Eyes Like the Sea
By MAURUS JÓKAI
Half autobiographical, dramatic, and at the same time humorous, Jókai’s novel, crowned by the Hungarian Academy in 1860, is a delightful exception to the tendency which is fast making fiction a branch of science instead of art.
—Morning Post.
It is a strikingly original and powerful story... The great charm of the book is the manner in which Jókai analyses Bessie’s character. All through the story indeed we feel ourselves in the presence of a master of the human heart, and again and again we come upon sentences pregnant with that wisdom which it is the lot of but few to acquire.
—Speaker.
From beginning to end “Eyes like the Sea” teems with entertaining matter and the English version is highly creditable to Mr. Nisbet Bain the translator of this sprightly autobiographical novel.
—Daily Telegraph.
“Eyes Like the Sea” is an alluring book into which to dip at random...
—Academy.
“Eyes like the Sea” is one of those rare books that break all rules and defy criticism by justifying their irregularities.
—Guardian.
It is good to know too that fiction in Hungary has a master so hearty, so human, and so free at once from priggishness and naturalism.
—Saturday Review.
In some respects the heroine reminds us of Becky Sharp and in others of Manon Lescaut, and in feminine dexterity and sexual eccentricities is no unworthy mate for either.
—Athenæum.
It is truly, as Mr. Bain remarks in his preface, a brilliant example of the now rare novel of incident and adventure... The vigor of the book is astonishing.
—World.
The charm of the original as a work of art loses a good deal in the translation... none the less the book is extremely interesting. It is a sketchy and vivacious summary of the more salient incidents in the political and literary career of the eminent Hungarian poet and romancist, its author.
—Literary World.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON