New-York tribune., 1922-07-30

lew Mask" which he wrote in col
laboration with J. P. McAvoy and Her
mann Rcsse. "Gargoyles" will be pub
lished on September Is, by Bcni &
Liveright. Ben describes It as being
radically different in manner and treat
ment from Erik Dcrn." 1t Is to con
tain meme of the epithetical and phra-
sal pyrotechnics of the former novel;
but is written in simple, unadorned
style. On the other hand, 1t will, &C
c0rding to Ben, make Erik Dorm look
like the hystericai stutterings Of a
police reporter 'Gargoyle' is one of
the most viciously truthful books ever
written. | wanted to write a psyche
logical novel, because | have found
that only two writers, Joyce and Dos
toievsbi, really know anything about
what goes on in peoples minds, The
psychology Of the other psychological
novels is set of false rules hack
writer's have learned declaring that in
given circumstance a character Will
act in q certain way. And what they un-
derEtand that the character viii do is
preposterously unreal. The result is
that, outside Dostoievski and Joyce, no
one has as yet presented US with
novel revealing true psychological in
sight. In 'Gsrgoyles' | have taken
every known Formulation of human
emotional relationships and revealed
il in it's sharpest barest outlines. Be
fore starting the novel, ] found my
self Handicapped by a complete lack
of knowledge of what the textbooks
have said on the subject of psychology
After reading some of them. I dis
covered that it was just as we'll that
I hadn't read them l decided to make
Up my psychology as l went along.
'Gargoyles' is an X-ray study Of what
goes on in the minds of the foolish
little half dead, the boobs and pa
raiders, lodge-men and cannon fodder.
In this book have worked out all the
venom / have stored up against the
human race for years. am greatly
relieved. My next book will be quite
different"
Hecht, Rosse and McEvoy came out
10 the house tonight, and we were
joined later by Fania Marinoff, Marian
splitter, Carl Van Vechten, T. r. Smith,
Edmund Wilson jr and Otto Liyeright.
Hecht was quiet for the first time
ever saw him during an acquaintance
ship lasting five years. He is usually
talking energetically, grimacing, gestic-
ulating and acting out his ideas as
we'll as enunciating them. But he was
fatigued by seeing managers and pub
fishers, hackers and actors. In this
banalities about characteristics of
New Workers. I have never heard him
talk so badly. Last night, for instance,
he was telling me in a restaurant
about a new book he is writing on
Cesare Borgia, and he was, as usual,
entertaining and clever. He said he
had read all the books obtainable in
English on the Borgias and the Re-
naissance and that Cesare excited his
highest admiration. "For the first
time in history he said, "a man stood
up and disregarded every platitude of
ethics the human race has accumulated
for itself. He functioned freely in
dividually, as a complete animal man
with all his pristine instincts. Taboos,
codes, concepts of honor, decency and
propriety he paid no attention to what
ever. He was magnificent. He would
make great play, The Roman en-
perors, Nero Commodus and the rest
we're towards and weaklings, mummers
and play-actors beside Cesare."
Rose, who two years ago was COM
missioned to do the murals for the
municipal building at The Hague, and
cago Grand Opera company, got into
q wrangle with Ben over the drawings
of Georg Grosz, the German line
artist who has simpitied technique
in satirical line drawing until it is
very much like the blackboard pictures
by children. Hecht had said that
Grosz was master of form and Rosse
had said Grosz knew nothing about
form whatever, but was the master of
arguing about form, which is always
much noise to no purpose . e.
Hecht told of having received letter
from Alexander Kaun in Berlin, where
in it was evident that Grosz had been
kidding Kaur. Kaun had written that
Grosz had gone off badly; he has
turned Socialist and revolutonist."
Then Kaun related seriously that
Grosz had told him that "the common
people will become civilized in i've
thousand years and it behooves all
artists and men of intelligence to work
toward that millennium"
JULY 81
John Macy came in this morning to
- tell me about the new book he is writ
ing, which will be z complete history of
literature. His outline is magnificent
- 1t touches upon every important con.
tribution to world lierature from
Homer and the Bible to modern times
can imagine no better man in Amer.
lea for this job than Macy. We went
TO lunch with Hecht and were later
Joined by 7. r. Smith, Horace Live
right, Marian Splitter and Charles G
Macarthur. Hecht had sold his play
meanwhile. which is a Kaleidoscope
extravaganza with forty-sx scenes
( none lasting more than three minutes
{ 1t is to be Da-Daistic and satirical
farcical and comical-a modern adap-
tation Of the old art of the music halls
OF the UeberbrettP movement in Munich
4 Berlin and Vienna. We fell into dis
cussion of censorship, which lasted
& until Hecht left to catch his train
3 back to Chicago.
At the restaurant saw Robert
Z Bcnchley. just returned from his walk
ing trip in England. He was plump.
faced and sunburned; but his grin
is the same as ever. John
Peter Toohey told ME that Brock Penn.
& berton had bought the play he wrote
( IN collaboration with Thomas Beer
Z called In Freedoms Name" satire
on the feminists. Ran into
Charley Towne on the street and he
E told me he had new job with a syn.
4 dicate that is going to get out a new
& book in the fall. Tonight
read Thomas Hardys new volume oi
poems, Late Lyrics and Earlier ana
| marvcled at the pure, bitter-sweet
strains of lyric loveliness this great
man IS capable of, so many decades
/ past the glow of youth. This volume
aGIe Sf ron et 10 ba