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PARTISAN REVIEW
exposed as a fa brica tio n , crea ting a n illusio n o f coh eren ce. Beca u se o f
its a ppa rent coh eren ce, writin g, " the dream ," repl aces rea lity. Three o f
the four p oem s in
Nonsense and Happiness
en d by po intin g precisely
towa rd thi s displ acem ent:
Or:
T he shop girls their behinds stuck out
in thin bl ouses
ran arms clasped across the street
Behind the frosted glass of a telephone booth
a mother slapped her child's face
How proud I was of writing!
" Life Without Poetry"
Self-coll ected at the typewriter
I mark your offi ciall y un confirmed INBETWEEN-TIME
Imperturbable my words stand here
for you
without me
"The End of Idling"
However, it is n o t simpl y the recogniti o n o f thi s decepti o n , n o r the
ghos tlike shifting o f th e di scursive " I" th a t is fund am enta l h ere, but
ra ther the em o tio n a l terro r, the sen se o f vacuity, whi ch the recognition
of thi s enta il s. Quo ting fragm ents from th e poem s does n o t do justice
to
their emo tio n a l power. Simpl e, delibera tely fl a t on its su rface, th e
language in these poem s mimics the vo ice o f reason ; in fact, the
appa rent di sinterestedness betrays a profo und h o rro r whi ch h as twisted
the em o ti on s into ca th exi s:
. .. the nonsense
fin all y becomes unendurable
-because suddenl y you beli eve you are exaggera ting
and feel in the wrong toward o th ers
and regard your sta te as just one of those states:
as if you behaved " like a schoo lboy,"
not to be taken seri ously.
So you don't ta ke yourself seri ously in company
but the nonsense is too rea l,
and therefore unbearabl e.
The face turn s ugly with nonsense,
So you sit somewhere
and let it become ni ght.
" Nonsense and Happ iness"
