Dialogues of Whitehead

210 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY for his subject in tenns of a tradition including Brunanburh, the Revenge, and Chinese Gordon is suggestive, for it reminds us that even this unusual man remained the outsider in India. His perceptive travel-book, while full of the customary Forster wit and humour (e.g., the account of his first Indian banquet), often betrays uneasiness , uncertainty, even unpleasant surprise. "Dewas at its most Dionysiac " made Forster positively uncomfortable; there are vague hints, too, of "indecent" puns and unmentionable conduct at Court entertainments . In another direction, although he was highly sensitive to the shifting moods of Dewas and its ruler, the continual effort to grasp the subleties of Indian imaginations seems now and then to have blinded him to its emotional directness. "What was dangerous at Dcwas? What was harmless?" Forster was never quite sure, although he came to understand well enough the stately movements required of Westerners involved with Indian politics. The fact that he has chosen to tell his story chiefly through letters, with a minimum of commentary, hints at his consciousness of some sort of "Bourn" in the air when he talks seriously about India. It turns out that Forster isn't pleased with A Passage to India. "Distaste and despair" were his reaction (in India) when he re-read his opening chapters. Later, in England, he felt better, and finished the book, but still thought it "bad." Perhaps he was dismayed by his failure to create a Godbole who would communicate to the reader his own full sense of companionship, amusement, veneration; for Godbole, it is now clear, was largely patterned on the Maharajah. Forster seems to regard the finished novel as a gimcrack, cutrate India, to which The HiU of Devi may provide exculpatory notes. Never mind: the novelist's discontent will not dispel the book's perennial appeal. And the critics are happy, for with so much new light the game can begin all over again. DIALOGUES OF WHITEHEAD' A. H. JOHNSON Through the medium of Lucien Price's Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead it is possible to enter the charming home, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of the great philosopher and listen to him chat with his friends. The presentation of Whitehead is accurate and effective. A perusal of this book is a stimulating experience. Mr. Price does not content himself with merely recording the great man's words and those of his guests; the total scene is sketched skilfully. Present, on "Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead. Recorded by LUCIEN PRICE. Boston : Atlantic-LittleJ Brown and Company. 1954. Pp. xii, 398. $5.00. REVIEWS 211 most occasions, is Mrs. Whitehead. Thoroughly appropriate is the vivid delineation of the unity of purpose and affection which characterized the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead for over fifty years. It is also made evident that the beauty and comfort of their home were due, in large measure, to Mrs. Whitehead's great aesthetic gifts. In Mr. Price's pages the physical environment in which the Whiteheads lived becomes very real: the flowers, fine old furiture, the insistent bell in Memorial Tower and, of course, the well-filled shelves of books. These dialogues began in 1932 and terminated, at the death of the philosopher, in 1947. During most of this time Whitehead was Professor Emeritus. Yet here we meet a man very much at home in the world, as charming and almost as vigourous as ever. There is an interesting description of a meeting of the Harvard Fellows attended by former president Lowell and Professor Whitehead. The awarding of the Order of Merit to Whitehead is "reported," with care and insight, and his "reply." A vigorous conversation between Sir Richard Livingstone and Whitehead is reproduced in considerable detail. Here, then, is an admirable word picture of a world-famous mathematician and philosopher, a charming old gentleman, enjoying good talk with his friends. These dialogues do not constitute an effective introduction to his philosophy, though some of his characteristic insights are expressed. Mr. Price rarely focuses on a single topic for an extended period, and omits detail and documentation. Most of the recurrent themes do not receive extensive treatment. However, many ideas are stated clearly...