CORRESPONDENCE
Communication: THE HIPSTER
Sirs:
I read Mr. Broyard's article on "The
Hipster"
(PARTISAN REVIEW,
May,
1948) with great interest because of
my own delvings into the habits of
the phenom. Broyard's article will
not do, however, as the last word on the
hipster. He has inadvertently tipped
his hand in the middle of his dis–
course. This error is his acceptance of
the stock "nowhere" character as the
archetypal hipster. A veritable contra–
diction
in
terms. Mr. Broyard's descrip–
tion of hip clothing is right out of
that
Life
magazine article he men–
tions, and several other assertions are
equally suspect.
Your mad character of today and of
the past seven years is a different in–
dividual from the one who sported
the "thunderbolt" jacket and "balloon"
trousers of a decade ago as reported
then by "Apparel Arts" magazine. H e
is on a new kick in regard to his
threads. Taking his cue from the various
men's wear magazines he has been
dressing in the height of fashion as
purveyed by F&F, LaSister and other
caterers to the sharp. The items on
the hip sartorial calender today are
narrow hat brims, conservative shoes
from Lefcourt or Fellman,
no pegs,
and lots of linen showing. Kick-up
shoes, behind-hugging jackets and the
wide-brimmed bean-o are reserved for
sad sacks, Marine Tigers and some
wish ca ts from Brooklyn. Conserva–
tism in clothes is the password. Broyard,
like some language reformers, over–
looked the dynamic character of the
thing he was observing and, in over–
looking, was by-passed.
The hipster is not always a delin–
quent. You find many hip studs, a
1053
great many Jewish boys again, who are
and never will
be
anything but straight.
The gimmick is in being with it, know–
ing the score, being "in there" (an
archaism). That "pylon around which
the world obsequiously careered" went
out in 1941 and is seen today among
the "little cats" who revolve around
the group of hipsters who are very
silent joes indeed. These street corner
conventions are rather jolly affairs and
not the gloomy, morbid and sickeningly
egocentric set-ups described by Broyard.
The white streak is a purely theatrical
gesture and is matched up by the blue
side-hair of various blond hipsters.
Those dark glasses need a bit more
explanation than that offered by Mr. B.
Any hipster will tell you that they are
worn so that no one will see the con-
liONEL TRILLING:
"I have admired
the witty and moving stories of Del–
more Schwartz ever since he began
to write them. Their appearance
now in a volume makes a brilliant
and important event in American
fiction which many readers will re·
spond to with relief and delight."
.JOHN CROWE RANSOM:
"Del-
more Schwartz writes about the
solidest short stories that are being
made just now. He is a poetic real·
ist. There is extreme intelligence in
his probings of the modern world."
A NEW DIRECTIONS BOOK
