Page:The Mystery of the Sea.djvu/545

 GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO'S NOVELS

W. L. Courtney in the Daily Telegraph.—''D'Annunzio is one of the great artistic energies of the age. He is the incarnation of the Latin genius just as Rudyard Kipling is the incarnation of the Anglo-Saxon genius. He has invented new harmonies of prose.''

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The Pall Mall Gazette.—'A work of genius, unique, astounding. There are passages that sweep one headlong, and the whole leaves an indelible impression.'

The Standard.—'The pages are rich in symbolic imagery, in beautiful word-pictures of Venice, and are saturated by the spirit of the Renaissance in its most luxurious form.'

The Academy.—' Clever, subtle, to the point of genius.'

The Daily Mail.—'A powerful study of passion, masterly of its kind.'

The Daily Graphic.—'The poetic beauty and richness of the language make it a sensuous, glowing poem in prose.'

The Scotsman.—'The strength of the book lies in the intensity with which the writer brings out the pleasures and pains of his creatures.'

The Pall Mall Gazette.—'No word but "genius" will fit his analysis of the mental history of the faithless husband.'

The Daily Chronicle.—'The book contains many descriptive passages of rare beauty—passages which by themselves are lovely little prose lyrics It is a self-revelation; the revelation of the sort of self that D'Annunzio delineates with a skill and knowledge so extraordinary. The soul of the man, raw, bruised, bleeding, is always before us.'

The Pall Mall Gazette.—'A masterpiece. The story holds and haunts one. Unequalled even by the great French contemporary whom, in his realism, D'Annunzio most resembles, is the account of the pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin by the sick, deformed, and afflicted. It is a great prose poem, that, of its kind, cannot be surpassed. Every detail of the scene is brought before us in a series of word-pictures of wonderful power and vivid colouring, and the ever-recurring refrain ''Viva Maria! Maria Evviva!'' rings in our ears as we lay down the book. It is the work of a master, whose genius is beyond dispute.'

The Daily Chronicle.—'He writes beautifully, and this book, by the way, is most admirably translated. The picture he presents of these three princesses in their sun-baked, mouldering, sleepy palace is, as we look back upon it, strangely impressive and even haunting.'