8/13/2019 Lawrence Lipton- Brother, The Laugh is Bitter (1942)

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F I C T I O NLipt o nBROTHER, THELAUGH 18 BITTER.By Lawrence Lipton. New York:Harper Brothers. 1942. 309pp.$2.50.

c o y D a l y .FAMILY HONEYMOON. By HomerCray. New York: Harper < Bros.1942. 313pp.$2.50.I

Reviewed by N. L. R O T H M A NM U S T c o nf e ss t h a t I have a l r eadyseen seve ra l r ev iews of this book,m o s t of t h e m tothe effect t ha titis very good, very s t rong, but th i s isno t the t i m e , no b i t t e r n e s s now, tooone - s ided , pe rhaps not in thebes toft a s t e . W i t h all of th i s I hea r t i ly d i s a g r e e . B i t t e r it is, asb i t t e r a h a r s h l a u g h ashas been u t t e red abou tt h e J e w s in a big ci ty .On ly one ques t ion hast o be asked abo u t t h i s :is it jus t i f i ab le? Is Lip -t o n m a k i n g c a p i t a l of aprovoca t ive and t e n d e rsub jec t , or is he say ings o m e t h i n g noton ly t ru eb u t p e r t i n e n t ? E a c h

reade r wi l l have to decide about Lipton 's s ince r i ty for himself; formy money he ' s one hund red per c e n t h o n e s t ,a nd his book is one oft hose ba rba r i c yawps tha t be long int h e A m e r i c a n t r a d i t i o n .B u t as to p e r t i n e n c e , I can see noroom ford i s a g r e e m e n t . If we ' re f ighting abou t any th ing at all it is abou tminor i t i e s , abou t man ' s inhuman i tyto man , abou t democracy , abou tther i g h t to l ive . Let ' s notp re tend , then ,t h a t t h e s e are t h i n g s one m u s timpress upon one ' s enemies , wh i l e at

home we 'd bes t not be too loud aboutt h e m . An t i - S e m i t i s m is an Am e r i c a nv i r u s asw e l l as a Eu r o p e a n o n e ,andi t s work ings , he re in p a r t i c u l a r u p o no n e M a x Le v i n s k y , m a k e a h a r dandu n p l e a s a n t t a l e . Le v i n s k y is nonob le m a n byany m eans , j u s ta sh rewd , am bi t ious, lus ty , k icking, and sc ra t ch ingc i ty -dwe l l e r , t ry ing to su rv ive andenjoy it too. But t h e r e is one ca rdin thedeck s t acked aga ins t h im,andeve rybody p lays it: in a p inchhe'sa despised a l ien. It boi ls down to alo t of me lod ra ma sex , de a th , su ic ide,o t h e r t h i n g s b u t youw i l l r e m e m b e ra ha r sh l igh t ca s t upon the who letu rbu len t s cene , Ch icago ju s t unde rthe su r face . Th i sissome th ing s t r a igh tf rom the shou lde r .

Reviewed by R A L P H C R O W L E YGA

A

LawrenceLipton

I observ e, s i r , sa id mym a n D o d -sley, as he waspo l i sh ing the b readkn i fe in p r e p a r a t i o n for a c o m m a n d oexe rc i se wi th theH o m e G u a r d , t h a ta coming book abou t cond i t ions inI t a l y isdesc r ibed as b ei n g w r i t t e n'bya hona fide sec re t agen t . ' Iso neto infer f rom this , sir,t h a t thea u t h o r isan OldS c h o ol S p y ? Th e Bookseller, London.10

GA IN H om er Croy (fhooses theM i d w e st for theb a c k g r o u n dofh is newnove la s imp le ya rna b o u t n a iv e , u n c o m p l i c a t e d f ol ks .W h e n a young i sh widow, ab ou t to remarry and fuss i ly so l i c i tous abou t he rfour chi ldren, informs her col lege profe s so r husband- to -be tha t the honeymoon is off un le s s thechi ldren go a long,her e luc tan t ly consen t s . M os tof thenove l is a col lect ion of asso r t ed misad v e n t u r es a r i s i n g f r o mthe unconven t iona l f ami ly journey. The chi ldrenfight and get lost , v ar i o u s m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g sa r i s e , and the newly -w e d s aredenied even a

f r a g m e n t of p r ivacyont h e i r e x t e n d e d h o n ey m o o n . F r u s t r a t e d ande x a s p e r a t e d as mishapsmul t ip ly , t hey a re abou tto sepa ra te , bu ta cloudb u r s t of good luck at the endwashesa w a y all m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s and difficul t ies .The s to ry is soth in andt e n u o u sasto be a lmo s t one -d im ens iona l . Thec h a r a c t e r s are shadowy f igu res of aqu ie t f a rce , who have on ly a so r tofcomic - s t r ip r ea l i ty . The re is p e r h a p st o o m u c h r e s t r a i n t int h e h u m o r (wewish at

t i m e s t h a t the novel is tw o u l d p u l l out th es t o p s ) ; in f a c t w h a theach ieves is good h umo r .B u t it is not qu i t e alls w e e t n e s s and l i g h t :A u n t Jo is the re wi thw r y and cyn ica l comm e n t s on h u m a n b e h a vior .It is a bits t a r t l i n gto f ind I lka Chase westof the w a t e r t o w e r . Ifthe s tory lacks bounceand vigor , it h a s H o m e rCroy 's sound, if n e g a t ive , v i r tues to sus ta ini t . The re is nosyn the t i c c l eve rness ,noa r c h n e s sinthe hum or , and the su r faced e t a i lisr igh t . M any reade r s wi l l we l c o m e a w a r m n o v el in which all thec h a r a c t e r s are t r e a t e d s y m p a t h e t i c a l ly . Even the s i r en is nev er s l inky,on ly gauche andstupid.I n F a m i l y H o n e y m o o n lie innocen t ly all them a t e r i a ls for a r i squefa rce by some caref ree disciple ofAvery Hopwood . Some reade r s wi l lbere l ieved to l e a r n t h a t it has a l r eadyb e e n d r a m a t i z e d by Owen Dav i s .

M aureenDaly

SEVENTEENTH SUMMER. By Maureen Daly. New York: Dodd Meadd Co.1942. 255pp. $2.50.Reviewed by R E B E C C A L O W R I ET I Sis thef i rs t p r i ze w inne roft he Dodd , M ead In te rc o l l eg ia t eL i t e r a r y F e l l o w s h i p . It's a u t h o r

is a sen io r at R osa ry Co l l ege in Ch i cago , and he r pho tog raph on thej a c k e t ind ica te s tha t herown seven tee n ths u m m e r has hadonly a fewsuccess ors . H e r b oo kisve ry appea l ing . T he reisnoeffort tor e c a p t u r e the emot ionsof youth, or to g ive the m the dewytouch of sen t im en t wi th w h ich evene lde r ly peop le in the i r t h i r t i e s l i ketoc a re s s t h ei r m e m o r i e s . The sevent e e n t h s u m m e r in a pe r fec t ly ch a rm ing l i t t le g ir l ' s l i fe wri tes i tse lf in herown words f rom the Jun e even ingw h e n An g l e M o r r o w a n d J a c k D u l u t hf irs t smiled at each o the r in Mc-Knigh t ' s d rug s to re , to the Au g u s tm o r n i n g w h e n she said 'Bye Jacka n d s t a r t e d a w a ytoschoo l . A f t e r tha tf irst evening Jack aske d A ngle to gosa i l ing ; and her mo the r sa id yes . Itw as fun,sa i l ing . AndJack , sme l l ingof ivory soap, to ld Ang le th ings abou thimself, and his fami ly : You know,al l my l i fe I 've wanted toknow abou tbeau t i fu l th ingstobec u l t u r e d . M a y be tha t sounds funny toyou .I haven ' ta n y b a c k g r o u n d or a n y t h i n g . Hew o r k e d in a b a k e r y and he p layedg u a r d on theH igh Schoo l bask e t ba l lt e a m . Th e r e w e r e m a n y m o r e d a t e s ,cokes, dancing tojuke box mus ic , p i c nics . T h e r e was an almos t d i sa s t rous Sunday

d i n n e r at the M o r r o w ' sw h e n J a c k had t roub lewi th the sa l ad bowl andA n g l e 's c o l l e g e s i s t e rL o r r a i n e t a l k e d a b o u tThe Br idgeofSan Lu i sR e y a n d W i l l i a m S a r o -y a n . . . andt h e r ewast h e b l a c k ti m e w h e nA n g l e w e n t out wi thTo n y , who was fa s tand who found he r r e s t ful.N o t all smoo th, th iss e v e n t e e n t h s u m m e r ,b u tit isreco rded th a tal imp id hones ty and s imp l i c i ty tha tmakes nove l s abou t ado le scence seempontif ical and p h o n y . An g l e M o r r o wand Jack Du lu th a re the young peop lefo r whom the wor ld shou ld be m a d ef reeand beau t i fu l .

The gif t of a large col lect ion ofbooks, per iodicals andm a n u s c r i p t sbya n d a b o u t F r a n k Ha r r i s is announcedby theN e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y .Thecol lect ion numbers between 1,500and1,600 items.TTieSaturdaj^RviaD

8/13/2019 Lawrence Lipton- Brother, The Laugh is Bitter (1942)

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HI STORY-IN-THE-MAKING

I n s i d e J a p a nGOODBYE JAPAN. By Joseph Newman. NewYork: L. B.Fischer. 1942.338 pv-$2.50.

Reviewed by M A R K G A Y N

WHY d i d J a p a n go towa r wi thB r i t a i n and t i i e U n i t e dS ta te s? Ti i e cu r ren t c ropofbooks on Jap an offers two e x p l a n a t i o n s : one, the N a z i s b r o w b e a t theJapanese in to a rmed ac t ion ; the o th e r, the J a p a n e s e are m a n i a c s ,whoh a v eaninhe ren t des i r efor aggression.Bo th exp lana t ions are u n f o r t u n a t e ,fo r the first is chi ldish, the seconddange rous ly mis l ead ing .The only except ion this seasonwasGeorge E. Ta y l o r ' s A m e r i c a in theNe w Pacif ic , which gave the pol i t ica land economica l mo t iva t ions in J a p a n ' sb e h a v i o r the im por ta n t p l ace theyprope r ly dese rved .Toth i s minor i tyofone add now the nameofJoseph N ewm a n , thefo rmer co r re sponden t in Ja

pan for theNewYork Herald Tribune,whose spa rk l ing andforceful Goodb y e J a p a n hasj u s t m a d e itsbow.N e w m a n d o e s notdeny the impor t a n c e of psychological fa ctors in themold ing of Japa n ' s pub l i c mindandpolic ies . Her igh t ly obse rves th a tthemys t i c ba lde rdash of J a p a n ' s m i s s ion , p reached for the pas t half ac e n t u r y by herfa r s igh ted , cannyemp i re bu i lde r s , hascomple te ly warp edt h e t h i n k i n g of theJ a p a n e s e m a n - i n -the - s t r ee t . Hi s chap te r on the doc t r ineof H a k k o I c h i u e i g h t c o m e r s oft he wor ld unde r one ( Japanese ) roof isa s t a r t l i n g r e v e l a t io n of the pointr eached bo th by the J a p a n e s e a m b i t ion andm e n t a l i t y .H a k k o I c h iu , h o w e v e r, isonly oneof the products of empire-bui lding, not itsc a u s e a n d N e w m a nmakes this point c learbeyond al l doubt . Themyst ic nonsense tooka f i rm gr ip on Japanonly af ter she begant o e x p a n d n o tbefore . The m u c h - i g nored economics laya t the basis of J a p an 's aggression,andBig Bus iness wasoneof the Unholy Trini tyw h i c h i n s p i r e d andpaid forthe n ew conques t s . I ts p a r t n e rw as theA rmy , wh ichsough t to reta in pol i t ica l inf luence by neww a rs . T h e i r m u t u a lpuppe t was the empe ro r , t h rough whomthe gene ra l s and big The Shadow Lengthens

b u s i n e s s m e n c o n t r o l l e d the masses .Unlileatsi tse lf s ince the same copying has taken

p lace in the case of modern Japa n .I t was only 100 years ago that Japanawoke f rom hersecond deep s leepofisola t ion, andbegan a feverish periodof copying of foreign w ays andm e t h ods. Th i s t ime in s t eadofadopt in g C hinese cul ture they lookedto theW es t .This type of false-bot tom ed civi lizat ion, according toTimper ley , accoun t sfo r Japan ' s ma lad jus tmen t amongthena t ions of thewor ld , andexplainsherconcomi tan t necess i tyofwa r r ing uponthem.J u s t howdiflferent is the Japanesecas t of though t f rom ours is shownc lea r ly th roughou t theent i re book.In

g r a m m a r s c h o o l we le a r n e d t h a t inJapan eve ry th ing work ed ' backwa rd .I t is not only books tha t read backw a r d but . . . eve ry th ing . Timper leysets each i tem in our occidental setof values in jux tapos i t ion wi th a lmos tdiametr ical ly opposed Japanese concept ions,i.e.We bel ieve in the r ight of individual expression, thes u p r e m a c yofthe individual wil l . Japanese bel ieveinsub juga t ion of individual wil l , b endingi ts d ic ta tes to those of an artificiallyMAY 30, 1942 11