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Philosophy occupies, in a large part, one end of human knowledge. It differs from science in that the experiential basis for conclusions is in the main not given. The novelist, the biographer, and other writers might all be placed in a somewhat graded scale on this basis. Not that scales are important except in the purpose for which they are created. Fraenkel and Miller present, in Hamlet, a series of letters of a literary-philosophical type. Because of the reviewer's kindred interest in life and death problems the book came as a pleasant surprise, although somewhat less so than the second of the books under consideration. Fraenkel's letters are the more valuable of the two. They are incisive, ably presented and wholly apt for the contemporary scene. Fraenkel has an excellent analytic grasp of what is going on these days. He is acquainted with some of the works of Freud.
It is not possible, however, to agree with many of Fraenkel's views. A few quotations may best serve to indicate the author's contribution in this volume. “Miracles are reserved only for human beings whose law is the law of maximum effort.” “Hamlet, as I tried to say, is the capitulation, the spiritual weather log of Western man in search of ultimate truth, and the ghost then, is the Spirit of Knowledge, that finally betrays him.” “He has not been able to plumb the mystery of his father's death.” “As long as you are aware of ghosts, you are still aware of old claims and ties. You are to that extent still aware of life; you are alive.” “We have grown death-proof—thanks to the mortician, who so promptly and conscientiously removes for us every trace and vestige of death.”
In “Death Is Not Enough” Fraenkel really stands forth more prominently as an original and creative thinker of strength and depth He has come to views, a number of which are readily confirmed in analysis. It is not possible to give here the extensiveness of the author's excursions into the realms of modern thought. The reader must not e