Shorter Notices
In My Good Books. By V. S. Pritchett. (Chatto and Windus. 75. 6d.) THESE essays on various English, French and Russian writers, which first appeared in the New Statesmbn, read less well when collected in a book. The theme, the contemporaneity of the classics, is not strong enough to unify the book, but its reiteration overlays the
individuality of the successive subjects. Moreover, reading the essays together, one sees that Mr. Pritchett has tried to do too many things at once. It is impossible in 2,50o words to discuss equally a book's literary merit and its relation to society both in our own and in the author's time, and to criticise both societies into the bargain. It is better to risk distortion and discuss one aspect fully ; something of the original author may then be conveyed, whereas now the dominant impression is of the width and tolerance of Mr. Pritchett's reading. This is a structural defect, but it is often made worse by laziness. For instance, Franklin did not " become a vegetarian to save money for books " ; he became a vegetarian on moral grounds, Sand was then agreeably surprised to find he had money to spare for books. Mr. Pritchett's view of Franklin's life is valid, but if he had troubled to use Franklin's subtler version of this incident, he would have underlined and individualised it. For these reasons the book is not exciting, but it does suggest ways of approach to enjoyable, but superficially forbidding authors such as George Fox and Mark Twain. It is, in fact, a very good reading list, and is illustrated by admirably chosen quotations. The nauseating title is not a fair indicaticn of its quality.
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