+ − The Times [London] Lit Sup p182 Mr 15 ’20 1100w
MUIR, EDWIN. We moderns; enigmas and guesses. *$1.75 Knopf 192
20–26566
The volume is the fourth in the series of Free lance books, edited with introductions by H. L. Mencken. It is a book of aphorisms after the manner of Nietzsche and inspired by the philosophy of Nietzsche. They are animadversions on life and all the modern aspects of life as revealed in our art, literature, science, and religion; and are grouped under the headings: The old age; Original sin; What is modern? Art and literature; Creative love; The tragic view.
+ Booklist 17:7 O ’20
“There are lapses, superficialities, but on the whole this is criticism, of life and of literature, which must effect a change in one’s habits of thought.”
+ − Dial 69:102 Jl ’20 90w
“These aphorisms are utterly without the meretricious glitter of the common epigram; they are luminous with the sober light of truth. Like Pascal’s ‘Pensees’ the logic that underlies the book is, in its smaller scale, an unconstructed cathedral of thought: it demands a certain architectural intuition of the reader. One thing is certain: no utterances more tonic, more bracing have rent the sultry firmament of contemporary literature.”
+ Freeman 1:213 My 12 ’20 2150w