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Parnassus, v.1, issue 1, 1940s

Page 6

lay down. These three novels which comprise the trilogy deal with degeneration of the character of a young Irish Catholic of Chicago's teeming lowere middle classes. It is essentially a study of a certain strata of society seen through the eyes of one of its prize products, Studs Lonigan. Possessing a keen imagination and a desire to be important, Studs is force by his religion and general environment to maintain an existence of middle class narrowness.

Living in the hectic decade following the first world war, Studs admired and envied such successful citizens as #1 Capone and his ilk. In an effort to emulate these men he would assume a tough and domineering attitude towards his friends and it was only natural for him take keen delight in bullying the goddam "kikes" and "dinges". Leading a pitifully colorless and fruitless life (although he naturally considered it full and exciting) Studs kicked off at thirty when his heart threw in the towel after too many recurring bouts with gonnorhea and bathtub gin and gay ladies. Pitiless in its characterizations, brutally frank in presentation, it is not a book for those who believe that the American way of life is best and can't be improved upon. This book is one of the most biting criticisms of the present social make up of our country that has ever been written.

TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD by John Reed is "...the breathless story of the Russian Revolution, told by an eye witness, and officially approved by Lenin..." That's the blurb on the jacket of the Modern Library edition. It is every bit as breathless as they claim, and then some. John Reed was a graduate of Harvard and fairly well to do financially. A contributor of articles, poetry and short stories to the better American periodicals and writer of a highly idealized first hand account of Pancho Villa's revolution. He soon became interested in social problems after witnessing the remains of the tend colony of the stricking miners at Ludlow, Colorado where the wives and children of the strickers were machine gunned and burned in their tents by the militia. He contributed quite heavily to the radical press and became for a short time editor of the oldMASSES.

He went to Russia in the fall of 1917 as a correspondent of the radical press and had a unique opportunity to witness the inner workings of the most world shaking revolution in history. Having access to the headquarters of the Kerensky government and also those of Lenin, he was able to record sympathetically the ten climactic days of the Bolshivik revolution. Naturally biased, it is yet a remarkably calm and objective report of a major and far reaching social revolution. Now entombed within the walls of the Kremlin, John reed, if he had never written another*in his tragically brief life, deserves a major spot in literature for his one masterpiece. Whether one is a communist, a fellow traveller or a member of The Chamber of Commerce, this book is one that should be read by all. Its authenticity is unquestioned, and it is one of the very few truthful record of the revolution ever written by an American.

IN DUBIOUS BATTLE by John Steinbeck is rated by the French writer, Andro Gido, as perhaps the greatest novel Steinbeck ever wrote. Having read all of his novels I'm inclined to agree with Gido. This is a forerunner of the GRAPES OF WRATH and established Steinbeck as a great novelist some three years before his more popular novel was published. Laid in the same local as THE GRAPS, it is the story of 
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lay down. These three novels which comprise the trilogy deal with degeneration of the character of a young Irish Catholic of Chicago's teeming lowere middle classes. It is essentially a study of a certain strata of society seen through the eyes of one of its prize products, Studs Lonigan. Possessing a keen imagination and a desire to be important, Studs is force by his religion and general environment to maintain an existence of middle class narrowness. Living in the hectic decade following the first world war, Studs admired and envied such successful citizens as #1 Capone and his ilk. In an effort to emulate these men he would assume a tough and domineering attitude towards his friends and it was only natural for him take keen delight in bullying the goddam "kikes" and "dinges". Leading a pitifully colorless and fruitless life (although he naturally considered it full and exciting) Studs kicked off at thirty when his heart threw in the towel after too many recurring bouts with gonnorhea and bathtub gin and gay ladies. Pitiless in its characterizations, brutally frank in presentation, it is not a book for those who believe that the American way of life is best and can't be improved upon. This book is one of the most biting criticisms of the present social make up of our country that has ever been written. TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD by John Reed is "...the breathless story of the Russian Revolution, told by an eye witness, and officially approved by Lenin..." That's the blurb on the jacket of the Modern Library edition. It is every bit as breathless as they claim, and then some. John Reed was a graduate of Harvard and fairly well to do financially. A contributor of articles, poetry and short stories to the better American periodicals and writer of a highly idealized first hand account of Pancho Villa's revolution. He soon became interested in social problems after witnessing the remains of the tend colony of the stricking miners at Ludlow, Colorado where the wives and children of the strickers were machine gunned and burned in their tents by the militia. He contributed quite heavily to the radical press and became for a short time editor of the oldMASSES. He went to Russia in the fall of 1917 as a correspondent of the radical press and had a unique opportunity to witness the inner workings of the most world shaking revolution in history. Having access to the headquarters of the Kerensky government and also those of Lenin, he was able to record sympathetically the ten climactic days of the Bolshivik revolution. Naturally biased, it is yet a remarkably calm and objective report of a major and far reaching social revolution. Now entombed within the walls of the Kremlin, John reed, if he had never written another*in his tragically brief life, deserves a major spot in literature for his one masterpiece. Whether one is a communist, a fellow traveller or a member of The Chamber of Commerce, this book is one that should be read by all. Its authenticity is unquestioned, and it is one of the very few truthful record of the revolution ever written by an American. IN DUBIOUS BATTLE by John Steinbeck is rated by the French writer, Andro Gido, as perhaps the greatest novel Steinbeck ever wrote. Having read all of his novels I'm inclined to agree with Gido. This is a forerunner of the GRAPES OF WRATH and established Steinbeck as a great novelist some three years before his more popular novel was published. Laid in the same local as THE GRAPS, it is the story of (continued on page 8)