LE1'TERS
95
P.R. gets better and better. W. R.
Rodger's poems gave me an uplift I've
not had for many· a weary day (reading
New Republic
poetry, etc.) and Philip
Rahv on Hawthorne is first rate. Kultur·
bolschewismus made me shout with glee
and think there might be a little ray of
hope somewhere-if such fine stuff can
still be written and published. More
poetry, and articles of the Rahv and Mac–
donald kind. Your book reviews are
mostly first rate, too.-G. C. AuLT, WoOD·
STOCK, N.Y.
BROOKS AND POUND
Sirs:
Is
Brooks really a literary pro.Nazi, or
isn't he simply a common American
phenomenon - the self·educated man
whose urge to moralize outstrips his taste
and his judgment? Take another speci–
men of the same type, Ezra Pound, and
consider how Brooks and Pound run par·
aile! to, or complement, one another.
Neither of them is much good at discur–
sive reasoning, as Brooks proudly admits
in
AUston
but as Pound has never recog–
nized in himself. The lists of classics
chosen by each neatly complement one
another, with hardly more than one case
of overlapping. Both writers have worked
hard at perfecting a pastiche style: more
than a third of the
Canto's
is translation
or paraphrase; the fabric of Brooks' New
England books is largely paraphrase or
quotation without quotation marks. Van
Wyck Brooks, one might say, is merely
the Ezra Pound of the upper middle class
-the chief difference being that Pound,
in
his time, has composed great verse, but
wonld anyone maintain that Brooks has
written great prose?
CHARLES WALLtS
CAMBiliDCE,
MAss.
No.-Eos.
ON MOUNIER-A LETTER AND REPLY
Dear M. Serge:
During the four years in which I took
part in editing
Esprit,
Emmanuel Mou–
nier often spoke of you with the warmest
rtgard. Allow me, then, a short comment
on the note you devote to him in PARTI·
SAN REVIEW No. 5.
Since the armistice, Mounier has sought
not to "adapt" himself, but rather to fill
up a void. He wanted, with such means
u
were possible, to give some direction
in a situation where only empty rhe-
toric was permitted. As he was accused
of "radicalism" when he sought for the
human spirit through socialism, so now he
is
accused of being a "collaborationist"
when, as always, he simply works with the
materials to hand. Many of his friends
thought from the first that any attempt
to influence Vichy would not succeed.
It
seems they were right, for Mounier has
just seen the suppression of
Esprit,
an
event in which there is clear proof that
he had not "collaborated" very effectively.
I
think that his stature as an honest man
emerges greater than ever from this fail–
ure. And
I
think you must agree with me
here, and that you will want to correct
the impression you gave to the readers of
PARTISAN.
C.
G. p AULDINC
American correspondent of
Esprit
NEw YoRK CITY
Dear M. Paulding:
I have always considered Emmanuel
Mounier, leading spirit of the personalist
movement and of
Esprit,
to be one of the
freest, most courageous and clear-headed
of French intellectuals. Nonetheless,
Esprit
last winter put out several issues
which contrasted strikingly with those put
out before the fall of France-a really
disJressing attempt at "adaptation." Per·
sonalism is a doctrine based on respect
for the human individual, and yet this
personalist magazine made not the slight·
est slightest reference to anti-semitism,
that outrage against all human values.
I'm told that since then
Esprit
has been
suppressed, which is to its credit. I know
it takes courage to try to survive under
certain conditions, and that it is neces·
sary to survive; but if a movement is to
emerge from such an experience strength·
ened (and cured of certain bad illusions)
we must state these things clearly. I do
so with as much esteem and regard for
Emmanuel Mounier as concern for simple
accuracy.
MEXICO, D. F.
POETRY ON THE AIR
Sirs:
VICTOR SERGE
The near-New York readers of PART!·
SAN REVIEW may be interested in hearing
about a series of modern poetry programs
that I'm going to conduct over Station
WQXR, every Thursday from 2:30 P.M.
to 2:45. The title is "Out of the Ivory
Tower," and there will be an interview
