New-York tribune., 1922-12-31
FRIDAY. DECEMBER p.
MIA YzERskA. author Of Hung


tis,orv Of IDEAS which has now been on ~.
best selling lists FOR nearly yeas Ni,'
Yz,errta r. an extremely emoiioaai' ael'ei.
,crsitiye woman. with almost no mental ais
eiplinc or training and only menget euu'
e,tion. who has somehow managed IN tni
stories Of her. that ] have read 20 give nc
and viyidness and irtma % her pieiares Of
the Ghetto. While we were waiting for Dt'
pobipson she told me that only yesterday
pr. Robinson had told her something about
t,r.cif which was 20 save her many hear
fehes She asked ne " I was Interested "a
rsychoanaysis and ID knew anyth'hs
about the inferiority complex. 20 when
,splied that, while what the psyehoanaly'i'
call an lnferiority complex is responsibic
for great deal Of pain. % is also supposed
10 be responsible for nearly oil the great
slbievement. ~ in the world She said that as
r. child she was brought up amid the poverty
and squalor OF ths East Side. aud that hei
inferioritv complex at that time manifested
i,er in fear and envy Of the rich and
uowerfuI. and that since she had begun
tn write il manifested itself in Tear
ard envy Of literary people For years
/ lived an isolated life" she said ! HVea
entirely within myself, seeing no one form
ing no social contacts. Then ! realized
that that was bad for me, that ! was 100
much wrapped up In my ows dreams ana
ideas. and that / had 20 meet people and
know what they were thinking and saying and
doing. I wanted TO know literary people but
I found them SO hard to approach was AFRAID
ef them and what they would say about my
work. They all seemed 81 know so much
more than / do. Then, when my new book
was finished went around 70 ail the critics
and tried 10 tell them what had aimed at
In ms novel. to make them understand me
aiG not dismiss ny book as hysterieal and
overemotioniL These people in the Ghetto
arc high-strung. inarticu'ate. They are so
hungry for little bits Of sympathy. love and
beauty; they are like children; what seems
hystercal or overcmotonal 20 Anglo-Saxons
in them is a natural state, because they feel
so deeply and are not educated enough 20
friiculato their emotions. tried 20 explain
this: but just what feared would happen
did happen. Reviewers said was ncohercnt
and hystcrical. / was nearly driven out Of
my head b. what they said about my book.
And then Dr. Robinson who is 90 kind and
wise, told me that the tronublc with me was
that / had an inferiority complex and that
the reviewers had inferiority eomplexes, too,
but Of a different order They are like little
children trying to be grown-ups. he said, and
to keep their jobs they have TO appear to be
all-knowing and all-wisc. while I am afraid
and taken in by their superior air.
"He told me not to worry about what they
said not to pay any attention to them, but
TO keep confidence in. myself and 20 ahead
and do my best. be myself That is a great
load OF my mind"
Dr. Robinson. ti,ed-looking, gray-haired
little man. somewhere in the sixties. should
say, with the humorous twinkle OF a skeptc
in his eye. came in after n while and sat
down, saying nothing until something came
up about education, particularly about grad
Gate institutions. He was unequivoeal In
his structures upon a college education, say
ing that under our educational systems the
four or six or eight years m college are
ordinarily only so much waste OF valuable
time that in any group OF college graduates
there is nothing TO distinguish them, intel
lectually, from men who have not been 20
school. that most graduate students are men
who have been unable 20 come 90 terms with
life and are deferring contact with II under
the supposition that by reading and study
they will find some magic formula which will
enable them to get on. The reason college
students seldom learn anything is that the
subjects are taught by men who are not AZ
all interested in the subjects they are teach.
ing. "A professor viii be giving O course Of
lectures on the French Revolution" he said.