LETTERS
519
that of creative writers on our side of the
political fence, and
we
have always felt
that literary values must come first
in.
judging literature. Recent events, notably
Van J11yck Brooks' remarks on "coterie"
writing, seem to show that Mr. Eliot's
instinct was right in sending his JXJems
to us, and that our was right in publish·
ing them. For as Macdonald's article in
this issue points out, the tide of reaction
is running so strongly nowadays that
writers like Eliot have "come to represent
again relatively the same threat to official
society as they did
in.
the early decades
of the century." It is coming to be some–
thing of a revolutionary act simply to
print serious creative writing.- EDITORS
ADD: "FRENCH WRITERS, 1941"
Sirs:
In the latest issue I learned some val·
uable facts from Victor Serge's catalogue
of French writers. I can add a footnote
to what he says of some of the men. Gide
is not in Cannes but rather Cagnes or
Vence. Leon Pierre-Quint is in Marseille,
eager to get here. And Jean Malaquais
is also in Marseille ; he was all fixed to
get here, but then his sponsors pulled out
when the new law went into effect. About
these three I know directly.
Rodgers' poems are very evocative, the
best things I have seen from Ireland in a
long time. And Paul Goodman's story is
good enough to make me wish it were
thoroughly satisfactory.
NEw YoRK CITY
JusTIN O'BRIEN
KING LOG VS. KING STORK
Sirs:
If
I am not too late, I would like to
make a point about the "10 Propositions
on the War."
My own political sentiment is that, al–
though the Big Business whose hand you
say the President eats out of is indeed a
hindrance to the defeat of Hitler, never–
theless those who work to bring in Social–
ism work to replace King Log with King
Stork. But what I wish to point out here
is the Discrepancy with a Big D in the
reasoning of Messrs. Greenberg and Mac–
donald. Their trouble is that they are
not advocating anything that is already in
existence, and I suppose that such a pre–
dicament
will
always lend a touch of un–
reality to im argument.
Only the working class can defeat Hit–
ler, they declare, and then go on to
blame the Administration for settling the
Allis-Chalmers strike with bayonets!
Surely the inconsistency glares. Were the
idle workmen really striking terror to the
heart of the Wehrmacht? Was the Ad–
mmJstration really comforting Hitler
when it caused the production of Bombers
for Britain to be resumed?
When we came to the Eight Points, that
is another thing.
It
looks suspiciously as
if their realization would bring about
something like the Restoration of the
Bourbons. And yet, the Congress of
Vienna did not entirely bungle its job;
after all, what followed was exactly one
century without a general European war.
Meanwhile, congratulations to the PAR–
TISAN REVIEW for taking life seriously and
treating it with gusto. Depend on me to
renew my Sllbscription when the time
comes, provided the Administration still
allows it to publish-as I expect it will.
Yours faithfully,
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
ROBERT DANIEL
ADD ANTI-WILLIAMS
Sirs:
What criterion obtains when you accept
and publish the work of the late Dr. Wil–
liams? His "An Exultation" would al–
most justify Plato's argument against the
poets. ... What is the sequitur when Dr.
Williams rightly approves the destruction
of the East End slums and then goes on
to approve the demolition of irreplaceable
historic and architecturally brilliant build–
ings? His "never to be replaced," in its
context, seems quite unambiguous, and
one is forced to credit Dr. Williams with
an attitude too alien to the temper of his
readers to affect them as he, in the role
of poet, surely intended. Or is Dr. Wil–
liams, after all, God to whom, conceiv–
ably, a personal affront (via his Grand–
mother, were God to own a Grandmother,
and why not) would unleash the very
heavens and rain tar and feathers over
all the hateful little world.
Dr. Williams is no psychiatrist, nor is
he gifted with much accurate self-exam·
ining power.· The "poem" has this to be
said for it:
it
is a happy instance of
a-morality in verses. But some bias,
usually moral, is necessary to communica–
tion.
I am very sorry that Grandmother was
hurt.
BosToN, MAss.
Sincerely yours,
HowARD BLAKE
