Modern German Literature

446 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. QUARTERLY of truth. By a brief examination of some of Augustine's writrngs of this period, the author shows that the general outlines of Augustinian metaphysics and epistemology were being formed. Mr. Bourke's use ofthe term "supernatural'·' to describe the philosophy of Plotinus (p. 55), is, I think, unfortunate. The meaning of that term has become fixed and is no long~r associated with supraphysical, ~he only sense in which it is an accurate description of.Plotinian philosophy. The third part, "The Bishop's Work". (pp. 123-200), and the fourth part, "The l\llature Mind ofAugustine" (pp. 201-85), cover, to a great extent,.the same period of Augustine's life and describe the work that led to the final achievement of his Christian synthesis. Pretty well forced to accept the episcopal office at Hippo, he became the champion of the faith he had adopted. In the midst of the controversies with the Donatists and the-Pelagians his teaching took definite form. Three works, De Trinitate, De Genesi ad litteram, De Civitate Dei, represent, in Mr. Bourke's mind, the final answers of Augustine. Each of these works is analysed ~n the basis of a book-to-book account, the only fashion in which Mr. Bourke cares to deal with Augustine's writings. This method serves well in the outlining_of a problem, but it leaves much to be desired in the forming of a critical estimate of Augustine's position on the problems that were to become the grounds of medieval controversy. Mr. Bourke knows th;tt his method is not ideal and thinks that to expect otherwise would be "too much to demand not only of the ordinary reader but more especially of the ordinary author:'' Until that extraordinary author appears, no book which professes to describe Augustinian philosophy can be deemed wholly satisfactory. The gist of the analysis is that the quest of wisdom ultimately leads ·to but one object, God hims~lf. Whether yve consider the soul, the created world, or human society, their ultimate meaning, which is the meaning·that the wise man seeks,.is found in God alone. Wisdom, here on earth, e~ds in an enigma that will only be solved finally by the beatific vision of God, by a wisdom that will only be possessed by the citizens of the City of God. There alone will man be really wise; there alone Augustine's quest will end. MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE* w. L. GRAFF In this book less than 130 pages out of a total of 223 pages are pages of text. The remainder is made up of two indexes and a large-bibliography. According to the title-page, in these 130 pages the author covers seventy years o( intense literary activity. Moreover, the first chapter, entitled "Perspectives," extends the survey backward deep into the nineteenth century. The author expresses awareness of the difficulty inherent in his task. lndeed, one cause of the moderate suc~ess achieved is the extreme conden- *Modern German Literature, 1870-1940. By VICTOR LANOE. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1945. Pp. xvi, 223. ($2.50) \ -r-- ' I REVIEWS 447 sationJ or rather the exasperating rarification, to which -the subject-matter has been subjected. Perhaps if the. vast amount of material behind the pages of the book had been more thoroughly transformed into living substance through greater unity of vision and by a slower process of absorption, its interpretation might have formed the theme ·of a fascinating "essay,~ the kind of essay which the author's preface seems to promise. In it there , would have been little need of names and titles, beyond the outstanding ones for the sake of historical orientation or ideal relationship. Broad and p~ne-··trating vistas would have emerged from the assimilation of factual details and the elimination ·of waste, vistas into movements of ideas and attitudes and their artistic forms and symbols.. It is true, the terms of such - an essay would have been general, but its generalizations would have had the consistency and body of pregnant and challenging judgments. Born of a singleness of conception and creative intuftion, .they would have existed in their own...