Volume 1, Number 3 · September 26, 1963
Marble Faun
By Irving Singer
Santayana: The Later Years
by Daniel Cory
Braziller, 384 pp., $7.50
Despite its subtitle, this book is not a life study. Cory, who was Santayana's secretary and philosophical disciple, offers little by way of character analysis. Neither does he report the opinions of others who knew Santayana or make an effort to relate his earlier years with the later ones. Santayana's philosophy is hardly discussed, his intellectual development largely ignored. The book is simply an account of the Santayana that Cory knew between the years 1927, when they met, and 1952, when Santayana died. And yet it is entirely fascinating, vivid throughout, in places sad and moving. This is so because Cory had the piety or wisdom to let Santayana speak for himself, both in letters and conversations. Written to Cory over the period of twenty-five years and sewn together with a slight biographical thread, the letters alone make up 60 or 70 per cent of the contents. In effect, this is Santayana's last book. It is by no means his least interesting.
Review, 1287 words
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