Maule's Curse, which is supposed to relate "the history of ideas (a history of ideas that, neglecting both science and philosophy, is almost wholly theology) to the history of literary forms," is interesting and plausible; but some of the parts of the argument are unproved, one or two unprovable—for instance, the vital point that the doctrine of predestination necessarily leads to religious apathy—and a disproportionate importance is given to causes that were certainly partial. Many or most of the good writers of the Nineteenth Century were similarly cut off from the religion of their predecessors. Mr. Winters might just as well have named his book Copernicus' Curse (or Galileo's, or Darwin's, or a hundred others'): for it is the development of the sciences (along with a good many minor causes) that has produced the changes in the world that seem to Mr. Winters so unqualifiedly evil...