Page:The four horsemen of the Apocalypse - (Los cuatro jinetes de Apocalipsis) (IA cu31924014386738).djvu/21

 is a tale of romantic passion placed in most picturesque surroundings; (The Naked Girl, so named from one of the famous Goya's paintings) will present a vivid account of the struggle between the artist's temperament and life's realities, unfolded in pages that reveal Blasco Ibañez as an uncommonly expert psychologist with a deep insight into the hearts of man and woman;  (Reeds and Mud), one of the earlier regional tales of the author, has been called the greatest novel he has written; in force of characterization, ardor of passion, savor of the country, baring of the human soul a prey to love, utilization of folk lore, understanding of his people, it surpassed.

And on top of these pleasurable anticipations—nor has the whole list of his books been given—comes the news of the finishing of his latest novel (The Enemies of Woman), which, report has it, considers the nobility of the United States attitude in the late war.

Blasco Ibañez is still in his prime as a writer; he owes us his South American series; the new world that has emerged from the cataclysm has doubtless stirred him to the depths and suggested a host of ideas that will eventually crystallize into new works for which the world is waiting. He has thus become a source of pleasure to a veritable world of readers. Perhaps no author of any nation, at the present day, has a greater number of readers waiting for his next book. And among those nations, the United States is favored, as are few, with a steady issue of the master's works. Readers of discretion will read them as they come out, and not allow them to accumulate in a set that eventually will have to be read as a whole if one is to maintain intellectual connection with the times.

For Blasco Ibañez is peculiarly an author of the times;