B-22 ELIOT HOUSE

CAMBRIDGE

MASSACHUSETTS

11 ii 38

Mr Robert Penn Warren
'The Southern Review'
Louisiana State University
University, Louisiana

Dear Mr Warren:

My second thoughts on 'The Twilight of
Marxist Criticism' combine with your doubts about early
publication to suggest that the piece is pretty ephemeral
for your purposes. Since you are kind enough to show a
further interest in my projects, I'm wondering if I
shouldn't start in all over again, and try to attack the
problem on a more general level.

What I have in mind is a pair of articles
on 'The Sociology of Criticism'. The first would be
historical, pointing to certain implicit relations between
esthetic canons and social values in the past, and tracing
the gradual recognition of these relations in explicitly
social theories of criticism (Taine, Parrington, the
Marxists). The second would be systematic, distinguishing
social from sociological criticism on the grounds that one
is interested in the effect of literature on society, the
other in the effect of society on literature; one ends by
applying external dogmas to art, the other merely investig-
ates external circumstances to see where art fits in. The
attempt of the whole would be to disembarrass the social
approach of its doctrinal implications and make it available
as a framework for a more flexible and objective critical
method.

If you think the notion has possibilities,
I should welcome the opportunity to develop it.

B-22 ELIOT HOUSE

CAMBRIDGE

MASSACHUSETTS

13 iv 38

Mr R. P. Warren
'The Southern Review'
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Dear Mr Warren:

Not yet having seen the spring number
of the 'Southern Review', nor having heard from you,
I take it for granted that you agree with me about the
unsuitability of my piece on Marxist criticism. Edmund
Wilson's new book, although it furnishes a beautiful
specimen of the confusions I glanced at, emphasizes
the need for a more serious and detailed treatment of
the subject. As for my alternative suggestion, I think
that had better remain in the realm of suggestions for
a while.

In the meanwhile, I am submitting a
story, the first translation--to my knowledge--of Jules
Laforgue's principal posthumous work. I know it has
intrinsic interest; I also know that there is a strong
antagonism between theshading of Laforgue's French and
the potentialities of the English language. Whether my
translation sounds like anything beyond an exercise, I
should be the last person to know. I should be grateful
for your opinion.