672
sake." Then, as M r. Shapiro asks,
"what poetic insight into our world
has this poet given us?" Surely this is
a legitimate query and the burden of
proof rests upon the Fellows.
Messrs. Greenberg, Howe, and Bar–
rett subscribe to the belief "that the
category of the aesthetic is not the
p rimary one for human life," but this
does not deny that in the judgment of
a work of art the aesthetic category
should be primary. I think that the
confusion lies in an unreal separation
of form and content. This is recognized
by Mr. Shapiro, who restates Mr. Bar-
rett's question, and later by M r. Bar–
rett himself in his magnanimous ac–
k nowledgement.
Turning somewhat reluctantly to the
bellicose Mr. Tate, I wish merely to
point out that in the single C omment
of Mr. Barrett's
(PARTISAN REVIEW,
April, 1949) the
Daily Worker
found
antisemitism countenanced, while Mr.
Tate found an attack upon himself and
his colleagues for antisemitic prejudice!
Further discussion would be super–
fluous.
Richard Huett
Bronx, N. Y.
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
A
French critics agree that
La Nausee,
Sartre's
first novel, is the best book he has done. In
the story of Antoine Roquentin, who could
not endure his own existence, Sartre has writ–
ten an absorbing psychological novel. $2.50
NEW DIRECTION S BOOK
