Evening star., 1944-10-01
The Neav Books
The World of Washington

Van Wyck Brooke literary history OF
America is to be taken with complete
literalness. The volume Is not Z study
OF Washington Irving; 1t Is 4 survey
Of the literary world OF Irving's time,
primarily In America, but also with
some reference to Europe. In many
Of the chapters, Irving Is not even
mentioned. Mr.. Brooks method has
been to divide the United States into
territorial sections, each Of which
had literary life, q the South, the
West, New England, New York,
Philadelphia, Charleston and 80 on,
and then to summon that life into
renewed being. In . brief prelim-
mary note, he says that the volume
Is the first in q series which he In
tends to do on the literary history
OF our nation, and that 1t should
lprecede "The Flowerine Of New Eng
land" It Is . mastery thing, des-
tined to move its readers to respect
and awe.
1t consists almost altogether OF q
yynthesis Of biographical facts, about
Irving's contemporaries. They are
not literary contemporaries alone,
however; Mr.. Brooks purpose has
evidently been to give q picture of
all the factors which bore on the
literary life Of the time, and 90, he
includes scientists, inventors, nat
uralists, artists and patrons Of the
arts, showing the inter-relation OF
their interests and accomplishments.
Without coming much into the book
himself, by virtue of an animated
style rather than by the introduc-
ton Of personal comment, he makes
his huge mass of solid information
unbrokenly interesting. even pic
turesque. As literary history of its
time, this book Is unsurpassed.
1t Is not, primarily, q work of
criticism. Because the title Of critic
Is commonly associated with Mr..
Brooks Name, 1t seems worth while
to mention this particularly. II
would be impossible, Of course, to
write volume Of literary history
without calling on the critical func-
ton: Mr.. Brooks does so to establish
the relative positions Of the individ-
uals whom he discusses, and is no
respecter Of tradition in his assign
ment Of merits and dement's. Writers
who are not mentioned in the most
respected texts, whose work, one srs-
poets, is unknown to some Of the
most respected critics, he presents as
the equals and superiors Of the more
enduring figures. But he does not
enter into detailed critical discus
sions. He has used his critical wis
dom to paint a huge, historical
panorama-the whole material of
his picture is criticism, but criti-
cism put to history's service.
To the reviewers mind, nothing
could be more wholesome than this
flood Of new light on and new life
into the subject of American literary
history, 80 long stereotyped, limited
and conventional.
Bureaucracy
By Lud,Dig BON Misses. (YaleJ
There have been q number of
books on bureaucracy lately, all
good. but this one seems to the re-
viewer the most significant by wide
margin. For it does not content
itself with depicting the waste and
imbecility of bureaucratic govern
ment In action, as have the Others.
Nor does it rest on the charge that
many Of the mushrooming bureaus
have questionable authority for their
existence. It treats bureaucracy, In
stead, as its author says, as q symp-
tom, and not as the disease itself
The disease has q much worse name:
Dr.. Won Misses calls 1t "totalitarian-
ism"
He is q German economist of un-
questionable soundness. He saw the
rise Of Naziism and feels that he
knows the signs. We are getting it
here. That Is his message. We. are
confronted by an oncoming totali-
tartan regime, and we do not recog-
nize 1t; We welcome it, instead, as q
savior OF Our democracy. It has
already sent Its tentacles deep into
our governmental system and, un-
less we inform ourselves as to the
alternative. we shall wake up when
it is too late.
His statement of the alternative
Is uncompromising. The opposite of
totalitarianism, he says, Is free en-
terprise. And, he further says, you
cannot mix the two. You cannot
have . third system which Is half
totalitarian and half free, totalitari-
anism being total. You cannot have
government Intervention In business.
or partial socialism, or any other of
the partial measures which are cur
rently talked about. And, he OBJ
serves, no one knows this better than
the totalitarians themselves, who
put these soothing notions forward
to disguise their eventual aim Of
total control. Their goal is complete
usurpation Of authority, and their
motivating emotion is hatred of sue
cess and initiative in free society.
Nothing could be clearer or more
logical than Dr.. Won Misses presen-
tation. His book is recommended,