CURRENT LITERATURE
MY HEAD ! MY HEAD ! By Robert Graves. (Seeker. 5s.) Ma. GRA'VES has attempted an imaginative amplification of the meagre record of Elisha and the Shunammite woman's son, contained in the Book of Kings ; while, in the form of a series of conversations between the prophet and the woman, who is represented as being well educated for • her time, he offers us also his own explanation of another_ Biblical problem that has long puzzled him—namely, what made it necessary for Moses to die on Mount Nebo, and what form his death took. The answer given to the riddle Of the mysterious birth of the Shunammite child is that Elisha himself was its father. Mr. Graves's interpretation of the character of Moses, while rejecting the view of him as a mere tyrant, will prove hardly More acceptable to old-fashioned students of the Bible. Even
the modernist, while ' acknowledging that Mr. Graves has written a story which as such is ingenious and not without charm, will probably resent his apparent expectation to be taken seriously. As a romancer Mr. Graves is acceptable enough. As a theorist, however, he has embarked upon stormy seas with too frail a craft. Does he really imagine, for example, that he has " faced squarely " the - question of miracles, which he partly whittles down by rationalistic explanations, and partly supports by. his own not • very
plausible ideas on magic Y. This compromise may satisfy Mr. GraVes himself. But it is not likely to convince –many of his readers.
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