JAMES T. FARRELL
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a writer try to assimilate the change in culture, go with it, and try
to develop a theory of existence that takes into account the fact
that we now have a consumer culture? Or do you feel he should
try to develop a theory of existence that somehow stresses the
producer type of society?
Famll:
The question is too general; it depends on the type of writer.
Take Ring Lardner.
If
he wasn't a great writer, he was a good
substitute for one. Now,
all
of the working people in Ring Lardner's
stories work in connection with the leisure and amusement of
others. Because there is this consumer orientation, that does not
mean there can't be good writers. Henry James began with the
state we should all seek to reach, the state of awareness. Out of
what we have now, there is a possibility oflearning more, ofliving
with more quality, of living with much greater awareness.
Unfortunately, many of us don't live that way. Gorky has a
reminiscence of Chekhov that he closes with a sentence like this:
"Among us there passes the very sad and wise man who watches
the people of this time with a sad smile on his face. He says, 'You
live badly, my friends, you live badly. It is shameful to live like
that.' " That's a lovely passage, and it
does
describe Chekhov .
Much of the story is almost a protest against and a rejection of
banality. Today we have a flood of banality. You don't have to
accept all banality.
At no one time in history can we have a final answer. There
are so many possibilities out of the present-as well as so many
dangers. In 1956 I gave some lectures in Australia, and the
audience was surprised when I pointed out that there are as many
problems, although different, and possibly of equal seriousness in
the long run, when a country is prosperous as there are when a
country is in a depression. Man has reached the point where he's
coming face to face with his major problem: Can he be master of
his own destiny? We live in an interpreted world-Sidney Hook
made that remark.
Interviewer:
This is a question you tackle in your novels, isn't it?
Man's control of his own destiny. Often you are identified with
Studs Lonigan, who is something of a defeatist, but your more
typical hero is someone like Eddie Ryan or Danny O'Neill. Isn't
Danny fighting to gain control of his destiny?
Farrell:
That is intentional. I might say furthermore that Studs
Lonigan's problem is largely leisure. He doesn't know what to do
