“The book is a very original one; indeed, the two chapters on William James and Josiah Royce belong to a new genre of literature. They are character-studies of philosophers, studies of the reaction between character and philosophy, which ought to be dull but are as amusing as if he were talking scandal about the manners and habits of fashionable ladies. His book is one of the best he has written.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p775 N 25 ’20 1850w
SANTAYANA, GEORGE. Little essays, drawn from the writings of the author by Logan Pearsall Smith, with the collaboration of the author. *$3 Scribner 814
20–26891
“Mr Pearsall Smith explains in his preface that this book owes its genesis to his habit of copying out such passages as particularly interested him in the writings of Santayana. He came to see, however, that these extracts ‘were bound up with, and dependent upon, a definite philosophy, a rational conception of the world and man’s allotted place in it, which gave them a unity of interest and an importance far beyond that of any mere utterances of miscellaneous appreciation—any mere “adventures of the soul.”’ He therefore persuaded Mr Santayana to arrange these extracts in such a way as to preserve their original connection as far as possible.”—Ath
“We confess that we are agreeably surprised at the result. The masterful and inclusive vision of the author of the ‘Life of reason’ appears here broken and disconnected, but not betrayed.” J. W. N. S.
+ Ath p143 Jl 30 ’19 1500w
“Contains a vast amount of interesting material distilled from profound scholarship and meditation.”
+ Booklist 17:49 N ’20 Bookm 52:368 Ja ’21 130w