390
PARTISAN REVIEW
haps the hero's alter ego, a symbolic representation of the possible male–
volence Mr. Temple has concealed by his mild manner. In the end
the man is
id ~ntificd
as a party thug who gets liquidated after his evil
work was done, but one gathers by the way in which he has been
presented that he was supposed to mean more than that. Also, 11r.
Temple occasionally does things that seem out of character, such as
inflicting wounds upon himself when he has violated his puritan dis–
cipline. This device which serves Gide's Lafcadio well did not convince
me as a possibility for Mr. Temple. However, it must be said for Eleanor
Clark's ambiguities that one is never tempted to think she meant nothing
in these inexplicable passages, but is instead baffled by the fact that her
situations have infinite meanings. And that seems to me a tribute even
to the difficulties in this enterprising work.
Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers, though both are young, are at
critical points in their careers. They have received publicity, fond at–
tentions, and friendly gestures from all levels in the literary hierarchy,
and yet, in as much as one can predict from their current books, there
are signs that the creative arteries are beginning to harden. Both of these
novels seem to me literally gasping for breath. Eudora Welty's
Delta
Wedding
is set in the early 1920's, but it contains nothing of the cynicism
or anxiety that have characterized novels of and about that period. Miss
Welty's mind and aspirations seem closer, in this novel, to Thomas Nelson
Page than to anyone else. (However, Mr. Hamilton Basso in
The N.e.w
Yorker
saw fit to use the name of Gogo! several times.)
Delta Wedding
is squirearchy literature, done without the slightest self-consciousness and,
evidently, without any restraining acknowledgment of the personal, so–
cial, and historical exigencies that confronted this unhappy class. In its
picture of the Fairchild family, Delta cotton planters, caught in the
pleasant preparations for the wedding of the young daughter, Dabney
Fairchild, this novel would seem to be the answer to those commentators
who want literature about "normal" people, that is about those whose
optimism is unshakeable and who accept themselves without irony. The
author apparently meant to show what is called a "good way of life"
and her desire, nobl e, serene and hopeful as it is, would be entirely com–
mendable if it were not fov the fact that we can't believe her picture of
life without a determined abandonment of our knowledge and experi–
ence. Unfortunately we all know failure better than success, disappoint–
ment more intimately than happiness, and literature about the luckless
human condition is likely to be more persuasive than any other.
There is very little plot in
Delta Wedding;
its intent is largely des–
criptive. The natural world-moonvine, verbena, Cape jessamine-pro–
vides the decor for the family; a staggering abundance of snap beans,
watermelon, turnip greens, fudge and drumsticks takes up most of the
characters' time. As the dramatic opening of one section we have the
