Author Description

"The "modern obscurantists" whom the author arraigns are "the pragmatists (James and Dr. Schiller), Father Tyrrell and his modernism, Mr. A. E. Crawley and his 'anthropological apologetics,' M. Sorel and 'the Syndicalist myth,' and, more incidentally, M. Bergson and Renan. All these are represented as nefariously engaged in a plot to propagate 'vital lies' of a religious, moral, or social order.... The fierce indignation of this criticism is, however, relieved by frequent epigrams and flashes of wit, and perhaps explained by the writer's attachment to an old-fashioned naturalism." --The Athenaeum "The book is characterized by a poignant eloquence eminently suitable to its grave themes, and is by far the most suggestive piece of work accomplished by its gifted author." --Boston Transcript "The book is a timely warning against the realistic Idealism of the priests of mankind who would neglect, or even create, a hundred evils to cure a single malady of the body politic; and their mistakes and infirmities are set forth with a humour and pathos which give the work a high rank not only as philosophy but also as literature." --International Ethics "In general, Vernon Lee's argument seems to us formidably cogent. It is the most drastic overhauling that the impressionistic philosophies have yet had. Here and there she makes the common slip of confusing the conceptions of fact and truth; but the force of her aggression is hardly impaired by such minor tactical solecisms." --The Nation "Readers with a taste for these studies can only be advised to read for themselves this somewhat illuminating and altogether suggestive and stimulating volume." --N. Y. Sun