H.L. Mencken

Baltimore Evening Sun/February 8, 1913

In his “Masterpieces of the Masters of Fiction,” William Dudley Foulke undertakes to give some account of 40 or more of the great novels and romances of the world, choosing them frankly by favor and devoting a brief chapter to each. His selections, on the whole, are those that most professors of literature would make. He chooses “Henry Esmond” to represent Thackeray, “David Copperfield” to represent Dickens, “Ivanhoe” to represent Scott and “Mme. Bovary” to represent Flaubert. But it cannot be said that his critical remarks bring anything new to the elucidation of his masterpieces, or that they reveal any very profound reflection. They are, indeed, such notes as any journeyman high school teacher might write, and it is difficult to see how their publication will add anything to the joys of the world.

MASTERPIECES OF THE MASTERS OF FICTION. By William Dudley Foulke. (Cloth, pp. 269, $1.25). Published by the Cosmopolitan Press, 31 East Seventeenth street, New York.