The foundations of society are more seriously shaken today than they were in Socrates’s time. Men who, reasonably enough, see no hope of preserving the ancestral order, are building new societies of one sort or another, from all of which certain fundamental values are absent. It seems worthwhile, then, to recall a man who under similar circumstances stood for the spirit of free inquiry, for the inviolability of the individual, with that lonely honesty and courage which are the badge of human dignity.
— From the “Author’s Note”
“Mask of Silenus deserves both reading and pondering.” — New York Times
About the author:
Babette Deutsch (1895—1982) was born in New York City, where she lived for most of her life. A poet, translator, novelist, editor, critic, and educator, she published in such literary magazines as the New Republic and the North American Review while still a student at Barnard College. She taught at the New School for Social Research and at Columbia University, from which she also received an honorary doctorate in 1946. Banners, her first poetry collection, appeared in 1919 and was followed over the next forty years by four novels, six volumes of children's books, four books on poetry, and numerous translations. She compiled several collections of stories for children as well as anthologies of poetry, and co-translated Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin with her husband, librarian Avrahm Yarmolinsky. Her work combined a range of influences, cultures, and epochs to create a rich visual language. Among the honors and awards she received during her life was The Nation's Poetry Prize (1926).
