Another (short) unsigned review, written by Chesterton when he was 21 which appeared in the pages of The Academy.
Suppressed Chapters. By Robert Bridges
October 19, 1895, The Academy
[The Academy, volume 48, p. 315]
Suppressed Chapters. By Robert Bridges. (John Lane.) One has heard a good deal of late of a certain confusion in politics for which the name of Balfour is responsible. There would seem to be some chance of literature following suit; and, except that a man is entitled to his own name, the new Robert Bridges might reasonably be asked to choose a well sounding pseudonym. Seriously, we should have felt we had a grievance had we bought this book believing it to be the work of the poet. It is an altogether unnecessary book and, as the work of a clever man, there is really no excuse for its publication. Mr. Bridges can write decently enough to try his hand at something more pertinent: this sort of stuff does not deserve serious attention. The interview with Marion Crawford were well enough in a penny paper, the parodies on Trilby and other novels in one priced a little higher. Beyond that they are worth nothing at all: certainly they ought not be served up in the elegant binding and printing that are so creditable to Mr. Lane. Mr. Robert Bridges can do better work, and should set about it at once.
It is interesting to me to read things from Chesterton when he was very new at this. Although admittedly there are work he is commenting on that I am not aware of. Such as the one above.
ReplyDeleteTrue!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know anything about the work either. lol. :) (Then again, in all of those book reviews I included in GKC Speaks, I didn't know those works, either, or even the authors- with the obvious exception of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.)