Evening star., 1939-05-14
WEEK MAGAZINE
THE WOMAN WHO JoLTED AMERICA

the first place, there we're the always
present, all-importsnt children. And
in the second place, Mrs. Taylor is not
the kind of writer who sits down and
dashes things off She wrote it first in
longhand. she says, laboriously, page
after page. Then, going over it with
her husband, she pruned and pol
ished, threw away about half of the
laborious writing. Then she did the
final version on the typewriter. All in
all, it took her four months to turn out
a story that can be read in less than
half an hour.
When it was done - the Taylors
were still living on the West Coast
then, but came East shortly after
ward - she put it in an envelope and
shipped it off to the magazine with the
same doubtful hopes that countless
other tyros experience. The mere fact
that the story was accepted seemed to
her as great triumph as anyone
could ask What happened later still
strikes her as being not quite real.
THE story sort of lives a life all its
own" she told me. ut is something
quite separate from my ordinary life"
And flicker of complacent amuse-
ment came to her eyes when, as if to
emphasize her statement, bedlam
broke loose upstairs. with the newt
able loud climax of Mother, Come
here"
She has had innumerable requests
to make speeches to women's clubs
and literary societies. but has turned
them all down. "I'd be glad to do il"
she says. but | can't very we'll get
away. And besides. what would l say?
I'm no speechmaker She did make
one radio talk, on an authors hour.
but for that she could read from a
manuscript prepared in advance. The
idea of talking extemporaneously
leaves her cold.
She gets lot of letters, too, from
people who have read the story. Most
of them want to know if it actually
happened - which. OF course, it didn't.
What most puzzles her about the
public reaction to her story is the con-
troversy that still RACES as to whether
it is pro-Scmitic or anti-Semitic. Nazi
sympathizers Immediately condemned
ii as Jewish, anti-Nazi propaganda"
On the other hand. one eminent re-
viewer called it bitter. anti-Semitic
propaganda" and others have echoed
that charge. The first charge is based
on the fact that the story dramatizes
the ruthless intolerance OF the Nazi
regime; the second on the fact that the
leading character, Jewish art dealer.
becomes equally ruthless in his we'll
planned revenge upon his Nazi ex
partner.
Il don't see how anybody can say
that it is either Semitic or anti
Semitic" says its author. Both the
Jew and the German in it are fine
persons. and they are both destroyed.
The Jew gets his revenge, which is JUS
tilted, but in getting it he degrades his
character 1t just means that violence
and intolerance breed violence and
intolerance. whether the people con-
cerned are Jews or Gentiles. think
intolerance in this country would be
just as destructive to everything we
have built. certainly hope we never
drift to intolerance If there is any
propaganda at all in the story. that
is it,"
To that extent, then. Kressmann
Taylor is propaganda. She wants
America to remain the best place on
earth in which to bring up the children
of Kathrine and Elliott Taylor, and
that she can do to further
her end. she will do.
But right now she is putting more
thought into the matter of finding an
other farm on which they can grow up
than into ShaDipo the rOlitical World