VARIETY
happily the "creative" writing,
painting, etc., of the normal stu–
dent, being itself bogus, or at least
limited, is actually dangerous as
training if not constantly accom–
panied by critical training. And
Black Mountain has always been
provincial and out-of-touch in all
critical studies-literary, philoso–
phical and social.
In education we have at all
times to turn attention from the
pretty phrases-Life not Mere
Learning, for instance,-to the act–
ualities which they produce or are
meant to justify. In practice Life
not Learning means a fingering of
the personality which leads to neu–
rosis and thoughts of suicide. In a
way the great pride of Black
Mountain education is the detailed
attention which not only the work
but also the daily living of the stu-
Just Published:
427
dent gets from the faculty. Yet this
close and expert attention is
damaging both to the watchers
and to the watched. The watchers
become unhealthily inquisitive like
the prying neighbors in a Scots
Presbyterian village; the watched
grow introspective or rebellious.
But few of the Black Mountain–
eers like the word Progressive, and
in later years a philosophy made its
appearance which was directly
counter to Dewey, to vulgarised
Progressivism, and indeed to all
liberal schemes. This was Platon–
ism. The experimental college was
to turn out philosopher-kings and
was to endorse not democracy but
True Democracy, that is, anything
but majority rule. A wistful note
entered into the discussion. Were
not the masses a menace? An essay
HERMANN BROCH
THE DEATH OF VIRGIL
Translated by ]etm Starr Untermeyer
Broch, known to English and American readers by his memorable trilogy
THE SLEEPWALKERS, explores in this unique book the fields of human
consciousness never before brought into view. A poet dies, and in dying
gains a clear realization of the trends by which his epoch was influenced
toward the understanding of death and immortality.
"Perhaps the best novel by a European since Thomas Mann's 'The Magic
Mountain!'
"-The New Yorker
"A work of great learning, remarkable psychological understanding, and
startling symbolical
subtlety."-Saturday Review of Literature
English edition $5.50
Original German version $6.50
Please order at your bookstore
PANTHEON BOOKS, INc., 41 Washington Sq., New York 12
