But there is a singular and importantndifference between the way EudoranWelty and Flannery O’Connornemploy such accurately tedious detailnand the way our later novelists use it.nIn Welty and O’Connor the intentionnis clearly satiric; the reader is expectednto judge the taste, intelligence, andnethical -alues of the characters by theninescapable trashiness of their dailynlies and to find them lacking. Tackyn’detail depicted moral morons or moralninnocents.nBut when we come to Smith andnZacharias, and especially to Jill Mc-nCorkle, the purpose has changed fromnsatire to what we might regard as a sortnof photorealism. These K-Mart detailsnare no longer comicalh’ indicative;nthey are the ultimate terms in whichnthese petty li es are lived. Cellophanednsandwiches, Conway Twitty songs,n”beaer books,” women’s day-glonslacks do not now distinguish evenneconomic classes; the poor and thenwealthy alike inhabit a cultural penurynas bleak as an}’ Siberia. Satiric tonendiminishes when such objects are depictednas ends in themseKes becausenthey become imperious to judgment,nunless the authors clearly mean toncondescend—as the new writers carefulh’ndo not.nIs it possible that the newest Southernnfiction is the first truh” classlessnliterature in America? TraditionalnSouthern literature, represented innmodern times by writers like Faulkner,nWarren, Ellen Glasgow, and PeternTaylor, was fineh’ class conscious.nClass consciousness was one of itsnmain strengths, and one which alliednit with traditional European literature,nwith the classical no-el of manners.n.nd quite apart from economics, thenexistence of a spiritual aristocracy wasnacknowledged; there is nobility innsome of Faulkner’s poor Blacks as wellnas in some of his wealthy planters.nThe new books describe no spiritualnnobility whatsoex’er. Certainly Jill Mc-nCorkle describes none. The closest shencomes—and it is a long wa}’ off—is innthe drawing of a simple “nice guy” likenPat Reeves in The Cheer Leader. Butneen the “nice” people in McCorkle’snwork share in the schlock culturalnalues of all the other not-so-nice people,nand it is difficult to see how theynmanage to come by their minor butnbasic decencies.nThis depiction depends upon a relendessncynicism, as if the author approves,nor has at least accepted, thenmorality of her characters. The teenagednmurderers in July 7th get offnscot-free not because they belong tonprominent families, but because nobodyngi’es a damn who lives or dies. JonSpencer, the one literate character inneither novel, we are supposed to see asncrazy. Lee Smith says that “Jill Mc-nCorkle has left the old stereotypes deadnunder the magnolias,” but The CheernLeader—which is dangerously closenin conception and treatment tonSmith’s own Black MountainnBreakdown—comes near, with its newnbut immediately recognizable characterizations,nto an easy use of currentnstereotypes. Our present generation ofnnoelists is building condominiums onnTobacco Road.nBut as long as the approach is new,nit’s pretty fresh, and McCorkle is enormouslynskillful with it. Her first booksnare ahead}’ expert, and if she can learnn•j^^^dn£nn’ ‘/ 1 V!?n^^Ui rJ ,i–4n^^M^nBRIEF ENCOUNTERSn^k-ntsJVfernS^WVn^ ^n•keeetn/£jrnmj^m.nAy*^n/i^i.-^ •n^^nJ£^g l IIInto treat her characters in their spiritualnand intellectual aspects, she has annimportant future. But we will have tonsee if she believes these aspects exist.nAlgonquin Books is the best possiblenplace to watch her development, ccn.issessing Strategic Defense: Six Roundtable Discussions; edited by W. Bruce VVeinrod; ThenHeritage Foundation; Washington, DC; S8.00. Leading authorities on defense technology,nforeign poUcy, and arms control debate the problems and promises in the President’s plans tonshift .merican defense doctrine ava>’ from Mutual Assured Destruction (VIAD) and towardsna Strategic Defense Initiatie (SDI).nCenter Journal; edited by Kerry J. Keller; Winter 1984; S16.00 per year. A journal ofnChristian commitment wide-ranging enough to include both a literary discussion of FlannerynO’Connor and a philosophical analysis of the Big Bang.nBrealiing the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk & Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes; Methuen;nKew York; S9.95. Beauty and The Beast and Sleeping Beauty reinterpreted under thenenchantments of New Left theorizing. Fairy tales were never better soporifics.nA ew Agenda for Education; edited by Eileen M. Gardner; The Heritage Foundation;nWashington, DC; S5.95. Since schools have given up on education and have opted for socialnreform and experimentation, the results have been illiteracy and chaos. A distinguishedncompany of writers and scholars here attempt to pick up the pieces and suggest ways to fitnthem back together again.nWill George Orwell Survive 1984? by Leopold Labedz; The Eastern Press; London. In thisnprovocative essay reprinted from Survey, a leading Orwell scholar finds some of the mostndeceptive examples of N’evvspeak in recent leftist writing about 1984 and its author.nGoethe by T. J. Reed; Oxford University Press; New York. Si.xtynaccomplishment judiciously surveyed in 100 pages.nof literarvnThe United Sations Development Program: Failing the World’s Poor by Richard E. Bissell;nThe Heritage Foundation; Washington, DC; S5.00. The World Health Organization:nResisting Third World Ideological Pressures by John M. Starrels; The Heritage Foundation;nWashington, DC; S5.00. Political insiders credit The Heritage Foundation with getting thenU.S. out of UNESCO. Two new Heritage studies, however, recommend different policies inndealing with two other UN agencies. lohn M. Starrels recommends condnued support for thenWorld Health Organization because it has adhered to its mandate. Richard E. Bissell findsnthe United Nations Development Program still worth salvaging but suffering from ideologicalndrift and organizational flaws.nnnn^nJULY 1985/7n