following pages contain an alphabetical list by author of the One Hundred Best Books, also the titles of other books recommended in the text by Mr. Powys. The numerals following the titles of the books refer to the number given the books in this list, while the prices attached thereto are the Publisher's list prices. If sent by mail or express it is necessary to add the cost, which is usually about 10 per cent, of the price.
G. ARNOLD SHAW, PUBLISHER GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK
INDEX WITH PRICES OF RECOMMENDED EDITIONS OF
JOHN COWPER POWYS' LIST
OF
ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS
And Other Books Mentioned In the Text
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price
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