864
PARTISAN REVIEW
understanding of the elements of criminality in American life; or his
short sketch of Roosevelt's personality, which is the most penetrating that
has yet appeared on that most complex and fascinating subject. And
his rambling appraisal of American history and historical personalities
is refreshingly un-legendary, while not sinning on the other side of mili–
tant "debunkmanship."
No doubt, there are a good number of genuine horrors in the Amer–
ican experience. But-and I hope this does not sound too wayward–
that is not really the point. The real point is one of emphasis, and those
who emphasize the frightful aspects of our life are forgetting two primary
matters: 1) that European civilization as the dominant one on our
planet is finished-and therefore one can no longer choose to ignore raw
and vital existences like America in favor of more highly formed ones;
2) American life has not settled in its final cast, it is confused and con–
tradictory, and so the horrors, no matter how truly they are actually
"out there," are not fully real because their status is not final. In a
sense, nothing in America is altogether real but its future. The stunted,
nascent, bawdy, disorganized elements of the future, however, exist in
the present, and we must discover and reverence them (if we are still
capable of reverence). That is our function and our fulfillment as Amer–
ican intellectuals-the perception and expression of our uniquely demo–
cratic future as we find it in the raw present. And if we find nothing,
we are either blind or doomed. There is a very good chance that we
are only blind.
David T. Bazelon
SUMMER REASONS FOR
4
SEASONS
Waugh, Evelyn, LOVED ONE
1.00
Stafford, Jean, BOSTON ADVENTURE
.69
Fitzgerald, F. S., THIS SIDE OF PARADISE
1.00
Sartre, J . P.
3
PLAYS: Dirty Hands, Respectful Prostitute, Victors
3.00
Freud, COLLECTED PAPERS,
5
vol.
30.00
-Vol.
5
of Collected Papers
7.00
-CIVILIZATION and its DISCONTENT
2.50
-EGO
&
ID
2.25
Abraham, Karl, SELECTED PAPERS
10.00
During July
&
August we will also be at
200
Commercial Street
Provincetown, Mass.
4
seasons
21
Greenwich Ave.
CH.
2-0500
books
New York 14
Open to
10:30
