THE SITUATION IN AMERICAN WRITING
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engaged in writing a poem or a story. The nature of the poem or story is
conditioned by many much more immediate concerns.
3. In general, no. I would agree with your statement about the news·
papers and liberal weeklies, but I think that your diagnosis is not quite
complete. There is a great deal of reviewing which is just stupid without
reference to advertising or political pressure; it is probably the result of
careless editing, of throwing books out to any reviewer who happens along.
The reviewing of poetry is in a worse state than the reviewing of fiction, it
seems to me; probably because the reviewers of poetry put on more airs.
4.
I haven't tried, but I am sure that I would not have been very success·
ful at it. As for the second part of the question: is there a place in our
present economic system for literature as a profession? A lot of money is
spent for writing; the trouble is that most of the money which is spent is
spent to encourage bad writing.
5. God knows, I don't.
6. The political tendency of American wntmg since 1930 has been, I
suppose, in the direction of social protest. As for my own feelings, I have
been in sympathy with the protests, but have not liked most of the litera–
ture which the protests have produced. A lot of writers seem to have felt
that if the protest was all right the writing would automatically he all
right. And there has been, of course, a lot of faddislmess; for instance, if
you will call the roll, you will find names of people who have been on
every bandwagon from flaming youth to communism, through humanism
and dada. But this is inevitable.
7. I think that if we get into the next war we are suckers.
Robert Fitzgerald:
The questions seem fuzzy to me, and by their imprecision not very
flattering to the writers of whom they are asked. Some are leading ques·
