Martin Green (1) (1927–2010)

This is a superb book, which opened my eyes to the importance of the Commedia dell'Arte to twentieth century art. The early Surrealist works are often redolent with images, very obviously borrowed from the Commedia and the authors of this tome, are persuasive in their attempts to link Stravinsky, Chaplin and other artists from varying artistic walks of life to the same influences.
If I were to have a complaint, it is that they appear to over egg the cake on occasions. Martin Green and John show more Swan have probably forgotten more than I have ever known about this subject so, I have to criticize with extreme care but, it does sometimes feel that they are arguing that, as a mouse has four legs, a tail and a head at the front end so, it must be a close relative to the elephant. What I cannot say with certainty, is whether this is down to taking their argument too far, or to their editing their evidence to fit the available space. The mark of a good book is that it has given me sufficient interest to wish to find related works and to see if I can answer that question for myself. show less

Informative and ground-breaking when it came out. This has to be read along with James Webb's, "The Occult Establishment."