Barring the strictures which I have made, I
know no work of contemporary criticism which is more luminous in its
statements, more striking in its judgments, and more replete with
interesting information. It reminds one in its style of Taine's
"Lectures on Art" and the "History of English Literature." The
intellectual bias is kindred, if not the same; as is also the pictorial
vigor of the language, the subtle deductions of psychical from physical
facts, and a certain lusty realism, which lays hold of external nature
with a firm grip.
In Dr. Brandes's "Impressions of Poland" I found an observation which
illustrates his extraordinary power of characterization. The
temperament of the Polish people, he says, is not rational but
fantastically heroic. When I recall the personalities of the various
Poles I have known (and I have known a great many), I cannot conceive of
a phrase more exquisitely descriptive. It makes all your haphazard
knowledge about Poland significant and valuable by supplying you with a
key to its interpretation.
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