Lillian Hellman: Her Legend and her Legacy by Carl Rollyson (review)

454 Book Reviews early echoes in the works of Boncieault, Harrigan, Mackaye. Daly, and especially James A. Heme, among others in the nineteenth century. and Rice, GJaspell, Kaufman and Connelly, Kelly, Sherwood, Crothers, Odets, Hellman, and, of course, O'Neill, from the ftrst halfofthe twentieth century. While emphasizing the impact ofthe theories ofHowells and James, Murphy also examines the theoretical and critical perceptions of realism expounded by such writers as Heme, Brander Matthews, Hamlin Garland, Mark Twain, and Bret Harte. A major strength of Murphy's study is the ease with which she pulls together the complex strands of innovation in the development of American realism and the unassailable scholarship and critical edge with which she examines the highly individual uses made ofrealism by American dramatists. While she makes distinctions about the varying quality of the playwrights examined, Murphy has fundamentally succeeded in using her notion of American realism to connect overtly commercial playwrights with more experimental artists. Her last three chapters, "The Cutting Edge: Eugene O'Neill's Realism, 1913- 1933," "Place and Personality: Innovations in Realistic Setting and Character, 1916-1940," and "The Final Integration: Innovations in Realistic Thought and Structure, 1916-1940," are the strongest, at least in part because of the more significant quality and sophistication of the plays examined. Although she necessarily omits discussion of some playwrights, or glosses over some, she manages to survey a staggering collection of writers. American Realism and American Drama, 1880-1940 is well annotated with a solid, if not extensive, bibliography. There are production photographs, many previously unpublished, that are nicely reproduced, but, unfortunately, nothing before Sheldon's 1908 Salvation Nell. Although Murphy does not succeed in significantly altering our view of the quality of any given playwright, critic, or theory, she has vividly traced the development of American drama and theatrical history with an unswetving focus on realism, and has as well, and most importantly, placed American drama into the wider context of the American literary scene. JAMES FISHER, WABASH COLLEGE CARL ROLLYSON . Lillian Hellman: Her Legendand herLegacy. New York: St. Martin's Press 1988. pp. xxi, 613, illustrated. $24.95. This biography is by far the most authoritative book on Lillian Hellman to date. The length and variety ofits sources is overwhelming: interviews with at least ninety people who had known her, including at least two of her attorneys and some of her students at Harvard and elsewhere; student papers from her classes at Harvard, with her comments written on them; the diary of her ex-husband and lifelong friend Arthur Kober; her correspondence with many people, including,·but not limited to, correspondence now in Book Reviews 455 library archives; records of various historical societies: information and advice from other Hellman scholars; records from various newspapers, including, ofcourse, reviews of her plays, books, and films. And this list is almost surely not complete. The result is a book more than six hundred pages long, written, for the most part, with admirable objectivity. And being objective about Hellman is not easy, considering her political views, her incredibly numerous love affairs (including everything from some which were off and on for years, some which were simultaneous. some which were apparently one-night stands), her attitude toward the theater, and what tum out to be the limitations, hiatuses, and inaccuracies ofher memoirs and of her other statements about her life, both oral and written. But Rollyson does not hesitate to praise her when he thinks her right or to come very close to attacking her when he (usuallyjustifiably) thinks her wrong. (He caUs his book a "critical biography.") A major example is his treatment of her involvement with the House Un-American Activities Committee as she tells it in Scoundrel Time. in which she gives the incorrect impression that she was the only one to defy the Committee and get away with it. and that the Committee allowed no witnesses to answer questions about themselves only and not about others, when the evidence to the contrary is unmistakable. Though I would disagree with Rollyson's calling The Searching Wind "a superb play" (p. 36), in general his treatment of HeUman's plays, of the details of her various drafts, and...