_8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper Sides,
$2.00 net_
This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known lecturer was
the first of a series of three books with the same purpose as the
author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable one to discriminate
between the great and the mediocre in ancient and modern literature:
the other two books being "One Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended
Judgments."
Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions and
Revisions" were printed--an extraordinary record considering that it
was only the second book issued by a new publisher. The value of the
book to the student and its interest for the general reader are
guaranteed by the international fame of the author as an interpreter
of great literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from
the American Press.
REVIEW OF REVIEWS, New York: "Seventeen essays ... remarkable for
the omission of all that is tedious and cumbersome in literary
appreciations, such as pedantry, muckraking, theorizing, and, in
particular, constructive criticism."
BOOK NEWS MONTHLY, Philadelphia: "Not one line in the entire book
that is not tense with thought and feeling. With all readers who crave
mental stimulation ... 'Visions and Revisions' is sure of a great and
enthusiastic appreciation."
THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST, New York: "Their imagery is bright,
clear and frequently picturesque. The rhythm falls with a pleasing
cadence on the ear."
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "A volume of singularly acute and readable
literary criticism."
CHICAGO HERALD: "An essayist at once scholarly, human and charming
is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every page carries some arresting
thought, quaintly appealing phrase, or picture spelling passage."
REEDY'S MIRROR, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide awake in the
reading because he's thinking and writing from the standpoint of life,
not of theory or system. Powys has a system but it is hardly a system.
It is a sort of surrender to the revelation each writer has to make."
KANSAS CITY STAR: "John Cowper Powys' essays are wonderfully
illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a semblance of the Grand
Style."
"Visions and Revisions" contains the following essays:--
Rabelais Dickens Thomas Hardy
Dante Goethe Walter Pater
Shakespeare Matthew Arnold Dostoievsky
El Greco Shelley Edgar Allan Poe
Milton Keats Walt Whitman
Charles Lamb Nietzsche Conclusion