The "churl," the "hind," the
"peasant," the "first servant" and "second countryman," who were
the mere transitions of earlier stories now are central in
literature. They come with a challenge, and when we read
Galsworthy, Wells, Sinclair, Dreiser, Hardy's "The Dynasts,"
Bennett--we are conscious of criticizing life as we read. The pale
cast of thought has sicklied modern pages. The more serious works
of art are also literary criticism. Again, there is the mingling
of the peoples, greatest of course in America. Our aliens used to
be subservient to the national tradition. They went about becoming
rich Americans and regarded the Anglo-American culture as a
natural phenomenon, like the climate, to which after a while they
would accustom themselves. Their children were born in it. But now
it is different. The Jews particularly, who keep an Oriental
insistence upon logic even longer than a racial appearance, have
passed the acquisitive stage and begin to throw off numerous
intellectuals, as much at home in English as their fellow
Americans, but critical of the American emotions, and the American
way of thinking, as only a brain formed by different traditions
can be.
Pages:
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338