Marywood Academy - Veritas Yearbook (Grand Rapids, MI)

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Y If R I 'lx A S HAROLD BELL WRIGHTS EYES OF THE WORLD Should some one chance to ask me whether or not I enjoyed reading The Eyes of the YVorld, I would, without much hesitancy, answer affirmatively. Pursuing the subject further, however, I would include my disapproval of some phases of the book and my deductive interpretation of its characters. It is a partially sensational story of a young artist striving to acquire fame through the influence of society leaders and critics, instead of exercising, his natural discrimination as a true artist by painting as he, himself, saw the subject-and not as it stood in the eyes of the world. Through the kindly derision and open cynicism of the girl violinist, he is finally brought to realize the value of worthy genius. Several characters and incidents are introduced to embel- lish the main plot, making it more typical of the modern novel. Nlrs. Taine, the false goddess of modern art, figures prominently among these inserted characters as a woman undeservedly influential in art circles---a person doubly debasing because of her too strict attention to conventionalities and her lax concern for moralities. To my mind she represents the type of the literature written today inasmuch as her belief in conceal only to reveal is concerned. It has become quite an accomplishment for authors to drape a most loose and flimsy plot with the finest curtains of attempted masquerade. Thus to me it seems most fitting to personify VVright's Mrs. Taine as the embodiment of our literary standards today. Aaron King, the struggling artist, is the only character worth reviewing throughout the whole story. He is rather fictional in some of his traits, but so admirably deter- mined in his resolution to seek fame and so human in his desire to meet the 'fright kind of people and in his endeavor to disprove false standards of genius, that he is justly redeemed. Beautiful Sibyl Andres seems to be entirely beyond average-almost ethereal in her passion for nature. She, like most of our hopes and dreams, belongs to at world of roses. Conrad Laflrange is rather a cynic than a good author-a king of the mountain revelers, I should say. Harold llell VVright, in this novel, has set forth the rather vague notion that if a thing appears worth-while in the eyes of the world, it is, in reality most worthless. This radical view of genius contradicts our acceptance of Shakespeare the poet, Beethoven the musician, and Raphael the artist, as true geniuses and master interpreters of their own particular phase of art. In my opinion Eyes of the YVorld overemphasizes Nature as a curative and redeeming agency to the ills of human-kind. An appreciation of Nature is most noble and fine when prompted by a proper spirit of love and awe for our Creator. There are many excellent passages in the book revealing the author's familiarity with nature and his understanding of its grandeurg yet it is evident he has missed nature's greatest claim to value. In conclusion, let me say, I would recommend this novel as good matter for enter- tainment, but not as a source of any real challenge to intellect or for any appeal to the higher emotions. +Mll.l5Rl?D RONAN, '26. 1926 Page Thirty-jfv