12 Friday, August 26, 1983
'1yr
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Agony and Achievement of Ludwig Lewisohn
By CHARLES MADISON
Palestine and report his
Moroccan Jewess on a mis- 1920s. Its impact was wide-
The cruel injustice done ical insight — a book of
(Editor's Note: Follow- findings in The Nation.
sion
to help Jews in distress. spread and positive, and its to Shylock by his bigoted
ing is Chapter Two of
clearly creative criticism,
Lewisohn approached his
a "record of essential ex-
Charles Madison's full- mission with the eagerness Having noticed his shudder, extraordinary popularity Christian adversaries have
pression of the spirit of
length biography of liter- of a Zionist convert, and she rejected his offer of mar- provided Lewisohn with a made this proud Jew eager
riage because it would have relatively large income to retaliate. When his man." Although he
ary critic and Zionist subsequently enlarged his kept
her away from her fel- from royalties.
opportunity comes, only to tended to favor the best
leader Ludwig Lewisohn. reports into a book entitled low Jews.
"Israel"
(1925).
In
his
dis-
In full control of his liter- be frustrated by a legal ar- of contemporary writing,
Ludwig Lewisohn's liter-
was much more
tifice, and the duke bids him his critical evaluation of
ary prominence gained him cussion of the presumed artistically successful in hisary powers, Lewisohn to be
merciful, he cries out:
older major writers was
between
many friends among the dichotomy
next novel. "The Island turned to nonfiction. After
"When
had they
ever ren-
Americanism
and
Judaism
leaders of American cul-
preparing a _book of essays, dered mercy?"
Having
lost sound and fair. His ap-
praisal of Emerson, for
ture. His popularity as a lec- he cautioned his Jewish
"Cities and Men" (1927), the trial, he is forced to instance, is typical:
turer increased, and he met readers against the folly of
which describes
places and
"The keyword that un-
many admirers wherever he this illusory dilemma.
persons
that interested
him undergo
abuse. apostasy and cruel
He expatiated on the
locks the mystery of this in-
and provided him with an
went, among them mostly
His Jewish friends help trepid, sagacious, first-rate
prevailing anti-Semitism
Jews.
opportunity to express his him to leave Venice for Is- mind, a mind that had no
At the urging of pub- over much of the world
current views of the life tanbul, where he dedicates commerce with deep,
lishers he prepared two vol- and concluded with a
around him, he began a con- himself to work for the weal primordial, tragic human
paean
to
peace
and
a
cry
umes of his collected writ-
tinuation of his autobiog- ofJews in distress. While on things, an almost abstract
ings, "The Drama and the for justice as preached by
raphy in "Mid-Channel:" a Greek ship to ransom
the
Prophets.
disemboweled mind, fine
Stage" and "The Creative
His reiteration early in
Jewish refugees he but thin, bloodless and so
Although he was well set-
Life." In the latter volume
the book of his youth and
encounters his daughter
he espoused the naturalistic tied in Paris and earned his
marital mis-step lacks the Jessica and her children unclouded, never somber,
modest
living
by
transla-
almost never troubled to its
character of current Ameri-
sharp impact of "Up
who were in flight from depth because it had not di-
can writing, and in his dis- tion and journalistic work,
Stream," but in the re-
Venice. He brings them to rect contact with the prob-
CHARLES MADISON
cussion of Croce's books he his mind continued to fester
mainder of the narrative
his home, where they live lems and conflicts — nine
with
anger
at
Mary
until
he
expounded his own. philos-
with him as Jews.
was moved to express his Within." It was serialized in he emerges as a seeker of
tenths of human life —
ophy of literary criticism.
transition under the title of the absolute both in life
animosity
in
his
next
novel,
which spring from human
Sober
and
dignified
in
Having established his
a
and
literature,
and
con-
"The Defeated" and pub-
con-
style, the narrative depicts passions, relations, long-
adherence to Judaism in "The Case of Mr. Crump." It lished in the United. States sequently skins his shins
Jewish
life in the 16th Cen- ings, triumphs, despairs."
"Up Stream," and deeply was written with a morbid-
the following February. again and again. Inciden-
At the time of its publica-
tury with sympathetic
conscious of his conversion, ity that etched in acid his With the fallacy of assimila- tally, a telling aspect of
reality. Shylock is por- tion and long after "Expres-
he began to warn his fellow devastating delineation of a tion as his main theme, he his tendency to gloss over
Jews of the danger and futil- shrewish woman.
trayed as impetuous, proud, sion in America" was widely
r
reality,
in view of his
Freed of his earlier inhib- did not let it warp the emerging
a
deeply dedicated Jew, and admired as a major critical
ity of assimilation. Equally
felicitious fiction of the nar-
attitude
one
feels spiritually moved achievement, a work of
strong was his resentment itions, now the master of his rative.
toward Thelma, is his in-
fresh insight and catholicity
by having known him.
and antipathy toward Mary literary medium, he wrote
dulgence in make-
The
dominant
character
for refusing to release him with an artistic effective- is a finely developed Jewish believe.
Primarily a man of letters of taste rendered in distin-
from their legal bond. He ness of unsavory but com- doctor, the great-grandson
with commendable literary guished English prose.
By the late 1920s, keenly and critical gifts, Lewisohn
At the urging of his pub-
articulated it in "Don Juan" pelling interest. Publishers
of a pious Lithuanian Jew. aware of her shortcomings
had for some years con- lisher Lewisohn prepared a
(1923), an autobiographical in the United States refused
Aware of his Jewishness but and his cooled ardor toward
templated writing a defini- companion volume, "Crea-
novel of unhappiness in it for fear of libel and the
wholly Americanized, he her, he nevertheless stated:
U.S.
Post
Office
declared
marriage and the man's il-
tive study of American lit- - tive America," an anthology
licit love for another — that the book unmailable,. But does not hesitate to marry a "Today, seven years after erature, but financial need of prose and poetry from
being a subconscious aspi- Edward W. Titus, an un- non-Jewish writer, with our first meeting, those kept him at projects of more Colonial times to 1930. Its
aim was to answer the ques-
conventional publisher in whom he is much in love. wings still hover over us,
immediate remuneration.
ration soon to be realized.
What begins to trouble
tion, "What has been and
In 1924, Lewisohn Paris, brought out a limited him is her refusal to asso- that fire burns with undi-
In 1927 Harper's ar-
minished flame."
what are the dominant
made a drastic change in edition of 500 copies.
ranged to advance him $100
strains in American
Critics on both sides of the ciate with his parents and
The
book
was
not
only
his way of life. Shortly be-
Jewish friends He in time
thought and art and aspira-
fore, Thelma Spear, a girl Atlantic praised it as a work comes to realize that written feli c c itously but pre- monthly to write the book.
tion?" His answer was "a
sents a highly accurate por- Delving into the Puritan
of 20 from Vermont, had of distinguished fiction. "Jews like himself who
book that Americans may
trayal of his own personal- writings, he "loathed"
come to The Nation with Translations soon appeared denied any tradition or
contemplate not without
ity. Favorably reviewed and some of the religious tracts.
some poems. Lewisohn, in a dozen countries.
character
of
their
own
Soon, however, he found pride and satisfaction." Carl
Never fully freed of his
selling
well,
it
soon
caused
struck more by her
were really frying to do a
Van Doren's estimate was
blooming youth and marital agony (he kept up thing that was inhuman."
him much aggravation. himself "being gradually
uplifted by the thought that
typical: "Mr. Lewisohn of-
his
support
of
Mary),
he
"beautiful skin" than by
Mary
sued
him
for
libel,
and
fered readers the most excit-
in his ensuing fic- Much as he continues to Harper's advised him that this work may be a contri-
her verse, invited her to tended
.
love his wife, he is sensi-
ing anthology of American
dinner and the theater. ton to stress repressive five enough to realize
the lesser of the optional bution toward American
civilization."
literature that has ever
sexual
conventionality
in
In time both yielded to
evils
was
a
settlement
out
of
that they were.essentially
Disinclined to write con-
been made."
court.
their mutual affection. a partially Jewish con- mismated.
ventional history, and feel-
(The final chapter of
When Mary discovered this tent. "Roman Summer"
For a while he balked at
Brooding over the matter,
Ludwig Lewisohn's biog-
liaison she threatened to depicts an intelligent he decides to accept an invi- having to yield to his "pur-
raphy by Charles Madi-
have Lewisohn arrested for American who had been tation to join a Jewish corn- suing
s
fury," but to avoid un-
son will appear in next
adultery. Eager to escape long attached to his mittee to investigate anti-
favorable
publicity
he
re-
week's Jewish News.)
from Mary, and finding mother, but in his early Semitism in Romania. His luctantly acquiesced in an
Thelma agreeable, the two 30s he rebelled against wife perceives the irreduci- agreement to pay Mary
* * *
her tyranny of love and
of them left for Europe.
ble differences between $2,500, to be shared equally
Charles
Madison, a
In this radical move he left for Rome in order to
them and decides to leave with Harper's, to increase
former Detroiter, began
was aided by his friend Kurt find himself uninflu- him. her monthly allowance, and
working at an early age
Blumenfeld, a German- enced by his conven-
The tendentious aspects to make certain changes in
peddling matches, but fol-
born Zionist. Through the tional
the text.
of the novel notwithstand-
lowing the death of his
latter's recommendation
There he met a girl who ing, it was a deeply felt and
father, he worked in an
During the 10 years
Chaim Weizmann engaged greatly attracted him, only masterly written story of re-
automobile factory to help
Lewisohn to visit Jewish to shudder involuntarily lations between intelligent Lewisohn lived abroad
support
his family.
he
had
to
provide
for
vir-
i
centers in Poland and when she told him she was a Jews and gentiles in the
Following the death of his '
tually two families. De-
mother, he entered Central
prived of his earnings as
High School and was
a lecturer, he had to de-
graduated in one year, hav-
pend on translations and
LUDWIG LEWISOHN
ing taken double the re-
on his writings — not al-
ways adequately. In and ing in tune with the critical quirements and receiving
around 1930 he com- evaluation by current enough credit for previous
pleted three novels. American writers, he reading and writing.
He entered the Univer-
Never lowering his high sought to produce "a por-
literary standard, his trait of the American spirit sity of Michigan, where he
themes were not always seen and delineated, as the won $100 in essay contests
popular. Sex and human spirit is best seen, in conducted by the Menorah
221 North Main St., Royal Oak, Michigan 48067'
Jewishness dominated and through the mood of Society. Elected to Phi Beta
literary articulateness, of Kappa honorary, Madison
"Stephen Alcott" and
541-8830
creative expression."
went to Harvard, where he
"The Golden Vase."
Influenced by Freud's earned an MA degree in
more felicitious work writings, he sought to un- comparative literature.
was "The Last Days of cover the hidden facets
He became a managing
Shylock." Lewisohn had which, yielding to per- editor for a New York pub-
now mastered a broad and sonal prejudice, tended lisher and published nine of
deep-felt knowledge of to deprecate Puritanic his own works. His current
Jewish history in Europe, so and conventional writ- works are the Lewisohn
that this imaginative nar- ing. The book as a whole, piece, which is serialized
rative has the impact of au-
however, is a work of here, and a yet to be pub-
thenticity.
keen sensitivity and erit-
lished memoir of his youth.
DIAMOND
LINCOLN/MERCURY, INC.
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Where the Smart Money Buys"