ON NORMAN O. BROWN
287
our sense of what is important. Brown is not to be blamed for seem–
ing indifferent to napalm and hydrogen bombs and planned epidemics;
perhaps we
should
be indifferent to them, i.e., immune to their
sadistic appeal. It is worth recalling that a Herman Kahn speaks
"realistically" of such things yet remains their obedient slave. The
war machine is not likely to be stopped by those who are obliged to
think in the war machine's language. Brown at least sets up rival terms
of discourse and reminds us vividly of the unconscious life that is
stepped on and twisted but never quite killed by the aggressive tech–
nological mentality now reigning. He goes wrong where all primitivism
does, in making a static idol of the buried life, and so turning what
might have been a dynamic analysis into an ideological allegory.
Instead of abolishing history for the rest of us- indeed, instead of
making historical statements that are sufficiently complex to warrant
trust-Brown seems headed for the ironic fate of becoming himself
an episode in the history of lapsed religion. Meanwhile those who
are beginning where he began, disenchanted with the old political
categories and anxious to find a way out, must hope that the question
of a psychoanalytic understanding of history is not yet closed.
HPIIAEIR
of conspicuous literary interest
BRATSK STATION AND OTHER NEW POEMS
By YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO.
Introduclion by Rosh Ireland. "His
newest and lon']est opus" (Book Week) presents twenty-seven works, In–
cludin,] the comple't. "Bratsk Station," an epic cycl. published for the
first time in En']lish. Also included is "Th. City of Yes and the City of
No." a ,]reat favorite with U.S. audiences durin,] Yevtushenko's recent
tour.
$4.95
ANDRE MALRAUX: THE INDOCHINA ADVENTURE
By WALTER G. LANGLOIS.
In 1913, Andr. Malraux was accused of
stealin,] national art tr.asures from Angkor Wat in Indochina, then a
French colony seething with national ferment. This book undertakes "to
unravel the fascinati",] details of Andre Malraux's Indochina adventures
for the first time."-BERNARD B. FALL, in Book Week
$5.95
FREDERICK A. PRAEGER, Publishers
III FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10003
