AN ADVENTURE WITH A GENIUS By Alleyne Ireland
Mr. Ireland, sailor, traveller author of books on colonial administration, had many adventures before he became a member of Joseph Pulitzer's strange household, a year before the death of that tormented figure. But that year provided the strangest of all his experi- ences, and his account of it (Lovat Dickson, 7s. 6d.) is terse and vivid, enough to have pleased its exacting subject. Pulitzer, a blind, nervous wreck, was driven to try, through the eyes and activities of others, to satisfy his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and power. The author was one of six secretary - companions living with Pulitzer at Cap Martin. Their impos- sible job was to read, select, and memorise material from a stream of European and American periodicals and books ; to know everything, not only of current affairs but about literature, art, history ; and to talk on any subject accurately and amusingly whenever their master demanded. Whatever one's opinions of Pulitzer's work as a publicist or his achievements as the founder of modem American journalism, there can be no doubt as to the greatness and courage of his last tragic efforts to keep in touch with a world from which he was isolated by infirmity. Mr. Ireland's book adds a moving chapter to the existing bio- graphies.
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