Books in Brief

The Genius of John Ruskin, A Selection From His Writings, edited by John Rosenberg (Braziller, $7.50). Ruskin wrote, all his life, in one lavaflow. In that sense, the channeling of his words into this book or that was, from the outset, and on his own plan, somewhat arbitrary. But this does not excuse the typical anthologizer, who tends to pick up only the iridescent stones scattered from this outpouring of molten language. Rosenberg, who knows Ruskin better than any man alive, realizes that even from a single volcano there are stratifications marking each stage of the eruption. By giving us a large, united specimen from each layer, he composes what is, in effect, a set of textual illustrations for his own analysis of the development of Ruskin’s thought and style, which appeared in 1961 under the title, The Darkening Glass. It and the book under review should be read together; they are enough to impel anyone into the lifelong joy and task of reading Ruskin. Which is, after all, the only justification for an anthology.

G. wills

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The Genius of John Ruskin, A Selection From His Writings, edited by John Rosenberg (Braziller, $7.50). Ruskin wrote, all his life, in one lavaflow. In that sense, the channeling of his words into this book or that was, from the outset, and on his own plan, somewhat arbitrary. But this does not excuse the typical anthologizer, who tends to pick up only the iridescent stones scattered from this outpouring of molten language. Rosenberg, who knows Ruskin better than any man alive, realizes that even from a single volcano there are stratifications marking each stage of the eruption. By giving us a large, united specimen from each layer, he composes what is, in effect, a set of textual illustrations for his own analysis of the development of Ruskin’s thought and style, which appeared in 1961 under the title, The Darkening Glass. It and the book under review should be read together; they are enough to impel anyone into the lifelong joy and task of reading Ruskin. Which is, after all, the only justification for an anthology.

G. wills