13 FEBRUARY 1915, Page 26

M. Paul Clandel is perhaps the best known of the

younger school of French poets; while his strong Roman Catholicism brings him into touch with what many believe to be the chief movement of modern France—the anti-secularist reaction. The East I Know (" La Connaissance de l'Est") is apparently the first of his works to be translated into English. It consists of a series of short prose sketches describing the Far East, where Claudel was for many years in the Consular Service. The translation by Teresa Frances and William Rose Bendt (H. Milford for the Yale University Press, 5a. 6d. net) is ade- quate, though it scarcely justifies the publisher's claim to " have captured with complete success the author's exquisitely delicate feeling for words."