Titans Of Literature

TITANS OF LITERATURE EDGAR ALLAN FOB From the painting by Ferdinand T. L, Boyle, A. N. A., owaecJ by the Robert Fridenberg Galleries, New York TITANS OF LITERATURE FROM HOMER TO THE PRESENT BY BURTON RASCOE ILLV STRA TED YOEK AND LONDON TO THK MEMORY OF MY FATHER IN books I seek only pleasure through an honest pa time or, if I study, I seek only the knowledge which tdl me how to know myself, and teaches me to die well and to live well Now the writers of biographies are most suited to my purpose, since they dwell on intentions than on incidents more on that which proceeds from within than on that which happens without ., . For I m not less curious to know the fortunes and the Urns of hese great teachers of the world than to know the rfi sity of their teachings and idea MONTAIGNE PREFACE FTER 1 had written this book and after C Hartley Grattan d I had finished reading the proofs, , Mr Grattan put Into my hands a bibelot by Raymond IVarl, professor of biology in the Medical School of Johns Hopkins University and asked if 1 had read It. T had not. It is the despair of book-lovers that they cannot have read all the good books and It Is their delight constantly to discover new ones. Professor Pearls little work Is called To With and Its subtitle is Prophylaxis Pedantry, That subtitle en chanted me, for the subtitle to this book might be, I think, an antidote to i edantry, Professor Pearl gives a list of books which he believes all who from college into the practice of medicine should be acquainted with His list of titles, with brief comments on each, runs from Lucretius and Galen, through Balzac and Anatole France down to Alfred North Whlteheads Introduction to Matke Paul de Krulfs Huntws, H.L. Menckens On and Branch CabelFs and Prayer-Books. The intention Is to make the medical student, who reads books, humane, tolerant, In worldly matters and not pedantic or Like the late Frank Moore Colby y the encyclopedist and fine Pearl Is a scholar and a who real izes one of the of scholarship and Is pedan try. He It an insidious and corrupting vice. 1 with Mm, with which will be in the body of this I with footnotes, as possible. I bibliographies are interesting only to specialists and are usually unread the specialist Ms vll Titt JPHBFA. CM own list of books he wants to read on the subject. Therefore I have omitted them. In all important cases, I think, I have worked into my texts the sources of my information, naming the books and their authors. In Greek and Latin literature 1 wrote mainly from the texts, for I have found that a great many scholarly commenta tors have read other commentators instead of reading the texts carefully, thus perpetuating errors. My own errors, no doubt, are numerous but they are the honest errors of an escape from pedantry, The texts I used in Greek and Latin literature were those in the Loeb Classical Library, with the original text on one page and the translation on the other. Some of these translations are admirable and some are far less so, but the texts are sound and carefully edited. The Loeb Classical Library is published in London by Heine mann and in the United States by G. P. Putnams Sons. My principal regret is that the scope of this book is so extensive that I have found it necessary to leave out of my discussions many authors whose books have given me vast pleasure and such Instruc tion as I am able to absorb. There are many smaller figuresin the world of literature that have been the source of more delight than I have found in the work of some of those with hallowed names. Particularly I regret the necessity for the brevity with which I have had to discuss modern American literature but so rich and vast is that literature that any adequate survey of it would require a volume larger than this one. This book was suggested by Mr Lynn Carrick and seconded by Mr. Earle Balch, who nominated me for the job Both ars of the firm which publishes the book...