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En Garde, whole no. 17, April 1946
Page 37
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page 37. POINTS OF VIEW By Thomas S. Gardner Ordinarily when one reviews books they either like or dislike them as a whole. Sometimes they like or dislike parts of them. Now comes the unusual case when one both likes a book or books well, and also heartily dislikes them at the same time! That is truly the exception to the ordinary run of reviews. Of course, when that happens, fireworks are in order. Recently I had the pleasure and interest in reading the two following books which should be read in the order given. My First Two Thousand Years, The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew: Salome, The Wandering Jewess, My First Two Thousand Years of Love. Both by George Sylvester Viereck, and Paul Eldridge, of the Gold Label Books, Inc., 1942, 1945, reprinted from the Macaulay Company, 1928, and Liveright, 1930. From the fiction standpoint these two books are some of the most entertaining reading that I have ever read. The story of the Wandering Jew and Jewess flows through history like a river through a forest, with glimpses of the trees stranded along the banks, the same as mortal mortals must appear to an immortal! The familiar and unfamiliar characters of history live and appear in their very human lights of men and women, with all the weaknesses and strength that make up the human race. Palestine, Rome, the Barbarians, clear through until the modern age the Wandering Jew and Jewess meets them, loves, hates, kills sometimes, and in all cases experiences the thrill of contact, struggle, and even sometimes ennui in ceaseless time. The religious motifs are cleverly examined, and criticized with an eye of a person being on the spot! A slightly scoffing tone is carried through the stories in regard to religion, and they even live at various times as god and goddess to suit their fancy, or by necessity. The ever present companion of the half-man, half-ape, Kotikokura, is a straight parody on mankind himself. The character of Cartaphilus, to use one of his names, is drawndrawn violently on a canvas of time. One receives the impression that he would have enjoyed timeless age better if he had been more of an intellectual, but his periods of intellectuality are attempts to escape boredom. In comparison Salome, the Wandering Jewess, has much more intelligence that Cartaphilus. She is in the
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page 37. POINTS OF VIEW By Thomas S. Gardner Ordinarily when one reviews books they either like or dislike them as a whole. Sometimes they like or dislike parts of them. Now comes the unusual case when one both likes a book or books well, and also heartily dislikes them at the same time! That is truly the exception to the ordinary run of reviews. Of course, when that happens, fireworks are in order. Recently I had the pleasure and interest in reading the two following books which should be read in the order given. My First Two Thousand Years, The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew: Salome, The Wandering Jewess, My First Two Thousand Years of Love. Both by George Sylvester Viereck, and Paul Eldridge, of the Gold Label Books, Inc., 1942, 1945, reprinted from the Macaulay Company, 1928, and Liveright, 1930. From the fiction standpoint these two books are some of the most entertaining reading that I have ever read. The story of the Wandering Jew and Jewess flows through history like a river through a forest, with glimpses of the trees stranded along the banks, the same as mortal mortals must appear to an immortal! The familiar and unfamiliar characters of history live and appear in their very human lights of men and women, with all the weaknesses and strength that make up the human race. Palestine, Rome, the Barbarians, clear through until the modern age the Wandering Jew and Jewess meets them, loves, hates, kills sometimes, and in all cases experiences the thrill of contact, struggle, and even sometimes ennui in ceaseless time. The religious motifs are cleverly examined, and criticized with an eye of a person being on the spot! A slightly scoffing tone is carried through the stories in regard to religion, and they even live at various times as god and goddess to suit their fancy, or by necessity. The ever present companion of the half-man, half-ape, Kotikokura, is a straight parody on mankind himself. The character of Cartaphilus, to use one of his names, is drawndrawn violently on a canvas of time. One receives the impression that he would have enjoyed timeless age better if he had been more of an intellectual, but his periods of intellectuality are attempts to escape boredom. In comparison Salome, the Wandering Jewess, has much more intelligence that Cartaphilus. She is in the
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