This is "news" - a Santayana that classifies as "fiction" - and
fiction with a good chance for a sale almost, not quite, in the
popular class. With the record of the Thomas Wolfe success last
Spring, the bookseller has something to shoot at, as it is
distinctly of that genre. Try for the intellectual snob appeal
market - it's right down that lane. A philosophical, psychological,
biographical novel (yes, those rhythms are intentional) - the story
of a last leaf on the tree of Puritanism, of a youth who died in
the war, but who lived long enough to prove once more that the mold
of Puritanism has not been broken. The tie-up with The Education of
Henry Adams, though fairly obvious, is completely justified. An
important book, in the American tradition. (Kirkus Reviews)
A novel of of ideas, expressed in the birth, life, and early death
of Oliver Alden. Published in 1935, George Santayana's The Last
Puritan was the American philosopher's only novel. It became an
instant best-seller, immediately linked in its painful voyage of
self discovery to The Education of Henry Adams. It is essentially a
novel of ideas, expressed in the birth, life, and early death of
Oliver Alden.The Last Puritan is volume four in a new critical
edition of The Works of George Santayana that restores Santayana's
original text and provides important new scholarly information.
Books in this series - the first complete publication of
Santayana's works - include an editorial apparatus with notes to
the text (identifying persons, places, and ideas), textual
commentary (including a description of the composition and
publication history, along with a discussion of editorial methods
and decisions), discussions of adopted readings, lists of variants
and emendations, and line-end hyphenations. Irving Singer's new
introduction to this edition takes up Santayana's philosophical and
artistic concerns, including issues of homosexuality raised by the
depiction of the novel's two protagonists, Oliver and Mario, and of
the relationship between Oliver and the rogue character Jim
Darnley. In his thoughtful analysis Singer finds the term
"homosexual novel" too reductionist and imprecise for what
Santayana is trying to achieve. Singer brings to light the author's
skillful and inventive methods for perceiving and interpreting
reality, including ideal forms of friendship, and his success in
exploring the pervasive moral problems that people face throughout
their existence.
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