GORKY AND HISTORY
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to paralyze oneself by "role playing" in it or to ignore it. Once Gorky
shook off the error of asking "What next?" he had, according to
Goodman, no longer anything to do with history and became "an
artist of any age." The fact is, however, that Gorky's later paintings
were both far more expressive of their time than the earlier ones and
far richer in historical content-this content was described in detail
in
my analysis of his painting,
The Diary of a Seducer,
but Goodman,
overlooking "the crazy details," read this analysis as a demonstration
of "classical art theory." Being mesmerized by the idea of solving the
historical riddle had actually kept Gorky "out of history," as it did to
a large extent the American Marxists. Once he renounced this effort,
he was able to recognize that he already was in history and to act as
one who belonged there. Andre Breton communicated this sense of
proprietorship of history very powerfully, and its effect on Gorky's
confidence was incalculable. By ceasing to push for the next step,
Gorky arrived at it, the irony being that had he not pushed so hard
the door would not have opened when he stepped back.
Goodman is, of course, aware of these processes, but only when
they take place in his own laboratory. It horrifies
him
to think of history
sitting on someone's back and frustrating his solutions. It offends him
almost as much to think of history shoving someone
toward
solutions. It
is not only that Goodman is opposed to willed roles, he wishes to deny
also imposed roles, the world of tragic struggle and irony. He wishes
to deny as unreal any power not emanating from within the individual
and which cannot
be
controlled by inner movements-you relax and
things relax. This assumption of total freedom is not only Utopian, it
leads a daring soul to primitive magic. Inside yourself (on good days,
that is) "solutions" occur that way. And "humane discourse" ought to
have a good dose in it of the consoling belief that things so happen too
in the world.
But Utopianism and magic won't do as a means for understanding
the lives of others.
They
live in situations made up of details, including
the nutty ones. They-darnrnit-live in determinism;
they
have to fight
it
out with imposed limitations; for
them
the Chinese Emperor's Easy
Way is not a sure formula.
They
are in history; if not their whole
("real") selves, then their actions, including the actions of painting
pictures or composing book reviews. For all his classical wishes, Good–
man's own good work is not achieved outside
"that"
history.
Harold Rosenberg
