Books in Brief: The Essential Paul Elmer More

The Essential Paul Elmer More: A Selection of His Writings, edited, by Byron C. Lambert (Arlington House, 353 pp., $12.95). During the first two decades of this century Paul Elmer More was considered to be one of the most important literary critics in America. His Shelburne Essays and his articles in the Nation were discussed wherever intellectuals gathered. Today he is almost totally forgotten. His good friend and fellow humanist, Irving Babbitt, is presently enjoying something of a revival, a fact that may explain the appearance of this new selection of More’s essays. Babbitt, of course, was a major intellectual, who influenced some of the most important writers of his day; More was not quite in the same class. Nevertheless, he does not deserve the kind of oblivion which Edmund Wilson and others have wished upon him. In this volume we have More at his best, expounding on his favorite subjects, theology, philosophy, the classics, contemporary education and politics. The reader will be surprised to learn that most of the essays were written before 1920, since they all seem to relate to the problems of the present day. His message is not an optimistic one, but it is one that should be studied by all thinking conservatives. Dr. Byron Lambert has done a good job in editing this anthology, and has written a useful introduction that will help put More in his proper perspective,