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Edward Arnold d; Co.^s Autumn Announcements. 9 



literature, and an illuminating exposition of their value and char- 

 acteristics, both linguistic and literary, thus bringing into clear 

 perspective the development of the various forms which served 

 as the prototypes for later work. 



Not only will the book prove a useful introduction to the student 

 preparatory to a more detailed study of individual texts, but the 

 reader whose literary interests are more general, and to whom this 

 period has been perhaps a terra incognita, will find much to attract him 

 in the early examples of EngUsh epic poetry, romance, lyric, satire, 

 and the short story, with whose later manifestations he is familiar. 



TRAGEDY. 



By W. MACNEILE DIXON, LL.B., Litt.D. 



Professob of English Language and Literature in the University 



OF Glasgow. 



Crown Svo. Probable price, 6s, net. 



Though the author of this Essay points out some features of the 

 Athenian theatre which fatefuUy combined to favour the birth 

 of Tragedy, he is not greatly concerned with any ordinary question 

 of " origins," and holds simply that Tragedy burst from the brain 

 of ^schylus like Athena from the head of Zeus, attaining at once 

 its fullest imaginable stature. The justification of " the ways 

 of God to Man," "the Problem of Evil," "the Riddle of the 

 Universe " — in such phrases as these Professor Dixon's concep- 

 tion of the scope of the Tragic theme are faintly adumbrated, 

 and one is left wondering whether, without ^Eschylus' lead, even 

 Sophocles would have compassed it fully ; of Euripides there is 

 no question. Only once — with Shakespeare — was Tragedy reborn. 



The history of Tragedy is thus not a literary one ; it is to be 

 sought rather in a way in which the world-philosophers, from Aris- 

 totle to Hegel and Nietsche, have reacted to it. In the tracing of these 

 reactions lies perhaps the principal interest of a stimulating book. 



NEW FICTION. 

 MUCH DELUSION. 



By GERTRUDE SPINNY, 



Author of " The Painted Castle." 



Crown Svo. 7s. 6d. 



Miss Spinny's first novel, " The Painted Castle," won golden 



opinions from discerning critics who were quick to recognize qualities 



revealing unusual promise. In her new novel, the author has 



chosen a less difficult subject and one that will appeal more directly 



