SOURCE: "Readers and Writers," in The Independent, Vol. 115, No. 3941, December 12, 1925, p. 683.

In the following essay, a review of The Private Life of Helen of Troy, Boyd compares the book unfavorably with other interpretations of classical legends.

In The Private Life of Helen of Troy (Bobbs-Merrill), Mr. John Erskine gives us his version of Homer in modern dress. After having seen Mr. Horace Liveright's remarkable production of "Hamlet" in modern dress, and been enchanted by the humor, vitality, and humanity of the play stripped of unreal conventions, I turned to this book with pleasurable anticipations. I might not have done so had I not seen "Hamlet," but the skepticism with which I entered the theatre was soon dispelled by the notable acting of Messrs. Basil Sydney and Ernest Lawford and by the strength and freshness of the performance as a whole. I came expecting to see a mere "stunt...