Word: benet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There are many good things about "The Beginning of Wisdom." In the first place, Mr. Benet has instilled into his writing a lively, easy style that swings along in great form. His descriptive ability is of high calibre, and the book is vividly colored as a result of his careful observation and, we suppose, also from his training in forming poetic images. The poems that are interspersed here and there have a pleasant swing to them, and often are allegorically related to the story--which adds to their value...
...author has chosen a difficult task. He attempts to portray the psychological development of a not strictly average individual. His method is to picture, in kaleidoscopic glimpses, Sellaby's attitudes towards--well, towards things. Mr. Benet succeeds rather remarkably well, too, because he succeeds in putting his puppet through a great variety of experiences. Some of the incidents are very well told, and might stand alone as good short stories. But with clever artistry, Mr. Benet has inserted one or two themes into his narrative which serve to unify the whole quite effectively...
...chief criticism of the book is that Phillip Sellaby is not the pulsing human being he should be. His experiences are vivid enough; the author has a faculty for imagining situations. But, as we have said before, the story seems at least partially auto-biographical. The reader feels Mr. Benet is writing more or less about himself and trying to picture how he would react to certain situations; that is, about a kind of ideal himself with whom he is not fully acquainted--or at least whom he is reticent about letting anyone but himself know intimately. The irony...
...whole "The Beginning of Wisdom" deserves much praise, for the author has succeeded in his purpose, and while the various episodes in the book are of different value as episodes, and while some of theme are extremely well written--Mr. Benet has a fine feeling for words--there are others which, either be cause of subject or treatment, are not nearly so effective. The whole impression is Scott-Fitzgeraldish, but avoids many of the superficialities of "This Side of Paradise". After all, however, one wonders if the real story is not yet to be told, as Phillip and Sylvia...
...nominate for honorary leter-men Messrs. Brown and Benet, "line men". (We admit that it is somewhat questionable whether they should be given "B's", "H's", or "Y's". But, of course no one would make the mistake of giving Mr. Benet an "H" which considerably simplifies the problem...