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ON LITERATURE TODAY by Van Wyck Brooks

ON LITERATURE TODAY

By

Publisher: Dutton

Contrasting the dominant mood in the history of literature -- will, courage, faith in humanity -- with the mood of the past two decades, -- desperate unhappiness, sterile despair, destructive spirit, war for social justice, realism viewed as leading to defeat and failure. Critics of today view the output resignedly, and demand technical novelty. He analyzes the causes in the world state since the first war, in the emergence of reactionary forces, powers of evil, world depression. He defines the reaction in the sphere of language as ""inverted prudery"", and excoriates the moderns as permanent adolescents, emotionally shallow. A slim book, packed with challenge to the present generation of writers.