Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-21
Tragedy of an Intellectual Je.u .
Displeased With America

| universities in which lie taught would
persist in believing in the 'dogmas Of q
| fifth rate conventicle" after taking q
course in philosophy; and he damns
the average American intellect because
II refuses to abandon religious faith
after the study Of theories inconsistent
with that faith. Indeed. he WIS as
founded that the teacher of geology In
Ohio State University was allowed to
hold his professorship after being Con
verted" by Billy Sunday. Lewisohn
attended the Methodist church in
Charleston and had been member Of
the Epworth League, but he began to
lose his religious faith in his senior
year in college and now he looks down
in contempt on any one who believes In
religion.
He has become an agnostic in re-
ligion and Socialist in economies and
politics. and is convinced that what be
| calls '!.fbc Puritanic cnpitalistic sys-
tenn Of America il, doomed by its in.
ternal rottenness. He believes in frcer
sexual relations. in birth control and
IN the abandonment of all anti-vice
crusades. When these things come to
pass there will be a finer America. AT
present life among us is ugly and
mean and. above all things, false in its
assumptions and measures
repeat iehat I SAID at tie begin.
hHg Mdt it is tragic that On ingenu-
Gus youh pih O hopeful outlook on
lpc should haze become at the age Of
foriV man tcho finds almost nothing
~ America that he can cal good save
ms ocn ideas.
EORTtNATELY there has Just ap.
peared along with Mr.. Lewisohn' 8
p stream. his new book Of criti-
ciSm on The Drama and the Stage"
'harcourt. Brace 4 Co... 1t is for
tunate because it affords an opportunity
10 appraise what Mr.. Lewisohn writes
whcn he is discussing something beside
himself. The volume is made I'D Of re :.
views Of books and plays reprinted from
tine Nation. But It Is more than this
description Of 1t would indicate. lie
mas based his comments on n wide
know edge OF dramatic literature and on
sound theory of what dramatic art
and literature should be. They there.
lore nave permanent value such as
rarely accrues to criticism written for
the press. He knows his subject and
ne writes about it brilliantly, laying
down fundamental principles while he
talks about this or that play or school
OF acting. Whie he is discourap ppd
about the state of the theatre in Amer.
lea, he yet has found some fine things
on the stage from "Liliom'' TO The
Bill OF Dvorcement. And a CHAPTER on
The Passing Show of 1921 lifts that
entertainment from mere appeal to
The tired business man into a repro.
duction of the beauty of form and move. =.
ment of classic times. Mr.. Lewisohn as
critic Of dramatic art deserves respect !.
ful attention.
ur. Len'sohH has proved II is more
dtmcuf for man to crite d book
about himself than about som ethino
"'fh 'oider appeal.
THAT +. Scott Fitzgerald has MANY
L admirers was proved bv the large
SAFE OF his first novel and by the brisl;
demand for his second. It is not sur
pr.sing. therefore. that some of them
resent it when his weaknesses are
pointed out. as tried to indicate some
OF them last Tuesday. BY the first
mail on Wednesday morning I received
the following Indignant letter from r
II. Nofn, Of 1923 Oxford street:
What did +. Scott FITZGERALD ever
| 90 10 you that calls for such a repr-
mand as you saw At to give him in
%our review Of March l4c
! am only one of the thousands OF
American people who have read and
are reading novels by the new and
ever increasing number OF new
authors.
II seems to me that YOU are unfair,
nreasonable and unjust in your criti-
c.sm Of his works
! As an author Mr.. Fitzserald is FAR
nore worth while than YOU are as
, critic and IL l am any Judge. will be
known and valued for his contr,bu-
tions TO literature long after you have
been resting in Laurel Hill. with your
criticisms long since forgotten.
Did you ever consider that what
may not apneal TO YOU. may appeal to
nillioh otn"rs, ihcnlClnE lhOee from
| Phi Beta Kappa 70 kaDpa Reta Phi?
Rome was net made in a daw.
! If this correspondent wished to say
something rea'lv important about thu
greatness of Fitzgerald he would moi
have attempted to draw n parallel be
tween a novel and newspaper criticism
There is no printed thing that die,
more quickly. than a newspaper artic!,
which is usually forgotten the day afte
| It appears. Now is he had written tha
Fitzgerald would be known and valued
long after Dickens had been forgotten
ne would have said something.
G. W. D.