The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1921-03-16
Jewish Types in Anne
rican Fiction
Continued from Page One. J

sweatshOp, and, of course, of the grad
ual rise Of the girl and her family to
higher levels. owing to their unremit-
ting efforts ana perseverance. The
story is well told and contains many an
interesting thought. There is also Il
complete absence of that adulation
which characterizes Mary Antin's
work. Rose Cohen, thru her heroine,
declares:
1T seems to me that when a man,
like my father. works all day long.
he ought to have beautiful home !;
he ought to have good food he ought
to get chance to appreciate beauh
full music. All day my father is max
ing coats. yet his own is so shabby.
and my mother. il you ever saw her
hands! Why should she know of
nothing but scrubbing and scrimping :?
Why should her children go without an
etlucation?"
'The Rise of David Levinsky" by
Abraham Cahan, mentioned in my pre-
Ceding article, is realistic novel in
the best sense of the world. David
Levinsky, a Talmudic student comes
to America from Russia and starting
at the bottom, attains wealth and af-
fluence, but finds himself still unhap-
by. And he is unhappy because his
riches do not give him that conscious
ness Of justificatio of life which is
of,,nI FAD, hi,
or ideals. Levinsky is a negative
type, the practical man in the former
Talmudical student prevails over the
idcalist-he follows the principle OF
business is business" to the very lin
it. and therein lies the secret of his
success us well as the cause of his
unhappiness. His better self always
strives for something higher and mob
Ter than his business aspirations, and
yet he is only too well experienced in
the ways of life, too familiar with the
memorable struggle for existence, to
allow himself to deviate from the
chosen path of practical achievement
Unhappy and disappointed he goes on
thru life, ana, probably will continue
TO his very death with his double per
sonality-''my past and my present do
not comport well. David, the poor lard
swinging over a Talmud volume ut the
Preachers SynagOg. seems to have
more in common with my inner idcnt-
ity than David Levinsky, the well
known cloak manufacturer" There
are many pathetic scenes in Cahan's
tuations-humOrous, because they
are,s so intrinsically and not superficial
ly, at the will of the author. All this
enhances the value of "1he Rise of
David Levinsky" and makes it a
classic in American literature. 1t is
TO be hoped that other American jew
ish writer's will follow Cahan's OK.
ample.
Daughter" is also Il story of the East
Side in which we learn of the trials
and triblllations of Sarah but which
is particularly concerned with her
for something higher than the life nf
the average East-SidG girl aud alter.
mates between stcnographer and set
tlemcnt worker. She has number of
wooers, among them John Maloncy. II
fat. physically repulsiye Irislimar
whose proposal Minnie naturally de-
clincs, Besides the many Jewish young
men is another Gentle to whom Min
ME aspires but who does not think
OF her seriously and, after many al,
unpleasant experience, she finally
marrics "kiiSc,' young man only
!; few years in the country. hut one
who is practical and has saved III,
few thousand dollars. There is on"
feature that stands out prominently
in Sarah and her Daughter" and that
is the rendering of all Yidtlish CONVEX
sation into good English. The novel is
interesting. but somewhat pale in its
description.
Benjamin Rosenblatt, whose short
story "Selig'' was pronounced by
O'Brien few years ago as the best
short story for the year, is not Il pro-
life writer. He has written only
about a dozen short stories printed III
such magazines as 1.-THE Bellman" and
1.-The Stafford Journal" but euell OF
his stories is u deeply thought out,
cd and executed in powerful strokes.