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(Continued from page 465.) ANY indictment of contemporary society so sweeping in its assertions as that which Mr. Julien- Benda pronounces in his Belphigor (Faber and Faber, 7s. 6d.) compels at least respect for his conviction, if also a certain wariness in our approach to the, conclusions at which he eventually arrives. Mr. Benda finds in modern French society an insatiable demand that " art shall arouse emotion and sensation," and that it shall cease " to provide any form of intellectual pleasure." This contention the author elaborates through 150 pages of closely written criticism, exploring every manifestation of contemporary thought and reaping a harvest of examples from art, literature, philosophy, politics and religion. In his 'triumphant voyage of pitiless exposition Mr. Benda discovers much interesting information, provides much food for thought; and convinces us, in the main, of the justice of his condem- nation. The lucidity of his style, moreover, despite a tendency to repetition, makes this necessarily involved analysis very simple to follow. And if his crusade against pan-Lyricism and the cult of emotion drives him into occasional inconsistency or overstatement, to a too narrow conception of art, that is the price of his assurance. He at least commands our unquali- fied admiration for the efficiency with which he disposes of the ghost of Bergsonism, and the succinctness he displays in 'putting his finger on the possible causes of that philosophy's .• extensive acceptance.
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