New-York tribune., 1920-11-12
Bu
By
Heywood Broun


Of women. A pity, too, when ).
50 much to learn from them, ~ aa'
Speaking Of being susn;o;.
women, l am waiting for soma u
make some literary and psvc1o" "
lytic commentary on Somerse. yan.s ll''
who, in every book and play. in 80"
or ironic or lightly witty fazs;on *
his knife out for women The sa., -, .,
women is trait Of the younger cav.
tion, it seems to me; al least :,
more than half century old IN r..t'
poetry. and is just beginning IN a..
nate English and American prose S.
The Russians have had il long tin.
"And that brings US to Tol..ov 49,.
whose distrust Of women Gorky's r.s
nlscences seem to throw cons;ds...,
Light. In every book Tolstov w..
tacking women for their unfaisbfrI.
and defending them agains. ~. -
attack. Just as in every BOO. l..
reproaching God for perrnitt;n, s..4
in the universe and endeavoring -
rlain to himself that death was r;s1
and just. But he never quite cor,,.s-,
himself on either count, and had -
CT arguing against his doubts in h..
after book. The problem of wor,, sA ssA
the problem Of death. as Gor.v
were his eternal preoccupation !; se..
slant obsession. have Just bee, '.
reading his Var and Peace. and ,sa..
two gigantic question marks lift .b..
selves broodingly out of everv mo-.
Why must one die? and Whv NM.
women torture US?
yet the faithful women IN HE ho..
are always dull-as dull as Tb,.r
eray's Amelia. Tolstoy protests s~.".
and again tina. ordinary. old-fass;os.s
'peasantlike' domcstic.-v $ tsa As..
but when he draws a picture Of !, :.
at the end of War and Peace. hi, %.
conscious scorn and contempt co,.
out, and we feel that he desnises b,-
piness. It IS the wicked women. w..
bring unhappiness, that he loves
And he can really understand .b.,.
discontented women, because he to.
is temp-rame2tany incapable Of bs,
piress, particularly the ordinary d..
mestic kind. He must forever dessr
K for that most dangerous Of all rjv,,.
Of women-the ideal.
4 am, YOU VIII note. suggestjD,
that moon-caldshness has meapj,,
beyond what it may suggest on H.
cover Of a new book of fiction; and
since writer of fiction cannot fO-,.
his point home too obviously. he DE-.
pends upon the astute critic 70 Sc.
what he has hinted at. | expect 70.
TO note that this moon-calfshness
which finds its noblest exposition i,
the life and works Of the great To-
stoy, and It's most sensations. and brc.
tai setting forth n Somerset Vaughan,
The Moon and Sixpence. is char.
acteristic Of American youth 100. II
proof of which l call attention to y.
less than five sudden and unpreceder,.
Cd attempts to draw the moon-calt j,
his native lalr-I refer to Sherwoo.
Anderson's Poor White. Waldo Frank,
The Dark Mother, Fitzgeralds Th.;
Side of Paradise, Sinclair Lewis's Man
Street and my own novel not to spes.
Of such new English books as Ros
Macaulay's Potterism and such older
and more familiar ones as those 0.
H. G. Wells. who IS. Of course, the
literary parent Of all this brood O.
calves.
u hope to have raised question Ii
Jour mind, whether it is the question
What is society going to DO wi.
its moon-calves? or the still more
alarming question. What are the moon
calves going to do to society?
II respectfully suggest that, Il The
signs are not all wrong, The future Of
the world belongs to the moon-calgss
unless the cavemen car keep it SAFE
Tor democracy and other ,hings an
that is all going to be very amusing
to disinterested observers. if there a!'
any. Particularly since the women a'
the signs are rigat) are all going 70 Dc
on the side Of the moon-calyes agaai'
tho ca.;e1nenln