46
PARTISAN REVIEW
be serious, radicalism today in America means (with certain differ–
ences) what it meant to Randolph Bourne in 1917 (see "Twilight of
Idols," in the new collection of Bourne's essays,
The H istory of a
Literary Radical and Other Papers
1
) .
It means responding to the
"allure" of the "thorough malcontents," if, that is, any can be
found. It means "irritation at things as they are, disgust at the con–
tinual frustrations and aridities of American life, deep dissatisfaction
with self and with the groups that give themselves forth as hopeful."
Let me read a little more from this fine essay. Bourne says, "they
are quite through"- the malcontents-"with the professional critic'S
and classicists who have let cultural values die through their own
ineptitude. Yet these malcontents have no intention of being cultural
vandals, only to slay. They are not barbarians, but seek the vital
and sincere everywhere.... They will be harsh and often bad-tem–
pered, and they will feel that the break-up of things is no time for
mellowness. They will have a taste for spiritual adventure, and for
sinister imaginative excursions. It will not be Puritanism so much as
complacency that they will fight. A tang, a bitterness, an intellectual
fiber, a verve, they will look for in literature.... They are ... en–
tangled emotionally in the possibilities of American life. . . . They
will give offense to their elders who cannot see what all the concern
i~
about, and they will hurt the more middle-aged sense of adventure
upon which the better integrated minds of the younger generation
will have compromised. Optimism is often compensatory, and the
optimistic mood in American thought may mean that American life
is too terrible to face. A more skeptical, malicious, desperate, ironical
mood may actually be the sign of more vivid and more stirring life
fermenting in America today. It may be a sign of hope. That thirst
for more of the intellectual 'war and laughter' that we find Nietzsche
calling us to may bring us satisfactions that optimism-haunted
philosophies could never bring. Malcontentedness may be the begin–
ning of promise." Does this sort of thing appeal to you, Silverman?
- I can't really say that I know what he means. But I feel
the force of the words.
-Have you heard of Randolph Bourne?
-Yes, sir, he is mentioned in Dos Passos'
USA.
-You will know, then, that Bourne was "maladjusted." He was
1 The Harbor Press, $3.75.
