The World of George Jean Nathan
edited by .Knopf, $5.00.
A generous anthology of Mr. Nathan’s adrenal prose culled from his three dozen books and other writings. Herein are Mr. Nathan s pronunciamentos on, inter alia: bachelors, sex, women, marriage, alcohol, literary personalities, strip-tease, movies, ballet, the drama, criticism, and the American credo. Our savant is unquestionably most impressive when dealing with the theater. But whether Nathan is capriciously extravagant, or his worldly wisdom thin, or his love of paradox dated, he possesses an inestimable quality: he is virtually incapable of being dull. This offering would be worth the price of admission if only for the sake of its verbal virtuosity, which may be somewhat démodé but is more than somewhat exhilarating.