BOOKS
85
EASTMAN'S PURISM
ART AND THE LIFE OF ACTION,
by Max Eastman. Alfred A.
Knopf. $2.00.
This book is a collection of speeches, reviews and travel sketches
prefaced by the eighty page essay which gives it its title. The essay is,
i~
substance, a restatement or summary of the views expressed in
The Literary
Mind
and
Artists
tn
Uniform
and really depends on the more detailed
considerations to be found in those books.
It
is given the form however
of a brief history of the "sanctions" by which men have
att~mpted t~
justify art-sanctions of craftsmanship, magic, religion, morality educa–
tion and politics. These justifications, we are to believe, have
b~en
suc–
cessively less valid interpretations of the nature of art, and the Marxian
interpretation, of course, is the most sadly erroneous of them all.
It is not my purpose in this brief review to discuss Eastman's theories
of "social engineering." Since his literary doctrine is, however, inseparable
from them, it may be well to give the gist of his frequent attacks on Marx–
ism before I attempt to deal with his central critical thesis. Marxism for
Eastman is not scientific but medieval, "an animistic scheme taken over
from Hegel's religious philosophy, for convincing the believer that the
universe is on his side." The Marxist conceives the revolutionist as taking
a conscious, willful and necessary part in a historical process determined by
productive forces and class struggles. In this process culture is one of
the interacting elements. The Eastman revolutionist dismisses this as
poppycoc~,
decides what kind of a state he wants, and sets about building
it on the most objective and scientific principles.
What has the artist to do with this "purposive enterprise?" Nothing.
As
far as his art is concerned, he keeps out of it.
"A
splitting away of
art from purposive enterprise, and from that understanding of factual
relations upon which such enterprise must rest, is what really characterizes
our age." The scientist, Eastman says, conceives the relation between
facts, and his work has a direct and continual relation to activity; the
poet perceives facts in their "qualities." His work is to heighten conscious–
ness, and has actually an inhibiting effect upon action. It is suggested
that there is a direct causal relation between arrested action and aroused
consciousness.
As a simple example of this Eastman offers a beautifully wrought
drinking cup.
If
it is artistic, the man who holds it will stop drinking
to -regard it. Literature, he says, moving us to the contemplation of "sheer
experience," is completely separate from any idea of purpose. But I think
we can assume that the appreciative cup holder goes on to finish his drink,
and even that eye and palate support each other. And I cannot believe
that man, for all his variousness, is so compartmented that although a
heightened consciousness, "sheer experience" will influence his behaviour
when they have other sources, they will not do so when their source is
art. Obviously in some circumstances one cannot indulge in contemplation
and act effectively at the same time, but that is not the question.
But even if art can influence behaviour as more direct forms of ex–
perience do, can we expect that the artist should give more than the
