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PARTISAN REVIEW
felt life comprised in them that satisfies, not their quality of belief
or interpretive range.· In poetry there is evidence of more distinct
gains, perhaps because the medium has reached that late stage in
its evolution when its chance of survival depends on its capacity
to absorb ideas. The modem poetic styles-metaphysical and sym·
bolist-depend on a conjunction of feeling and idea. .But, gen·
erally speaking, bare experience is still the
LeitTTWtif
of the Ameri·
can writer, though the literary depression of recent years tends to
show that this theme is virtually exhausted. At bottom it was the
theme of the individual transplanted from an old culture taking
inventory of himself and of his new surroundings. This inventory,
this initial recognition and experiencing of oneself and one's sur·
roundings, is all but complete now, and those who persist in going
on with it are doing so out of mere routine and inertia.
The creative power of the cult of experience is almost spent,
but what lies beyond it is still unclear. One thing, however, is
certain: whereas in the past, throughout the nineteenth and well into
the twentieth century, the nature of American literary life was
largely determined by national forces, now it is international forces
that have begun to exert a dominant influence. And in the long run
it is in the terms of this historic change that the future course of
American writing will define itself.
