Mills, Edmund James. Secret of Petrarch. [*]$3. Dutton.
“The volume is the work of a literary scholar of analytic type who has turned his lenses upon certain disputed points in the lives of the lovers and has brought forward various proofs to attest his own theories.” (Dial.) “A series of prose studies supplemented by some translations and some original verse interpretative of the life and genius of Petrarch. The prose consists of small but rather discursive chapters touching various points in connection with Laura, her identity, her birthplace, her character, and incidents in her relations with Petrarch.” (Outlook.)
“The reader can hardly accept all the author’s conclusions.”
| + — | Dial. 38: 239. Ap. 1, ‘05. 340w. |
“To one acquainted with ... ‘My secret’ ... Mr. Mills’s book is a sad disappointment. We suspect that the critical discussions were only designed to introduce the drama.”
| + — — | Nation. 80: 180. Mr. 2, ‘05. 460w. |
“Has quite unconsciously given false values to internal evidence. He found in Petrarch’s verse what he wished to find there, and where twist, quibble, and distortion fail him he sets down his theory as a self-evident truth. Candor forces us to praise Mr. Mills’ ingeniousness rather than his scholarship. We can freely applaud his poetry, however, which gives a far stronger illusion of reality than do Landor’s Conversations between the same persons.”
| + — | N. Y. Times. 10: 38. Ja. 21, ‘05. 320w. |
“The volume lacks coherence.”
| + — | Outlook. 79: 197. Ja. 21, ‘05. 190w. |