368
of civilization, depends to some impor–
tant extent upon the realization of that
social and human ideal.
And finally Mr. Ramsey finds the
style of my essay coy, flip, irrelevant,
and precious at times. He may be right,
but here too being an American is
relevant. Humor is a very important
part of American life and often the
best way to get other Americans to
listen to you, which is the reason I
naturally find myself using humor in
writing criticism, and in responding to
critics. Thus, I am merely fulfilling
the obligations of being an American
in trying to be funny, just as, for the
same reason in part, I am trying to be
truly an American in owning two used
cars, in owning a TV set, in expecting
everyone to love me, and in expecting
everyone to admire my work and my
1949 Buick. I have also been a loyal
Giant fan since 1921. This avowal of
fact may explain very little to Mr.
Ramsey. It explains a great deal to
me and surely it will to other readers.
Delmore Schwartz
SIRS:
I have just finished reading the ex–
cerpts from Janouch's
Conversations
with Kafka
in the March-April 1953
PRo I should like to call the transla–
tor's attention to what I think is an
error.
On page 170 of PR the translator
speaks of a conversation about
The
Trial.
The German edition of the
Con–
versations
reads, "Ich habe
Das Urteil
gelesen," and the reference is appar–
ently to the story "The Verdict"
("The Judgment") and not to
the
novel
Der Proz;ess, The Trial.
(The
dedication "for F.B." which is referred
to seems to further identify the text
as "The Verdict.")
Selma Fraiberg
Detroit, Mich.
The Editors a.re grateful to Miss
Fraiberg for pointing out this error
in the translation.
SIRS:
I should like to tell you that I
thought Howard Nemerov's reVIew
(PR, January-February 1953) of Petes
Viereck's collection of poetry,
The
First Morning,
was witty and unfair.
One mayor may not share Mr. Vier–
eck's estimate of mid-century poetry
and of his role in it, and one may
strongly disapprove (as I do) of Mr.
Viereck's taste in jacket blurbs. Never–
theless, it does seem that the target
of a critical review ought to be what
is contained between the covers of a
book, and not what is printed on
the
protective covering around the book.
Neither do I think it honorable for
Mr. Nemerov to have concentrated
his
energies on a handful of rhymes c1eaxly
labeled as light verse, to the utter
neglect of a number of serious (and
I think quite beautiful) lyrics con–
tained in the volume.... It strikes
me that Mr. Viereck has much to gain
from intelligent, objective criticism of
his poetry. Where can he look for
such criticism, if not in the quartexly
reviews and the
Partisan?
Louis D. Rubin, Jr.
Baltimore, Md.
the hans hofmann school of fine arts
52 west 8th street
new york city
phone gramercy 7-3491
provi ncetown, mass.
june 15 - september 4
summer session
personally conduded
by
mr. hofmllnn
