Impressionists, Satirists, Radicals and Romantics: Investigating the Eccentric Response

Impressioni~ts, Satirists, Radicals and Romantics: Investigating the Eccentric Response Hilbert H. Campbell and Charles E. Modlin, eds. SherwoodAnderson: Centennial Studies. Troy, N.Y.: Wh1tston PublishingCo., 1976.275pp. Elizabeth Evans. Ring Lardner. NewYork: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1979.150pp. James Nagel.Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism. Terence J. Matheson University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980.190pp. RobertC. Rosen.John Dos Passos: Politicsand the Writer. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.191pp. If asked to consider possible ways in which Stephen Crane, Sherwood Anderson, John Dos Passos and Ring Lardner, of all people, could be thought of together, one might remember that Dos Passos and Anderson werefriends who at one time shared an interest in left-wing politics. It might alsobe recalled that three of the four-Anderson, Dos Passos and Lardnersharethe dubious distinction of having enjoyed initial periods of considerable popularity followed by a lengthy decline in public interest, while Crane's reputation has continued to grow with the passage of time. Beyond that, they wouldseem to have little in common. There is a sense in which the four can be mentioned in the same breath, however, for in spite of their obvious differences,all were literary pioneers, of sorts. As such, each writer at some pointin his career tended to be praised or condemned for what was seen as an eccentric, if not perverse, approach to subjects themselves considered eithertoo volatile and controversial, or too trivial, for direct investigation. It maywellbe that for this reason, none of the four-with the possible exception of Crane-has received quite the critical treatment he deserves. This last factin particular leads one to welcome any new studies that might stimulate renewed interest in these writers, whose works have always tended to be eclipsedby other, more familiar names in American literature. A study of a popular humorist such as Ring Lardner can be of great value, especially if it sheds any light on the workings of the comic spirit. Humor Canadian Review of American Studies, Volume 14, Number 3, Fall 1983,321-31 322 Terence J. Matheson created out of events from everyday life may appear inconsequential, but the techniques employed are never simple. That which makes us laugh in literature is never as effortlessly created as is the laughter that ensues. Unfortunately, we learn little about the techniques of comedy, or of anything else for that matter, from Elizabeth Evans' Ring Lardner, an introductory work containing few if any insightful observations, and replete both with spelling and typographical errors-"chuby" for "chubby," "amersand" for··ampersand," "occurence" for "occurrence," "temperatmental," etc. Even the pagination is flawed; at times it verges on the chaotic. My copy runs to page 86, followed by pp. 95 to 101,back top. 87, from there top. 94, a jump directly to pp. 111-18,back top. 103,and so on. All the same, one would be glad to overlook this sloppiness if the contents themselves were otherwise impressive; lamentably, such is not the case. Lardner himself, from all accounts, was a complex and contradictory individual : a pathologically prudish man, offended by the slightest hint of sexual suggestiveness, he seems to have preferred the company of precisely those "common" men and their haunts where such suggestiveness would likely be encountered; an alcoholic, who, if his work is any indication, at the same time despised self-indulgence and excess; a man who purportedly worshiped his mother and his wife, but who "rarely shows a marital relationship that is happy, growing, and content" in his fiction (p. 51). Such contradictions are by no means unique in American literature, or even all that unusual. Indeed, they may well form a necessary part of a satirist's psychological makeup; certainly, they warrant study and investigation. But Evans seems content to present us with snippets from Lardner's life and work on the assumption that they speak for themselves, and makes little or no attempt to do anything with them. For example, we are told repeatedly that "Lardner's extreme and acknowledged prudishness [which] accounts for the near absence of sexual suggestions in his fiction" (p. 52)stemmed from his "late Edwardian upbringing" which taught him that sex "was not a subject...