HAROLD ROSENBERG
sent
showed how Soviet literature evolved a spurious classicism
hospitable to the stereotypes of Communist ideology, though
without succeeding in creating a fonn suited to that ideology.
American novels likewise consist of ingredients that are fonnally
pre-selected and pre-directed, if not pre-digested, and we, too,
need an analysis of the specific social images brought into being
by prevailing assumptions regarding literary art. American offi–
cialliterature (e.g., acceptable to book clubs, big-newspaper re–
viewers), though conjoined to no stated philosophy, has certain
fixed concepts regarding what a novel or drama
is-and
its
canons regarding scene, background, character development, etc.,
are sufficient to exclude both new kinds of data and unassimi–
lated attitudes.
As
Socialist Realist fables promulgate hallucina–
tions regarding the building of Socialism, American romances
further delusions concerning the content of individual freedom.
The large difference between Soviet and American literature is
that we have from time to time a literature that openly goes
against the forms that society accepts. Besides this, we have two
sets of accepted forms, the openly escapist and the pseudo–
serious, while the Russians have only fake seriousness in which
they must combine both what they mistake as reality and yield
to as dream.
We have spoken above of the traditionalism of escapist
literature. As for American pseudo-serious writing, its form
is
the Life History; one reads life histories of Van Gogh,
Jimmy
Hoffa, lawyers by love possessed, a car hop, a call girl-aren't
the personality story and the "profile" the chief invention of that
portion of American journalism that seeks to give itself literary
and intellectual airs? The composer of life histories, actual or
fictitious, goes against the classicism of the popular media,
in
which "action" predominates over "character," and
this
loosen–
ing of plot to let in evolution marks it as literature and not mere
entertainment.
To give the briefest sketch of the message of this form:
the
myth of America is that the individual exists; that anyone
is
