552
life"; or his continued need to
reinforce
his
exposition with such
flying buttresses as "to continue";
or the accumulation of declarative
sentences with the rhythm of a
well-tempered subway? I
think
Farrell's incapacity for simple prose
must be seen in light of
his
critical
methods.
A
critic who reduces the
complexity and ambiguity of art
to an ideological phantom, is not
likely to respect the medium in
which he works. He is not pas–
sionately convinced that a work of
art is unique and irreducible;
that
the paraphrase
is
never the same
as the work itself.
Of what im–
portance, then, are the mechanics
of writing to one who consents to
this fatal bifurcation of form from
content?
I think there is a need today
for social criticism; but it will have
to be both social
and
criticism.
That is, it wilt have to make the
critical leap from sociology into the
work of art itself. Such criticism,
employing Marxism with subtlety
and regard for its limitations, can
help stem the rise
of
academicism
in American literary life. But Far–
rell's criticism-which, I suspect,
has its ancestry in the crude em–
piricism of early American social
novelists and critics, like Norris
and Farrington, rather than in
Marxism--only creates a straw
man of the left for the acade–
micians to knock down. Which
should. not prevent us from re–
cognizing that the approaches Far–
rell misuses are essential, if insuf–
ficient, to the practice of literary
criticism.
IRVING
HowE
PARTISAN REVIEW
Notes on Contributors
Louis CLAIR is one of the editors of
the
Mod.ern R•view
and a frequent
contributor to left-wing literary mag–
azines in this country and abroad.
WALLACE MARKFIELD'S first story,
"Notes on the Working Day," ap–
peared in PR in September-October
1946.
J.
F. WoLPERT teaches sociology at the
•University of Buffalo.
THEODORE RoETHKE's second book of
verse will be published during the
coming year. His first book,
Open
House,
appeared in 1941.
RICHARD CHASE teaches at Connecticut
College.
·
MAX WISEMAN is a young writer living
in Brooklyn. This is his first pub–
lished story.
VICTOR SERGE, author of
Russia After
Twenty years, The Long Dusk,
and
other works, lives in Mexico City.
HENRY REED
is
an English poet whose
book,
The Map of Verona,
will be
published this fall by Reyna!
&
Hitchcock.
LESLIE A. FIEDLER teaches at Montana
State University.
DwiGHT MACDONALD, formerly on the
editorial staff of
PR.
edits
Politics.
RuTHVEN ToDD is an English poet
and critic now living in this country.
His new book,
Early American Paint–
ers
in
England,
wili
be published
soon by Scribners.
DAVID T . BAzELON lives in New York
City, and contributes frequently to
Commentary
and the
Nation.
ANDREWS WANNING is on the English
faculty at Harvard.
IRVING HoWE has written reviews and
critical pieces for the
Nation, Com–
mentary,
and other magazines.
ROYAL MURDOCH'S
New Book
GARGANTUA'S
MOUTH
Pro11ocativ• and arrutint Jlo•ms
in
th• mod•rn
11ein.
$3.00
THE FINE EDITIONS PRESS
227
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