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163 Though his critical opinions never flash forth and suddenly illuminate, but tend always to the literal and the patient rather than the incisive and succinct, he can occasionally find the apt and immediate word, as when he calls Moore's middle-period style (Evelyn Innes, The Lake, etc.) "psycho-muslcale." He is especially good on Moore's criticism, seeing it as a history of Moore's likes and dislikes; never objective, it is, properly speaking, confession rather than criticism. He sees the elements of selfridicule and self-glorification side-by-side in Moore's autobiographical writings ("des mémoires fantalslst'es" ), and he is convincing in treating the Confessions as satire. His pages on Helolse and Abelard. a novel he greatly admires, make one want to reread that seldom-read book, and he assiduously traces the development of Moore's famous late style, usually thought to begin with The Lake, from elements in his early work. Everywhere he sees Moore's writings as a continuum; perhaps the chief merit of his critical method is that in its pursuit of particulars it never loses sight of the whole. There may be too many particulars; there is perhaps a certain selfindulgence in the length of Professor Noe'l's work; it is very long indeed, and for what it does, longer than need be. If what is now spelled out could here and there be summarized, if the expansiveness and literalness could be curtailed by generalization , if some examples and some repetitions were eliminated, not much would be lost. Reduced by half, the book could be, and should be, published in translation. It is unfortunate that its bulk and expense and language will deprive English and American readers of the very valuable contribution It makes to our understanding of George Moore. Temple University —Charles Burkhart 2. HOME-THOUGHTS ABROAD: CONRAD'S POLISH LITERARY BACKGROUND Andrzej Busza, Conrad's Polish Literary Background and Some Illustrations of the Influence of Polish Literature on his Work, (ex Antemurale X) Instltutum Hlstorlcum Polonlcum Romae and Societas Polonlca Sclentlarum et Lltterarum in Exterls. Londlnll, 1966, pp. 109-255. Between the first timid beginnings of Conrad study in academe in 1917 and the retreat of the full tide of the Conrad revival in 1963, there were at least 328 doctoral dissertations and master's theses accepted for degrees in English speaking universities all over the world. During the past few years the proliferation of doctoral dissertations-turned-books has become an accepted fact of academic life blandly taken for granted In these desperate publish or perish days. But even in these days, a master's thesis is seldom transformed Into a useful and at the same time readable book. However, the University of London master's thesis turned 164 monograph here under consideration Is a brilliant exception to the rule. Not only is it substantively useful and well written, but it offers a unique Insight into an aspect of Conrad's background which has been skirted by critics and biographers alike because of the lack of Polish language qualifications and easy access to the references required. Admirably equipped with language, access and a two-year full-time research grant, Mr. Andrzej Busza has produced a thesis cum monograph which, despite the usual scholarly ballast of an average of four footnotes per page, is bound to be a joy to the heart of the thoroughgoing Conradist. Although Conrad's Polish background per se has had a long history of ceaseless sifting and winnowing by scholars, beginning with Gustav Morf in 1930 and extending through Zdzls^aw Najder in I965, entirely too little attention has been paid to the Polish literature as such which went Into the making of the English novelist, and In some cases even of the English novels themselves. Using this Polish literature as a touchstone, Mr. Busza sketches in his first chapter a literary portrait of Conrad's father, Apollo Na^ecz Korzeniowskl, and points out the early, subtle and pervasive Influences on Conrad of his sire's Intensely patriotic literary efforts. He shows that Apollo was "not Just 'a country gentleman of melancholic and mystical temperament. . .with some Inclination to literary pursuits,' but an...

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