The New York herald., 1922-06-11

rary Italian interest made available
in English at the moment of their
greatest actuality in Italy.
Will the American reading public
respond to this unusual opportunity?
Probably not: for only a peculiar set
of circumstances has diverted the
weight of Italian public attention
from bellies lettres proper to the
mastication of such forbidding sub
jects as the theory Of education and
the theory of consciousness.
Italian Indifference Toward Light
Literature.
To be sure, after the premiere of
a recent play by Pirandello mob of
six hundred persons. with boots and
cheers about equally divided. pursued
the author through the streets of
Rome: while. at Milan. at the pre-
miere of Pirandello's Henry w."
two disputants came to blows over
the merits of the comedy and the
following day settled their argument
with rapiers on the field of honor"
But such episodes are the exception
rather than the rule. II in days
gone by poem by Garducci, novel
by Fogazzaro, a play by D'Annunzio,
constituted a public event, preceded
by animated speculation and followed
by bitter polemics. Italians are now
inclined to view the current output
of novels and dramas with the Sc
name a dozen of the books harassed
reviewers would like to call impor-
.tant. and find plenty OF we'll informed
Italians who have no first hand
knowledge of them
This situation. a realization OF
which is fundamental to any sound
evaluation of current Italian litera
ture. is corollary to one of the con-
sequences of the war-that curious
shattering of established ideals and
beliefs which has thrown Italian
thinking into a state of fiux best
described as one of disorientation
and bewilderment The events OF
the last seven years, riding rough
shOd over empires and theories OF
empire and over societies and sys-
TENS OF social organization. have
proved that many so-called truths
oil nj hnf
axioms can be safely questioned. All
canOns OF taste. of ethics. OF politics.
the very premises of the social order.
are on the defensive when they are
not on the counter offensive; with
the result that in contemporary Ital-
ian life manifestations OF will (F'as-
cismo. Communism. militant Cathol-
icism) are more characteristic than
manifestations OF intellect: while
thought SOCIOLOGY. political theory.
philosophy. pedagogy is in turn
more assertive than art.
The Termination" of Letters.
The effects OF this state OF affairs
upon Italian letters have been nu-
0erous and curious. For one thing.
the writer's who were filing out into
their maturer eminence in 1914 have
been left behind By the march Of
events. Bracco, Beltramelli. Di Gia-
como. Pastonchi. Deledda. Serao.
zuecoli. Praga. seem now like peo-
pie or another age. For a second
thing. literature has been 'feminized"
and commercialized. The austere and
exacting contemplation Of beauty.
which was so conspicuous a trait in
Italian society before the war. has
been rudely disturbed Writers seem
to feel that the best ear of the ma
tion is not for them. Quantity and
not quality has become the watch
word. accordingly, and the most re-
munerative market is sought in that
portion of the population furthest
removed from the political and So
cial tUrmoii-among the women of
the petty bourgeoisie and OF the edu-
Gated peasantry. One could mentla.l