528
PARTISAN REVIEW
circular to save space-these commonplaces are too humdrum for the
depth psychologist.
A prime error in method-one which had to be made in order to
carry out the black-and-white contrast between a demonically possessed
Germany and an undefined and unanalyzed norm of Democracy and
Progress-is the lack of comparison of the German films with those of
other nations, especially the United States. The number of German films
which seriously dealt with the political and social problems of their time
-and almost always from an anti-authoritarian point of view-was
extraordinarily large; even such "entertainment" films as
The Beggars'
Opera
or
The Captain of Kopenick
were also bitter and explicit social
criticisms. Hollywood, obviously, has little comparable to offer. Some of
these films are treated under the contemptuous chapter-heading: "Timid
Heresies"; but Hollywood commits no heresies at all, timid or other–
wise. The author is very severe about the political "escapism" of Ger–
man films-he even censures certain abstract films as marking "an utter
withdrawal from the world"-and reads all kinds of sinister foreshadow–
ings in gangster movies like
Dr. Mabuse.
But escapism and brutal crime
have always been Hollywood's stock in trade. To admit this, however,
would destroy Mr. Kracauer's main thesis, which is that the German
"collective soul" was committed to fascism long before 1933 and that
all German films, without exception, reveal this soul-sickness. For if
.the comparison with Hollywood were made, the question would arise
why fascism has not long ago arisen here. And this in turn would suggest
certain awkward suspi cions about that Democracy and Progress he
mentions so frequently, and so vaguely.
In short, it is as impossible to understand the German film when
it is considered, as here, by itself, as it is to understand Hitlerism in
terms of the situation inside Germany alone. The frame of reference is
simply too narrow, so that phenomena appear to be unique and distinc–
tive which actually are part of a much broader process. The profundity of
the author's comprehension of this broader process is indicated by his
statement: "I believe that studies of this kind may help in the planning
of films ... which will effectively implement the cultural aims of the
United Nations."
DwiGHT MACDONALD
AUDEN AND STEVENS
THE AGE OF ANXIETY.
By W. H. Attden. Random House.
$2.50.
TRANSPORT To SuMMER.
By Wallace Stevens. Knopf.
$2.50.
T
HE SCHEME of Auden's new long poem is clear enough and rich in
possibility. Four human beings meet in a Third Avenue bar, drink,
discuss the seven ages of existence, get drunk, and become or discuss
states of prehistoric happiness, go to the apartment of Rose tta, the one
