League of Women Voters, or–
best of all-a Wednesday bridge
club. As
if
to compound her
incongruity, Mrs. Patimkin is
made to lecture Neil on the
I a psi n g Jewishness of the
younger generation. She herself
is Orthodox. This is a patent
absurdity: a woman of Mrs.
Patimkin's position would be
lukewarm-Reform, and not only
that, a rabid assimilationist. Mr.
Roth has a perfect right to
portray an eccentric; but to
imply that the eccentric is
typical is to take great liberties
with the truth.
These three examples will
give some notion of the general
trend of Roth's distortions.
Notice that in every case he
simplifies his material, making
the people he describes seem
weaker and more ridiculous
than they really are. The un–
fortunate truth is that Roth,
while adroitly spinning an al–
legory of the classes, has over–
looked genuine sources of drama
in the lives of the people he is
supposedly writing about. Al–
though his admirers claim that
he presents a fresh perspective
on the Jewish social climb, Roth
is terribly old-fashioned. His
concern with the European
theme of never-the-twain-shall–
meet is inappropriate to the real
problem of the children of the
r i sen Jewry: the typically
American problem of
freedom.
extraordinary minds of
20th-century France
E
X'SURREALlST,
Sanskrit scholar, poet,
philosopher, student of Gurdjieff
... Rene Daumal died in 1944 at the·
age of 36, leaving behind this remark–
able book.
MOUNT ANALOGUE
is the profound
("One of the most intriguing poetic
reveries of contemporary literature."–
Figaro)
and funny ("Gleams with a kind
of Jacques Tati humor."-).
B. Priestley)
tale of a strange group of pilgrims off on
a journey beyond reality.
MOlJNT
ANALOGlJE
By RENt DAUMAL
$3.00,
no"" aC
;your book.core
PANTHEON
