Another way would be to call it an
essay upon insecurity, although the word essay is too dry to use
in a story which is fairly awash with alcohol. The war, the story
seems to say, sapped our security of property and comfort and
life. But insecurity is an insidious disease that spreads, like
bacteria, where strength is relaxed. It infects the lives of those
who have lost their certainties and become doubtful of their
wills. In this relaxed society of the 1920's, where nothing seemed
certain but the need of money and a drink, insecurity spread into
married life. Not even the well-mated were secure in the general
decline of use and wont. A home wrecked by vague desires running
wild--that is the theme of "Cytherea."
Or take a third view of this provocative book. The triangle we
have had tiresomely with us, but it is woman's love that is,
perversely, always the hero. Hergesheimer studies the man, studies
him not as will, or energy, or desire a-struggle with duty or
morality, but merely as sex. Man's sex in love, man's sex
dominated by Cytherea, is his theme. This is new, at least in
fiction, for there man is often swept away, but seldom dominated
by sex.
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