style, tone and manner, to replay thenmelodies of brotherhood, peace and goodnwill that once beguiled a generation. Tondo this, Cowley has had to restore thenfeeling of the Depression—the crushingnsense that people were going hungrynacross the land, a third of the nation’snwork force rendered idle—when mostnAmericans were bewildered and bereft.nHe does this hypnotically well; nonenwho recall...

social experiment” and efforts to “takencommunism away from tlie communists.”nIf that was the goal, however, itnwas obliquely approached, for whatnCowley actually did was to join the partynin spirit and deed—at least in terms ofnspeaking, signing ads and petitions andnin his agreement with its principles andntactics—without actually accepting ancard and paying dues. This technicalitynmaintained, it is...

age. Most, with no illustrious exceptionnthat comes readily to mind, honestlynadmitted their error and warned othersnagainst taking their former path. Cowleynhas chosen, instead, to use all hisnskills to gild himself in retrospect.nSince he obviously has more to say, onenlooks forward to further volumes ofnBridge over the River WhynMortimer J. Adler: How to ThinknAbout God: A...

changes, that it could be otherwise, it isnpossible but not necessary that this ornsome other universe exists. On thisnquestion of many possible universes,nAdler sounds like no one so much asnC. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkien in theirntravel and space stories. The comparisonnis not merely playful; I sometimesnwonder if, on this account, Adler wasnas...

Wien, Wien, nur Du alleinnCarl E. Schorske: Fin-de-Si^clenVienna; Politics and Culture; AlfrednA. Knopf; New York.nby Paul GottfriednCarl Schorske, an historian of the pre-nWorld War 1 German Socialist Party, hasnnever hidden his radical-left sympathies.nDuring the Reagan administration, henleft a professorship at Berkeley to take anmore lucrative post at Princeton; the reasonnhe loudly proclaimed for the jobnchange...

Nonetheless, they all perceived theirnclass and its verities as threatened, evenndoomed, and searched for their own alternativesnand solutions to the existingnorder. Perhaps it is impossible to do justicenin a brief review to Schorske’s analysis,nwhich is rich in illustrations andnfar removed from the simplistic reductionismnso often endemic to Marxistsnand radical historians. Its one limitation,nhowever, is implicit...

ably, of course, without alliance withnthe Devil.nYet Freddy errs in naming his booknKing Gustav and the Devil. The centernof the book is the Devil’s view of lifenand the varying degrees and forms ofnsubmission or opposition men offer tonthat view. And King Gustav offers littlenopposition. The characters who standnout are Lars-Goren, a nobleman of goodnheart and...

America Through the Funhouse MirrornHoward Zinn: A People’s History ofnthe United States; Harper & Row;nNew York.nLa^vrence Lader: Power on the Left;nW. W. Norton & Co.; New York.nby Alan J. LevinenXloward Zinn and Lawrence Ladernhave written two books which attemptnto recast American history into a formnthat will extract murmurs of delectationnfrom the extreme American left.nZinn’s book...

American support of the French revolution.n) White women are treated, quitenseriously, as slaves. Abraham Lincoln isnabused for not freeing all the slaves withnthe Emancipation Proclamation; thenlegal and practical problems facing thenpresident, such as the danger of alienatingnthe Union slave states in the midstnof the Civil War, are not even mentioned.nZinn attributes the defeat ofnthe Confederacy...

blacks. No expression of stupidity andnbigotry by black nationalists inspiresnserious criticism.nOne part of Lader’s book that mightnbe of some scholarly interest is his treatmentnof the new left. But even here henis not always trustworthy. The trial ofnthe Chicago Seven is portrayed as a mar­ntyrdom of innocents, though some ofnthe defendants later admitted they hadnaimed at...

of the novel as a viable form may be annecessary consequence of the prevalencenof the collectivist ethos. More broadly,nhowever, the novel cannot carry thenweight of ideological rectitude. The successfulnnovel depends not only upon literarynskills but also upon a depth of insightninto man and life and upon anrigorous honesty in depicting them^-Nonman with great depth of...

How True …nArnaud de Borchgrave and RobertnMoss: The Spike; Crown Publishers;nNew York.nby Philip F. Lawlern1 ruth is stranger than fiction; that’snwhy fiction is more realistic, even whennit’s used as a polemical tool. Argue allnyou want about the perils of parenthood;nKing Lear makes the point more forcefully.nNo one who has read Orwell, ornSteinbeck, can remain innocent...

co4ne away from The Spike having feltnthe real an^er and injustice that an abstractnargument can never convey. Fictionnbrings immediacy. As Coleridgenpointed out, imagination can yield logicalnconclusions much faster than painstakingnreason can deduce them.nAlthough The Spike is now perchednnear the top of the best-seller lists, fewnof the country’s major newspapers havencarried reviews of the book. Perhaps...

lief in sleaziness as a publicity advantage?nAn attempt to avoid head-on identifications,nan assumption that a romanna clef could safely accuse and expose?nWe do not know the answers, but wentend to believe that it would have hadna far more lasting effect, importance andnimpact if it had been published as anpolemical or investigative tract.nTo list some of...

CommendablesnChappell on PrintingnWarren Chappell: A ShortnHistory of the Printed Word;nNonpareil Books; Boston.nWarren Chappell’s sense ofnthe visual metaphor is wellnknown to our readers. His vignettesngrace these pages withnan expressiveness that has distinguishednMr. Chappell as annAmerican artist and illustratornpar excellence.nThis proves to be only onenfacet of Mr. Chappell’s talents.nMoreover, he is one of the mostnerudite and prolific...

his activity as a “critic” and theninhumanity that is spreadingnaround us via pop culture. LilcenPresident Carter, he blames thenAmerican people for what hasnhappened to them under hisnguidance of their cinematicntastes. He chooses not to remembernwhat he himself wrotenabout his reviewing:nThis column has routinelynsupported the new permissivenessnin movies . . .nHe, of course, is not guilty....

»creennPercussive Expressionism, L/7^/e Women Updaten& the Triumph of IdiocynThe Tin Drum; Written by VolkernSchlondorff, Jean-Claude Carrierenand Franz Seitz; Directed by VolkernSchlondorff; from the novel bynGiinter Grass; a Nev^^ World Picturesnrelease.nFoxes; Written by Gerald Ayres; Directednby Adrian Lyne; UnitednArtists.nBeing There; Based on the novel bynJerry Kosinski; A Hal Ashby Film;nUnited Artists.nCoal Miner’s Daughter; Based on thenautobiography...

and elucidate on the weirdness of existence.nIn this respect, Mr. Schlondorffnmatches Grass perfectly. Like most Germanndirectors since the time of DoctornMabuse, Schlondorff believes that truthnand aesthetic fulfillment lie with thenlugubrious and the nauseating. Henbrings an abhorrent imagery to thenscreen: eels writhing in a dead horse’snhead, the death wish of Oscar’s mothernarticulated in disgusting eating compulsions,na...

Being There wishes to be a metaphor,nbut it slips into caricature. The assertionnthat stupidity rules the worldnis not without merit, but as both an historicalnand social force, stupidity canncome to prominence only through thenexistence of an antithetical force thatnis capable of taking advantage of stupidnpeople who create doltish situations.nDon Quixote’s lack of a sense of...

rail workers discuss Hegel between onenun blanc and another, shop girls speaknendlessly about biology, and sub-teennboys ponder womanhood and the rapturesnof carnality. And everything makesnsome sense—more or less. Handkerchiefsnis a fugue on modern French permissiveness:nin fact, nothing much hasnchanged with the French in the realmnof erotica and its complexity; there arenjust more four-letter words than...

than the Bard. How many are going tonsee Much Ado About Nothing at thenFestival Theatre because Shakespearenwrote it? How many filled the house becausenMaggie Smith portrayed Beatrice?nMoreover, in Much Ado, Hero “dies”nbecause her virtue is besmirched by hernbetrothed. None of the characters thinknthe cause of death odd. Who can imaginena young woman dying of a...

Editor’s CommeiitnFour years of mindless Reagan? Is this reallynwhat the great republic has wrought in thenfirst election of its third century?n— Professor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.nin the Wall Street JournalnCountless words, phrases, sentences, invectives, insults,nsneers and epithets could be quoted, but, for some reason,nthis contumely from a learned, civilized, sophisticated deannof liberal sentiments struck me as...

defenders of consensus political ethics as the supremenwisdom and virtue to do but call him mindless and wicked,nwhile they seethe with hatred.nIn fact, it was the Democratic Party which first oversteppednthe conditioning of the three C’s—hesitantly under Roosevelt,nTruman and Johnson, and at full speed when theynnamed Senator McGovern and Mr. Carter as standard-bearers.nThe current ideology...

Qpinions & ViewsnThe Beauty of Order & the Charisma of MessnSidney Hook: Philosophy and Pub lienPolicy; Southern Illinois UniversitynPress; Carbondale and Edwardsville,nIllinois.nJeremy Rifkin with Ted Howard:nThe Emerging Order: God in thenAge of Scarcity; G. P. Putnam’s Sons;nNew York.nby James J. Thompson, Jr.nfrustration and sadness swept overnme as I finished reading these two books,nfor I realized...

Rifkin’s fancy for the Charismatics:n”For the New Left and its cogeners,”nHook writes, ” ‘science’ and ‘reason’ arensuspect tools of the Establishment usednto fashion rationalizations in behalf ofnthe status quo.” There is indeed anmethod to Jeremy Rifkin’s madness.nlo dismiss Rif kin as nothing morenthan a cynical exploiter of Charismaticnantirationalism will not suffice, though.nRif kin states flatly:...

into such causes as radical feminism,nhomosexual rights and abortion on demand.nThey have sought in every waynto foment a social and moral revolution.nWe have justifiably come to associatenthe left with moral decay and social upheaval.nBut something is stirring in thenranks. Witness Christopher Lasch’s defensenof the family in Haven in a HeartlessnWorld, and Dale Vree’s denunciationsnof social...

of Women’s Wear Daily, making thentriumph of style-cum-idea complete.nBuckley’s persona had finally begun tonconnote his life accomplishments. Henthen started to write spy fiction. He engenderedna hero (in whose image.-‘) whon(all indications are there) was an attemptnat reification a la mode. Fightingnevil alone—even the evil of communistnpower which is so much ampler than angang in a...

seem to serve Buckley best, and henshould stay closer to his own semiologynof that particular participle, or noun.nIt’s easy to see that Buckley has followednin the footsteps of Ian Fleming,nboth in his clear-cut ideological positionnand in his creation of an irresistiblynattractive hero. Blackford Oakes is thenobvious antithesis of le Carre’s grubbynlittle bureaucrats or Greene’s venal...

Sex Almanac for ProtozoansnGay Talese: Thy Neighbor’s Wife;nDoubleday & Co.; New York.nby Herbert I. Londonn1 o the publishing world—where thenbottom line is seemingly all that countsn—the arrival of Gay Talese’s Thy Neighbor’snWife is described as a major event.nThat this book has received so much attentionnis more of a commentary on thisnnation’s values than on Mr....

standards which presumably causednshame, guilt, anxiety and neurosis. Inwon’t attempt to explain to Mr. Talesenthe societal need for guilt; but what Infind baffling is his seemingly total insensitivitynto the conformist demandsnof the contemporary liberationists who,nlike Rousseau, argue that people “shouldnbe forced to be free.”nFor John BuUaro—one of the centralnactors in Thy Neighbor’s Wife—tin investigationninto the...

Those Tedious Extremist VictoriesnMargaret Atwood: Life Before Man;nSimon & Schuster; New York.nby Stephen L. TannernWhat is literary art supposed to donfor us? For a long time people thoughtnit was supposed to help us better understandnlife and consequently live morensuccessfully. According to this oldfashionednnotion, the artist shouldnstruggle toward a vision of how thingsnought to be. This...

quainted with the notion of sacrifice.n”As long as Nate does his share withnthe house and children, or what they’venwearily agreed is his share, he can helpnhimself to any diversion he chooses.nBowling, building nnodel airplanes, fornication,nit’s all the same to her.”nNothing is theirs in this marriage, butnalways his or hers, even the children.nElizabeth seems convinced “she...

Thanatos for TwonJohn Hawkes: The Passion Artist;nHarper & Row; New York.nRalph de Toledano: Devil TakenHim; G. P. Putnam’s Sons; NewnYork.nby Joseph SchwartznThe fictional world of John Hawkesnis absurd for two reasons, each affectingnhis perception of reality. First,nit contains no pattern of cause and effect.nWhat one gets instead is the flow of sensationsnand eccentric spatial juxtapositions,nestablishing...

ing.” At the end of the novel, thenmeaning of his real and (perhaps) imaginednlife is realized in a final irony. Shotnas he is leaving the prison, he makesnone last effort to assert his identity.n”I am who I am,” he cries; the ironicnBiblical echo is intentional. His deathnis the “final irony,” because he discoversnfor himself what...

tional freedom and vivacity, a lessonnvifomen have generally taught men innHawkes’s fiction.nThe Passion Artist presents a terriblenand terrifying vision: antilife, anti-intellectual,nantihistory. It is, hovi^ever, anlogical result of the inverted premisesnupon which Hav?kes rests his case. It is anvision of primal horror, this lust forndeath as mankind waits in the gardennpassing the time with sexual gymnasticsnthat...

Peter Minot.” There are serious theologicalnimplications in all this which denToledano has chosen not to face, dependingninstead upon instinct whichncomes pretty close to superstition.nJ. he design for the novel is clever;nthe structure provides appropriate opportunitiesnfor Peter Minot to recreatenthe past of the protagonist, de Toledano’snessential problem as a novelist isnthat he is self-conscious as the...

camera and the assemblyline silkscreen,nto cast the shadows of his plastic, repeatablenimages over the whole fagade ofnthe spineless art world. The icons thatnhe has produced, from “money” to “MarilynnMonroe,” have indeed proved to bensignificant commentaries on our presentnage, yet the direction toward which thesenicons point is a nihilistic, disposable lifestyle,none which undercuts any sense ofndeliberate...

of their relationship is formed: theirnsex life is great, their ideologies arenpoles apart.nDolores Durer is the original bleedingnheart of the title: her heart bleeds fornthe unfortunates of the world as wellnas for herself. She worries about pollution,nwomen, crime, women, drugs,nwomen, capitalist corruption and women.nThe subject of her sabbatical researchnis the suffering of women. FornDolores, reality...

but she offers no real alternative. Hernonly notion of what to do is a vague convictionnthat women ought to run thenworld. She will not concede that women,ntoo, are subject to human emotions likengreed or envy; there is, in her eyes, nonwickedness in womankind. Whatevernevidence there may be of such transgressionsnFrench blames on the malenpower structure...

authoritarianism and class distortion.”nThis suggests a rather bizarre view ofnthe Victorian Age—the freest era in thenhistory of the world—and confuses thenaims of Victorian gentlemen likenTheodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilsonnand Robert LaFollette with the position,nor rather the pose, of the new left ofnthe 1960’s.nIhe worst muddles in FitzGerald’snwork appear in her treatment of thenalleged shifts in viewpoint...

Squanto was considered a fishy character,nif not a traitor: “true NativenAmerican heroes are those who foughtnto preserve and protect their people’snfreedom and land.” Although PitzGeraldnfails to notice the erroneous assumptionnthat Indians constituted a singlennation or people, she has sense enoughnto see that American history cannot bentaught by attempting to Show the viewpointnof every real of...

is. Make your way across the syntaxnwithout becoming too distracted bynthe short circuits of modifiers and takenaccount of the interesting color changesnof Griselda Graves’s “holy face.” Theynplay a key role in this novel.nAnother important character is MarynDee Adkins, a beautiful 23-year old.nA typical scene illustrates how adorablenshe is and how atrociously thingsnare described: Ms. Adkins...

in Black Cargoes—A History of thenAtlantic Slave Trade by Mannix andnCowley, just as Mr. Colter did. Andnsimilar well-written works provide factual,nbiographical details on the othernhistorical events Mr. Colter covers.nWhen the near-contemporary situationnis dealt with, things are quitenvague: the flashbacks are based on ansort of history, but Mr. Colter doesn’tnseem to know what direction to take...

tions. Those problems arose becausenfew people in government offices—nelected, appointed or hired—saw anythingnin the civil-rights movementnwhich would be of advantage to theirncareers, should they become involved.nThe first crack in the hear-nothing-donothingnshell of Washington came fromnan election campaign rather than fromnsomeone enforcing existing laws regardingncivil rights. Only when votesncounted could the civil-rights and warprotestnmovements get the...

Explorations in Materialist MetaphysicsnVladislav Krasnov: Solzhenitsynnand Dostoevsky: A Study in thenPolyphonic Novel; University ofnGeorgia Press; Athens, Georgia.nby Juliana Geran PilonnTo call a work of fiction a symphonynin prose is to risk pathos. Unless, perhaps,none happens to be referring tonDostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn, twongiants of Russian literature whose sensitivitynto human suffering is equalednonly by their astute knowledge...

equally concerned with presenting anvariety of viewpoints as compassionatelynas possible, thus repudiating the stiflingndogmatism of “socialist realism” whosenpalette contains no colors other thanncrimson.nThis thesis is especially important innlight of the Western liberal impressionnthat Solzhenitsyn is “authoritarian” andnunable to appreciate “democracy” withnits disagreements and conflicts, an impressionnapparently reinforced by Solzhenitsyn’snspeech delivered in Junen1976 at Harvard —...

polemic aspects of Cancer Ward andnAugust 1914, more briefly but just asnconvincingly. The reader leaves thenbook with a sense of having appreciatednSolzhenitsyn anew, of having come anlittle closer to sharing his complex universe.nIn the final chapter, Krasnov capturesnSolzhenitsyn’s style in one morenparadox by calling it a kind of “spiritualnrealism.” Realism, surely: for if this benfiction...

Cutler brings all of the appropriatenjargon to the campaign. Strategy shiftsnfrom “retail” to “wholesale”—charterednjet-hopping around the state’s majornmedia markets. Lo and behold, the trendnindicated by the leading poll reverses itselfnalmost immediately (primarily becausenCutler uses a media fee to bribe thenpolitical scientist running the poll).nHeller’s media campaign is successful asnAndrews is unable to raise the money...

were able to establish a placid conservatismnby blacklisting the sensitive andncreative talents of the day. In the 1970’s,nusing a more sophisticated understandingnof their creation, they hope to returnnAmerica to an artificial conservatismnin the interest of augmented profits.nThis fictive conspiracy is mastermindednby the Phaethon Society, undernthe direction of network president ColonelnEddie Donovan and a few friends.nThe...

versities’ enthusiasm for the equal-sexnmovement has diminished somewhat, asnthe shortage of tenured females makesnthe pro-ERA protestations of the malenfaculty sound hollow. But the educationalnsector is only one facet of a largenrevolutionary scene. Another equallynsignificant facet linked to the women’sliberationnmovement is the mandatednchanges in our language. Our governmentnhas never before gone quite sondeeply into thought control,...