Fearing that Torless will reveal the truth to the masters, the two leaders placate him and he is not drawn into the final scenes except for an interview which turns out to be wholly a philosophical discussion. As both he and the masters feel that the school can do little more for him, his mother withdraws him. The events of the plot, revolting as they are, are accompanied by a continual philosophizing on the part of the adolescent Torless who is ever seeking to find some sort of understanding of life and experience. The bullying boys win and Basini, the only character who calls for sympathetic consideration, is snuffed out in disgrace. The book is a strange one.

THE 6,000 BEARDS OF ATHOS Ralph H. Brewster

The Citadel Press, London.

Athos is a narrow, mountainous peninsula of Greece, named for Mount Athos on its southern tip, and inhabited solely by monks of the Greek Orthodox faith. From the time of its establishment as a monk's colony, no female creature, human or animal, has been allowed on the peninsula, which is ringed with twenty or more monasteries, and scores of small hermitages.

The 6,000 Beards of Athos is the story of the author's sojourn there. where for many weeks he travelled among the monasteries, visiting the monks and making a photographic record of his expedition. Several of the most interesting photographs are

Pryce-Jones feels that its barbarity and cruelty prefigure the Nazi regime. to come. The utter heartlessness of the treatment of the invert Basini, even by Torless, the hero of the book, gives to his philosophizing a detachment from reality that his calm composure and feeling of self-discovery at the end do not save from a repellent artificiality. Can intelligence and artistry that ride. roughshod over the innermost sensibilities of human beings ever be defended or approved?

M.

Editor's Note: Inquiry made to ONE's Book Service discloses that this book is no longer available through ordinary channels, if at all.

reproduced in an appendix to the volume.

As one might expect, his story contains recurrent episodes describing the failures of many monks in subduing the flesh, their consequent escapades among each other, and frequently with Iorgos, the handsome Greek youth who was the author's guide and travelling companion during the trip through Athos.

However, the principal charm of the story lies in its warm descriptions of Athos' natural setting, its penetrating insights into character, its account of the strange way of life peculiar to religious orders, and its intimate background stories of the lives of these men, who from a variety of causes have renounced the world in favor of monastic life.

ROBERT GREGORY

BOOK MANUSCRIPTS INVITED

Reputable book publisher is willing to consider for publication, on subsidy basis, book manuscripts on controversial themes PROVIDED THEY POSSESS LITERARY MERIT. Query, or mail your manuscript directly for editorial evaluation to:

GREENWICH BOOK PUBLISHERS, INC.

Atten. Mr. Oberon

489 Fifth Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

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