+ Boston Transcript p4 D 4 ’20 1400w
Reviewed by Paul Rosenfeld
+ − Freeman 2:545 F 16 ’21 2550w
“It would hold the interest through all its 787 pages if there were nothing in it save its arresting procession of grotesque incidents, but there is something more, and that something is an ironical quality that suggests the manner of the great Russians. All his characters, high and low, are pathological cases. Thus the chronicle, to an American, cannot carry much conviction despite its fine passion and its vivid detail.” H. L. Mencken
+ − Nation 111:sup668 D 8 ’20 880w
“Wassermann has created a work of strange and sombre power. The translation is unusually good.” E. A. Boyd
+ N Y Evening Post p3 Ja 15 ’21 1750w
“The book’s chief values lie in its interpretation of modern industrial society as Wassermann sees it. But surely not all European society is degenerate. Humanity as a whole is not portrayed in ‘The world’s illusion.’”
+ − N Y Times p16 N 28 ’20 1050w
WATKIN, EDWARD INGRAM. Philosophy of mysticism. *$5 Harcourt 149.3