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Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW. LONDON WCl R 4EJ. ENGLAND 8003804 N a h C Y ,Az a r THE LITERARY WARS OF MIKE GOLD, A STUDY IN THE BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF MIKE GOLD'S LITERARY IDEAS, 1920-1941 The University of Oklahoma PHD. 1979 University Microfilms Internationsi300 X. Zeeb Rœd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WCLR4EJ. England THE DIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE [■HE LITERARY WARS OF MIKE GOLD, A STUDY IN THE BACKGROUND AND DEVELOP?ŒNT OF MIKE GOLD'S LITERARY IDEAS, 1920-1941 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By AZAR NAFICY Norman, Oklahoma 1979 THE LITERARY WARS OF MIKE GOLD, A STUDY IN THE BACKGROUND AÎ^D DE^TELOPMENT OF MIKE GOLD'S LITERARY IDEAS, 1920-1940 APPROVEDm BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................... v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 II. EABLY YEARS............................. 15 Blessed Are the Poor Turning the World Inside Out Continuing the War Towards New Definitions The Process of Acquiring a Mind Beginning to Build A Freshnan at Harvard The "Homeless" Blues The Flame III. "TOWARDS PROLETARIAN A R T " ............. 74 From Reform, to Revolution Sesames and Lilies "In the Name of Art" The Coming of Age of Radical Literature Towards Creation of a New Culture Love of Life For Whom Does One Write? "In the Name of Victims" "Why Write?" "Are Artists People?" Advancing the "Old Bard" "Send Us a Critic" The New Masses IV. "YEARS OF PROTEST".....................135 The "Afflicted" Liberals Utilizing the "Weapons of Criticism "Prophet of the Genteel Christ" Who Needs the Bourgeoisie? On the Question of Style Once More Fighting the Purists Jews Without Money In Search of the "Natural" iii Page First American Writers' Congress Second American Writers' Congress "Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism After the Flood V. CONCLUSION, A BRIEF SUMMARY ........ 223 Some Necessary Explanations Fighting for the Dreams BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................... 232 IV ACKÎÎOWLEDGEMENTS It would be impossible for me to acknowledge all those who had a share in the completion of this project. But I would like to thank a special few. Dr. David Gross has acted as much more than the director of my dissertation. His invaluable guidance, patient criticisms, and constant enthusiasm have deeply inspired me through most of my graduate years, and es­ pecially during the course of this project. The idea for the theme of the present study was first formed a few years ago out of a course with Dr. Victor Elconin. Since then Dr. Elconin has greatly helped me with a rare combination of patient criticism and kind en­ couragement. Professor Michael Brewster Folsom of M.I.T. gave me access to his collection of Gold's correspondence and unpublished manuscripts, along with various other helpful sources. Dr. Folsom, who was more than a friend and asso­ ciate to Gold and worked with him on his memoirs until Gold's death in 1967, also gave me access to his own un­ published writings and manuscripts, as well as the texts of his conversations with Gold. Most of all he helped and inspired me with his comments and criticism.s. My parents as always encouraged me with their anxious love and patient support. My husband, friend and V comrade Bijan gave me support and shared with me the best/ as well as the worst, moments during the course of this study. VI THE LITERARY WARS OF MIKE GOLD, A STUDY IN THE BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF MIKE GOLD'S LITERARY IDEAS, 1920-1940 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION If literature is important to history, it is not because it serves as a social document or a footnote to political or intellectual history, but primarily be­ cause it is a culmination, a genuine means of realizing the major issues of its time.^ This study is mainly an attempt to provide = critical appraisal of Mike Gold's literary ideas, tracing their devel­ opment from before the 1920's up to the early 1940's. Througr this I hope to examine and analyze those forces and ideas which influenced Gold and molded him into one of the foremost radical literary figures of his time. Gold's role in the creation and development of revolutionary literature in the twenties and the thirties was a vital and central one. Because of this he earned the anger of many and the praise of some who thought of him as the "father of proletarian literature." ^Frederick J. Hoffman, The Tvrenties; American Writ­ ing in the Post War Decade (New York: Viking Press, 1955), p . X . The radical literary noveip.ent which reached its height in the thirties was a noveip.ent in the literal sense of the word: "An organized effort to promote and attain an end." That end was the creation of a revolutionary literature for and by the proletariat. Gold devoted his whole life and career towards the achievement of such a goal. His personal life, literary career, and revolutionary politics are so in­ terrelated and interdependent that it is futile to study one in isolation from the others. Thus, an examination of his literary ideas inevitably involves a study of his background, as well as the radical literary movement he helped create and develop in the twenties and thirties. The proletarian literary movement was the most sig­ nificant radical movement in the history of American litera­ ture. Yet it has been for too long misrepresented by the established criticism in this country. Some of the most conscientious work on this literature has been done by those who at one time or another participated in the radical lit- 2 3 erary movement, like Max Eastman and Joseph Freeman. These works are invaluable, but they are not enough. Some serious if inadequate studies have been attempted on the history of 2 Max Eastman, Enjoyment of Living (New York: Harper, 1948), Love and Revolution, My Journey Through an Epoch (New York: Random House, 1964). ^Joseph Freeman, An American Testament: A Narrative of Rebels and Romantics (New York: Farrar Rinehart, 1936). 2 A radical literature or of certain aspects of it,' But although some studies have been attempted on proletarian literature, very little critical attention has been given to to the individual writers and critics instrumental in its creation and development. Too often these authors have been dismissed with condescending acknowledgements and tart re­ marks. % i l e no one, for example, would claim to have under­ stood the English Romantic movement without an understanding of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, some critics have claimed to understand and fairly appraise the proletarian literary movement without real analysis of writ­ ers like Gold, Freeman, or Kunitz. In the past few years we have witnessed a quiet but definite revival of interest in radical literature, especially that of the proletarians. This -renewed interest is not acci­ dental, but stems from the fact that there is still a need for this kind of literature. Proletarian classics such as Jack Conroy's The Disinherited (New York 1939), Yike Gold's Jews Without Money (New York 1930), and Henry Roth's Call it Sleep (New York 1934) have been reprinted. Similarly James Farrell's trilogy Studs Lonigan (New York 1935) is now being called a "classic" and advertised as the "book you were for­ bidden to read is now an N.B.C. novel for T.V." Several A 'Some notable examples of this are: Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left, Walter Rideout, Radical Literature in the United States, Leo Gurko, The Angry Decade, David Madden, ed., Proletarian Writers of the Thirties, and Warren French, ed., The Thirties : Fiction, Poetry, Drama. anthologies of radical literature in the twenties and the thirties have been published.^ These books and collections demonstrate that contrary to the claims of some critics the proletarians were not narrow and artless.