8
PARTISAN REVIEW
wrote, in so far as I was able, as they were writing.m
2
He is also
prepared for criticism:
Those whp wish to see us weak will employ every means of
deception, of misrepresentation, and of fraud to keep us so. They
will suggest to us that we cannot defend ourselves against fascism
without ourselves becoming fascists. They will tell us that we
cannot assert our belief in the institutions of a free society and
our intention to defend them, without ... becoming ourselves
burners of books and regimenters of men's minds. We can believe
them if we wish. But if we do believe them we will have lost not
only our courage but our common sense.
18
Some critics have actually risen to suggest these alternatives.
Edmund Wilson has risked the imputation of deception, misrepre–
sentation, and fraud by defending the "irresponsibility" of Dos
Passos, Hemingway, and Barbusse, by saying that Mr. MacLeish's
"fear of destroying the integrity of 'the Word' ... is exactly as if
a banker were to consider it against his interests to warn the
authorities that there was counterfeit money abroad," and - by
remarking that "it does not create reassurance, at this moment of
strain and excitement, to hear the Librarian of Congress talking
about 'dangerous' books."a Burton Rascoe is much blunter. He
says that "Archie in his newly fashionable incarnation has the same
idea as Hitler but doesn't know how to express it"; that
Mein
Kampf,
indeed, expresses the same notions: "that men should not
be coddled; that they should be made to realize that the State_is
more important than any individual; that you can't have a healthy
State unless you have most •of the clucks drilling in barracks
squads; that you must put the women back in the kitchen; and that
all this sentimental nonsense which poets and novelists write about
tragedy, sorrow, aspiration, love and home has to be stopped.ms
And perhaps it is only natural for all of us, in examining our con–
sciences, to look into Mr. MacLeish's record to see how safely our
conduct as thinkers and citizens may be modelled on his and how
far we may take his judgment as our guide to the high zeal and
devotion to American standards which he today exemplifies to the
nation.
We may begin with his attitude toward poetry itself. We have
already seen his primary article of faith concerning it. For five
years now he has been an exponent of "public speech" for poets,
