The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-30
HeningVay's Neu
Book Reveals His
Path to SteriIity
BY GRANVILLE HICKS
WINNER TAKE NOTHING, BY En-
nest Hemingway. Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons, $500.

WINNER TAKE NOTHING, BY Err
nest Hemingway. Charles Serb
ner's Sons, $500.
To a considerable extent one can
judge particular authors attitude
towards life only by studying his de-
velopment through several books.
Certain of Hemingway's stories in
I'm Our Time" and Men without
Women" displayed not only an in
teresting technique, but also sharp
eyes and ears and valuable knowl-
edge Of the American people. 1t
seemed not impossible that he would
overcome his limitations and would
grow into a satisfying interpreter of
the contemporary scene. Even "T'he
Sun Also Rises" could be regarded
as an authentic and devastating rev.
elation of the sterility of the life Of
the postwar loafers; 1t was true that
Mr.. Hemingway shared many Of the
decisions and obsessions of his char
acters, but there was still the chance
Of his outgrowing them.
With the publication OF death in
the Afternoon" any such hopes
waned, and with the appearance OF
winner Take Nothing" they COM
pletely vanish. The stories in this
volume, like those in his other col
lections, divide into two groups. In
the first group we find the purely
objective stories, which, in the new
volume, deal with such topics as self
mutilation, homosexuality, and ven
ereal disease. They show that Hem
ingway not only has failed to broaden
his range, but has actually narrowed
it. They show, also, that even for
him, such events as he describes no
longer have the significance they
once had, and his treatment Of them
is commonplace and fat.
The second group of stories is
photographed. Mr.. Hemingway pre-
sents himself in the familiar guise
OF Nick Adams, and also under new
name, Mr.. Frazier. These autobio-
graphical stories almost seem material
for psychiatrist rather than liter
airy critic. There is, for example, "A
Way You'll Never Be-" a story that
succeeds only in making the reader
a little sorry for the author. There
is Fathers and Sons" which is meat
for the Freudians. And there is
Gambler, Nun and Radio" which
explicitly states and certainly demon
strateS Mr.. Hemingway's unwilling
ness to do any thinking. Even as
self-revelation, however, the stories
are dull, for Mr.. Hemingway has gone
over the list Of his symptoms many
times before.
Even the bourgeois critics have ad-
mitted that Winner Take Nothing"
is pretty bad book, and some Of
them have suggested that Hemingway
is slipping. Their explanation Of his
decline is, Of course, psychological,
and there is no doubt that COM
plete explanation would have to take
into account various individual ex-
perienceS. But is is also worth not
ing that Mr.. Hemingway Is q believer
in the existing order. He Is Catho-
lie and, at least passively, he accepts
capitalism. Yet in his books he does
not defend either Catholicism OF
capitalism, but rather creates little
world of his own with peculiar and
narrow code of action and thought
In this respect he is good deal like
Archibald MacLeish, to whom the
present volume is dedicated. Both OF
these men are torn by conflict be-
tween their literary aims and their
social prejudices. They suffer, In other
yxtprTs from ono NJ Tho yy,nSf eeriOYfs
diseases Of The contemporary bour-
geoisie. Mr.. MacLeisi1 Is even now
experimenting with an alleged cure
for all such diseases, much recon-
mended by certain eminent contin-
entail authorities, called fascism. If
Mr. Hemingway does not follow his
example, 1t will be becaues he is al
ready rnnrihlnd