The Dial Volume 40 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ...he claims more weight for his evidence than his critics are likely to allow. Throughout the work, he maintains his earlier negative position; but he also tries to give his studies a positive value by attempting to explain how the myths originated, tracing a number of them back to Italian worship. "Lucretia and Virginia, in origin two goddesses, became mere mortals; Vulcan was changed into the lame and one-eyed Horatius Codes;... the god Minucius was transformed into a tribune of the people." Such conclusions are not likely to be accepted without dispute, although most who read them will agree that every chapter is the work of a master. The English version is by the author's countryman, Mario E. Cosenza. While in the main satisfactory, it frequently lacks in point of clearness, the involved parenthetical structure of the sentences making it difficult at times to follow the author's argument. r' Arthur Symons's prose work is always strikingly individual. Indeed go fale kinship has it with current modes that it is perhaps best described in critical slang as "precious." His latest volume is called "Spiritual Adventures" (Button), and is dedicated, not unfittingly, to Mr. Thomas Hardy. In order to enjoy it, one must have a strong taste for analysis, for intricate psychological problems, for self-revelation so searching as to be decidedly foreign to the AngloSaxon temper. The first sketch in the book, "A Prelude to Life," is written in autobiographic form, and details the experiences--whether real or imaginary only Mr. Symons can tell--of the author's childhood. Its uniqueness consists in its bald frankness, its utter freedom from reserve, its absolute lack of glamour. There is no rose-color in the...