VARIETY
Dissent on Aragon
W
E FEEL
that it is necessary to
comment uoon one of the
authors cited by Mr. Stephen Spen–
der in the essay he has contributed
to this issue. He speaks of "a litera–
ture of resistance, of hope, of faith,"
and he finds it exemplified in the
poetry of Aragon, Eluard, Jouve,
Emanuel and others. Now what–
ever the merit of the poetry Ara–
gon wrote during the occupation
of France, the fact is that Mr.
Spender has raised a further issue,
that of the political role of the
poet. No matter what the content
of Aragon's poetry, and no matter
what the extent of his aid to the
resistance movement, his recent
and utterly groundless attack on
Andre Gide as a collaborationist is
certainly not the kind of activity
Mr. Spender has in mind when he
asks that authors "recognize their
responsibility to society." The truth
is that Aragon, in his. capacity as
editor and general factotum in the
Communist literary world, has for
years now carried on pogroms
against all writers who have dared
to criticize Stalin's regime. Surely
it is not in this way that authors
can "create an ideal above politics,
which political movements should
seek to interpret in action." In
fact, such activities are precisely
the opposite: the obedience of the
author to a political party and the
surrendering of every ideal supe–
rior to politics.
THE
EDITORS
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