A PARTISAN REVIEW READER EDITED DY EDITH KURZWEIL& WILLIAM PHILLIPS CONTRIBUTORS HANNAH ARENDT WILLIAM BARRETT DANIEL BELL NORMAN BIRNBAUM VICTOR BROMBERT ALBERTCAMUS NICOLA CHIAROMONTE MORRIS DICKSTEIN RICHARD GILMAN NATHAN GLAZER IRVING HOWE ARTHUR KOESTLER DWIGHT MACDONALD CZESLAW MILOSZ BARBARA ROSE SUSAN SONTAG STEPHEN SPENDER PETER STEINFELS LEON TROTSKY JAMES Q.WILSON .WRITERS &POUTICS .WRITERS &POLITICS A PARTISAN REVIEW READER EDITED BYEDITH KURZWEIL&WILLIAM PHILLIPS Routledge & Kegan Paul Boston, London, Melbourne and Henley Thisselectionfirstpublishedinig8j & byRoutledge KeganPaulLtd gParkStreet,Boston,Mass.02108, USA, jgStoreStreet,London WCiEyDD, 2g6BeaconsfieldParade,MiddlePark, Melbourne,3206,Australia,and BroadwayHouse,NewtownRoad, Henley-on-Thames, OxonRGgiEN. Printedinthe UnitedStatesofAmerica ©Thisselectionandintroductionscopyright EdithKurzweilandWilliamPhillipsig8j © Selectionscopyright PartisanReviewigj8, ig4i,ig$2, ig§4, ig6o, ig66,ig6y,igy2, igj3, igy4, igj6, igj8, ig8o Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedin anyformwithoutpermissionfromthe publisher,exceptforthequotationofbrief passagesincriticism LibraryofCongress CataloginginPublicationData Mainentryundertitle: Writersandpolitics. 1.Politicsandliterature-Addresses,essays,lectures. I. Kurzweil,Edith. II.Phillips, William, igoyNov. 14-. III.Partisanreview (New York,N.Y.: igjy) PNji.WyjigSj 814'.54''080358 82-16533 ISBNo-ywo-g3i6-o 6 93 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments viii Notes on Contributors ix Introduction: Writers and Politics i Part I Literary and Political Theories 1 Introduction 15 1 Tradition and the Modern Age 1 Hannah Arendt Vol. 21, no. 1, ig$4 2 Artand Revolt 42 Albert Camus Vol. ig, no.3, ig$2 ^j£Art and Politics 56 f Leon Trotsky Vol.5, no.3, igj8 4 The Ideaofthe Avant-Garde 64 Richard Gilman Vol.jg, no.3, igjf2 5 The Intelligentsia 79 Arthur Koestler Vol. 11, no.3, ig44 6 Toward a Portraitofthe French Intellectual 93 Victor Brombert Vol. 2y, no.3, ig6o 7 Modernism and Capitalism 1 1 Daniel Bell Vol. 45, no. 2, igy8 Part II Political Emphases 133 Introduction 135 8 Readingfrom Leftto Right 38 1 Dwight Macdonald Vol. 8, no. 1, ig4i 9 Murti-Bing 48 1 Czeslaw Milosz Vol. 18, no.5, igji 1 2 vi / Contents 10 Radical Questions andthe American Intellectual 165 Irving Howe Vol.33, no. 2, 1966 1 Old and New Classes 192 Edith Kurzweil Vol. 47, no. 4, 1966 Part III Emphasis on Literature and Art 197 Introduction 199 12 The Intellectuals' Tradition 202 William Phillips Vol. 8, no. 6, 1941 13 Writers and Politics 21 Stephen Spender Vol.34, no.3, 1967 14 Protestin Art 235 Barbara Rose Vol. 40, no. 2, 1973 Part IV Writers' Political Documents 247 Introduction 249 15 Sartre versus Camus: A Political Quarrel 254 Nicola Chiaromonte Vol. 19, no. 6, 1952 16 Yugoslav Report 261 Susan Sontag Vol.33, no. 1, 1966 17 Cold War Blues: Notes on the Culture ofthe Fifties 269 Morris Dickstein Vol. 41, no. 1, 1974 18 While America Burns 293 William Barrett and William Phillips Vol. 43, no.3, 1976 19 Neoconservatism: Pro and Con 302 Nathan Glazer, Peter Steinfels,James Q. Wilson, and Norman Birnbaum Vol. 47, no. 4, 1980 Preface Politics and literature - they almost have become one word; and the common acceptance oftheir connection has been one ofthe cultural contributions ofPartisan Review. The essays in this volume reflect the politics and literary tendencies of Partisan Review since its beginnings. But they also represent, we feel, an important sector ofopinion in America and Europe - opinion that might be characterized as among the best nondoctrinaire, nonconformist and open-minded writing of the time. The selection is a joint effort: William Phillips, one of the founding editors, originally solicited many of the pieces for the magazine; Edith"Kurzweil read some ofthem for the first time, and was impressed by the fact that so much ofthe material is still alive. We had^wealth ofmaterial to choose from, but decided to take no more .tnan one article by any one person, to stay as close to our subject as possible, and to be representative ofwhat the magazine stands for- independence of thought, openness to new ideas, and quality. This is not to say that everything we publish is of equal value, but only that it is lively and serious. In retrospect, we must have succeeded, given that so many ofthe most respected figures of our time were first printed in Partisan Review. We hope that our readers will be stimulated, and that some of them might look to the magazine for other pieces ofsimilar interest and importance. E.K. W.P. June ig82 Acknowledgments Although all the selections in this volume first appeared in PartisanReview, the editors and publishers gratefully acknowledge as follows permission to reprint in this collection those whose copy- rights have in the meantime reverted to their authors: To Harcourt BraceJovanovich for "Tradition and the Modern Age" by Hannah Arendt; to Madame Albert Camus and the trans- lator, Joseph Frank, for "Art and Revolt" by Albert Camus; to Miriam Chiaromonte for "Sartre versus Camus" by Nicola Chiaro- monte; and to the Houghton Library, Harvard University, for permission to reprint Leon Trotsky's letter entitled "Art and Poli- tics." "The Intelligentsia" by Arthur Koestler is reprinted by permission ofthe Sterling Lord Agency, Inc., New York, copyright © 1944, and A. D. Peters & Co. Ltd., London. "The Pill of Murti-Bing" from The CaptiveMindbyCzeslawMilosz, translated by © Jane Zielonko, copyright 1953 by Czeslaw Milosz, is reprinted by^ permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, and Seeker & Warburg Ltd., London. The articles and pieces by Richard Gilman, Victor Brombert, Daniel Bell, Dwight Macdonald, Irving Howe, Stephen Spender, Barbara Rose, Susan Sontag, Morris Dickstein, William Barrett, Nathan Glazer, Peter Steinfels, James Q. Wilson, and Norman Birnbaum are reprinted here with the knowledge and authorization oftheir authors.