THOMAS R. EDWARDS
exciting to see old things put to new purposes, it's about time they were,
and yet one wishes the purposes were even newer, the materials a little
less junky and apt to break. Those dying generations
do
die, literally,
like some of the Pranksters, or just figuratively, drifting back disheveled
f~om
the Territory to serve out their time in the old settlements. Read
another way, however, Wolfe's point gives aid and comfort to the oldsters
it mocks. For all his insistence on the Newness of what he sees, he leaves
us free to think it isn't really
that
new, not quite so scarey as it seems.
Wolfe remarks that there was some of the air of an Old Style college
weekend, or a summer camp, about the Pranksters and their doings, and
we can thus reflect that the alcohol scene of
our
youth (whenever that
was) was pretty wild and silly and violent and self-destructive and
pathetic too, though of course we dressed a little neater and had to
work harder for sex. Whether or not he believes it - who can say?–
Wolfe caters to this hopeful idea, and I'm afraid too many good people
secretly entertain it. We won't learn much from the Pranksters, or any
of Wolfe's lesser creatures, if we think they're only differently costumed
versions of the kids down at the old Tappa Keg House; and if that
is
really all they are, it's a great pity.
Thomas R. Edwards
Broadway and 88th Street
TR 4-9189
