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FALL
1959
The REBEL VOLUME 3
FALL, 1959 NUMBER 1
Published by the Student Government Association of East Carolina College. Created by
the Publications Board of East Carolina College as a literary magazine to be edited by
students and designed for the publications of student material.
Staff
BUSINESS MANAGER
Woody Davis
EDITOR
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EXCHANGE EDITOR
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ART EDITOR
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ADVERTISING MANAGER
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The REBEL
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business offices are located at 309T Austin Building.
REBEL REVIEW edited by Sandra Porter
Table of Centents
COVER, oThe ThinkerT, by Larry Blizzard
REBEL YELL .-
FEATURES
An Interview with Inglis Fletcher
ESSAYS
The World of Hemingway by James Bearden
_ 138
Satire of Organized Religion in some of the Writings i
of Sinclair Lewis by Claire Holt
La Cuisine Des Anges or My Three
Angels by Dr. Roy Prince
The Wood Cutter by Dr. Bruce Carter
FICTION
oConfidentially, Russ Warren� by Tom Carson
oHero� by Tom Jackson i
Silent Sentinel (frontice) by Rose Marie Gornto
Boats by Emily Neele ___ Bee oS:
The Brothers by Larry Blizzard
Jam Session by Rose Marie Gornto
Steeple by Emily Neele ___.
Number One by Nelson Dudley
Fear by Rose Marie Gornto
POETRY
The Masses by Kay McLawhon
Do Not Tap Your Tunes by Janice Brand
Beware The Treacherous Horizons
Song of the Bough by Janice Brand
The Light House Re
Reviews by Dr. Herbert R. Paschal, Bryan Harrison,
Virginia Evans, Hugh Agee, Dr. Hubert Coleman,
Sherre Maske.
22
28
26
should be directed to P. O. Box 1420, E. C. C. Editorial and
Manuscripts and artwork submitted by mail
should be accompanied by a self-addressed envelope and return postage. The publishers assume no
responsibility for the return of manuscripts or artwork.
FALL, 1959
co
The REBEL
AN
INTERVIEW WITH
INGLIS FLETCHER
One of North CarolinaTs most promi-
nent novelists, Mrs. Inglis Fletcher, was
generous in affording the Rebel a per-
sonal interview transcribed on the fol-
lowing pages. Mrs. FletcherTs home, Ban-
don which is seventeen miles from Eden-
ton, possesses the atmosphere of the old
southern plantation. Many of Mrs. Flet-
cherTs manuscripts are typed by her hus-
band, Mr. John Fletcher, who enjoys her
work very much. They are both interest-
ed in colonial history, and Bandon con-
tains many antiques of that period.
Highlighting the long list of Mrs.
1. What aroused your interest in North
Carolina history?
My grandfather. His name wag Jo-
seph Chapman from Tyrrell County.
Then he lived in Illinois. On his place
he had every tree and plant that grows
in N.C. The funny thing about this
was that some of these plants are
considered weeds here " beautiful
trumpet vine across the end of the
house"people came for miles to see
those; here we try to get rid of them.
Joseph Chapman came here in 1688.
He had a shipyard on the Alligator
River.
. Did you feel that North Carolina
history had been neglected in fic-
tion?
Yes, decidedly. My first book really
came about while looking in Satro
Library in San Francisco. The li-
brarian suggested that I write a novel
about this section because no one had
ever written one with the exception
of James Boyd, who wrote a juvenile
called Drums. North Carolinians
know their own history and they donTt
care if anyone else does or not.
3. Could you comment on the locations
of your major sources of information?
In North Carolina? in England?
A great many papers in the Chowan
County Courthouse and in Edenton
have helped me. Both contain quan-
tities of papers filled with informa-
~tion. Also, the Library of Congress
FALL, 1959
bo
FletcherTs historical novels are: Man of
Albemarle, RaleighTs Eden, Roanoke
Hundred, The Scotswoman, and Lusty
Wind for Carolina, which was a best-
seller. CormorantTs Brood, her latest nov-
el, is superbly reviewed in this issue of
the Rebel by Dr. Herbert R. Paschal. An-
other of Mrs. FletcherTs recent releases,
Pay, Pack, and Follow, also promises to
be widely read. Mrs. Fletcher is repre-
sented on the East Carolina campus by
two grandchildren, Carolista and Dav-
id Fletcher
and the University of North Carolina
Library. In England, my major source
is the British Museum. My first in-
formation came from the Huntington
Library in Pasedena, where there is
a great collection of early colonial
material. In connection with this ques-
tion perhaps I should tell you of my
new method of getting information
on the period. Each semester at the
University of North Carolina, Dr.
Hugh Lefler hag a class which covers
this general period. I find out when
he is teaching the particular part of
the period in which I am interested
and I go up and attend his class. This
takes about ten days. At the end of
this time, after I have ograduated,� I
address ~he graduate students of the
class.
4. Do you fee] that the North Carolina
background still remains an unde-
veloped area in so far as fiction goes?
I do, indeed. There could be hundreds
of books written even about colonial
history prior to the Revolution. I
donTt think it has been even touched.
5. What are some of your' favorite books
(fiction) on North Carolina life?
I donTt know so much about the fic-
tion in North Carolina. I know more
about the source material. You know,
they say that authors donTt read! I
think ithe most extremely interpreta-
tive books would be The Plantation
6. Do you feel that it helps a novelist
5
10.
to have others write about the same
area before him?
I think youTre better off if you come
first. ItTs better to have someone else
to keep up to you than for you to
by Mr. Ovid Pierce and William
PolkTs book on Southern Accent.
keep up to someone else I was influ-
enced by Sir Walter Scott. I still en-
joy reading Scott. He is the greatest
of all historical novelists. None of the
moderns can touch him. His historical
facts were not so accurate, but he
wrote a terrific story. Now itTs the
fashion to keep to the history and in
doing this you lose some of the story
which really carries the book. So, I
think it would help to follow some-
one. However, I donTt think it is good
to follow anyone too closely because
youTve got to have your own individ-
uality and your own methods.
. Do you feel that historical fiction
imposes an additional burden upon
the novelists?
ItTs much harder to write historical
novels because you have to be two
things"a writer of fiction and a his-
torian. The historical novelist is look-
ed down on by critics ag a sort of
maverick"one who doesnTt belong to
anyone.
. Do you feel that your novels offer a
pattern for historical fiction, that is,
in so far as they reflect varieties of
mood and behavior?
No, I donTt write to what is called a
pattern. I think that in order to get
a mood, you must tell other things
besides the action without being ob-
vious about it. For example, the scen-
ery, sounds and smell of a certain
locality. This wa'y you put your read-
ers in the background. The same thing
applies to characters. If you donTt see
your characters moving around, talk-
ing and acting, you might as well get
rid of ~them because no one else (the
reader) will see them.
. Do you do much re-writing?
Considerable. My trouble is that I
have too much material. I rewrote
RaleighTs Eden six times. I started
out with 1200 pages and it turned out
to be around 500.
Do you revise as you go or wait un-
til you have finished a manuscript?
No, I write it right through. YouTd
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
never get to the end of it the other
way.
Does revision ever change the theme
of a novel for you?
The theme igs never changed. The
theme of all my novels is the same"
the land and the freedom that comes
from ~the land. This is just brought
out in various ways.
Would you discuss your methods?
How much do you do a day?
I have an organized pattern of writ-
ing. I go to work everyday at 9 oT-
clock and work until 4 oTclock. No one
comes to see or calls until] after 4 oT-
clock. The number of pages per day
varies. Some days as few as two or
three. Ideas come fast when they
start.
Do you feel that you are exhausting
your interest in North Carolina ma-
terial ?
Oh, no. I could write all around about
this part of the country. My origina]
idea was to take a family across from
England to North America, but ITve
never been able to get my heroes out
of North Carolina.
Would you be interested in coming
up to the Civil War period? the mod-
ern period?
No, I donTt know anything about the
Civil War. I have said publically that
I would go no further foward than the
signing of the Constitution by North
Carolina. One reason I like to write
about North Carolina is that it is the
purest example of democracy as the
founding fathers planned it. I think
it is the most democratic state in the
Union.
Do you submit your manuscripts to
your publisher in its completed form
or do you send in parts of it as they
are completed?
That is something I have done both
ways. I prefer to send it al] in at one
time. ThatTs the way I give it to my
husband. He types all of my manu-
scripts in a little two fingered meth-
od of his. He never sees the first man-
uscript until it is all finished.
Do you discuss your work with some-
one"perhaps your husband"for pos-
sible suggestions or comments?
No. Generally, I think lots of people
discuss their work with other people.
(Continued on Page 20)
The REBEL
Confidentially Russ Warren
by Tom Carson
Paris! London! Switzerland! Neuren-
burg! HeTd seen them all, Russ Warren
had. His life as a newspaper reporter
had been long and rough.
As he leaned over the rail of the ship,
he thought of what it was going to be
like now: no racing to get that almighty
story; no commie on his tail; no sleeping
in crummy, second class hotels.
He laughed aloud and said, oThose
damn hotels.�
oYah, did you speak?�
At first Russ thought he had im-
agined the voice, but after adjusting his
eyes to the fog, he saw standing next to
him a girl. Yes, thatTs exactly what he
sa *: just a girl.
He looked closer and saw a plain face.
On that face was a nose too large to go
unnoticed, sharp blue eyes jutting out
from under unplucked eyebrows, and an
oversized mouth with lips untouched by
rouge.
Then there was sleep.
Russ awoke with a slow, dull feeling
and looked around. Slowly he became
He saw standing next to him a girl.
FALL, 1959
He decided from her accent that she
must be Swedish.
A child-like expression crept over her
face.
oYou are American, huh?� she asked.
oSure, American,� Russ answered flat-
ly.
Evidently the girl didnTt catch the bit-
ter sarcasm in his voice. or maybe she
was use to it. Russ didnTt know and
cared less.
oYah, I know,� she replied. Russ leaned
again on the railing.
The fog was beginning to lift.
The girl went on. Her broken speech,
though crude, was spoken carefully, al-
most cautiously.
oT, too, am going one time to be Ameri-
can. Do you go alone? I do, but I hear
that in America if you go alone, you not
so very long. People are all friends: like
you.�
Russ Warren, You friendly? This he
thought to himself: oDamn,� again aloud,
oNaive.�
oT know fella. He a soldier. He say
you come to America. We have good time
there. So I come.�
So I come, thought Russ, as easy as
as that. Now sheTs almost there. So
what now?
Russ knew the story so well: G.lITs.
occupation, leaves.
Russ had always looked forward to
those leaves.
All of a sudden he found himself re-
membering a leave which he hadnTt
thought about in ages.
He remembered receiving his paper
entitling him to forty-eight hours to de-
vote to his own leisure " leave. He could
remember how he had laughed about hav-
ing a whole two days to paint the town
a fire-truck red.
ThereTd been only one problem, no town.
Oh sure, there was a hint of a village
two or three miles up the side of ~a moun-
tain.
That was one time he had wished to be
right in the middle of the hottest war
7
- er fought.
HeTd been out covering an assignment
which carried him out in the middle of
nowhere, and here he was stuck for two
miserable days.
But after thinking it over, Russ had
decided to try to paint the village a rosy
hue if not a fire-truck red.
The snow fell softly around him ag he
made his way up the mountainside.
It seemed as if he had walked a mil-
lion miles, when Russ saw the village:
five houses on one side of the little path,
on the other side sat the center of activi-
ty, the Inn.
Russ walked up on the wooden porch
of the Inn and hit his heavy combat boots
against the wooden railing encircling the
porch.
A light shining through a tiny window
and from under the door made a patch-
work pattern on the freshly fallen: snow.
The door swung open before Russ
could knock, and standing in the door-
way was a tall, big-framed man.
oWelcome, friend. Bad night, yah?�
oYah,� mumbled Russ and walked in.
A warm bright flame leaped and danced
in the huge, old-fashioned fireplace at
the far end of the long room.
The furnishings were scant and un-
attractive, but there was an atmosphere
of home and Russ liked it.
Before realizing it, Russ was out of his
coat, hat, gloves, and boots and sitting in
a tall, straight back chair in front of the
fire.
The old man had not said another word
since his welcome, and Russ was begin-
ning to feel like a bug under glass studied
by a biology student.
Suddenly the old man called to another
room, shouting excited commands.
Russ looked toward the door where a
young girl stood. She was_ shabbily
dressed but carried herself in a graceful
manner.
She carried a beer mug on a wooden
tray.
The old man rattled off something in
Swedish.
She answered and brought the mug
over to Russ and curtsied.
oPapa say he hopes you warm again.�
He glanced at her. She was plain, all
right, but she had a tranquility about her
which couldnTt have been mistaken for
ignorance.
8
oSure,� Russ answered and took the
mug, brimming over with foam.
oMy name Katrine,T she murmured
and sat down on a small scatter rug near
the fire.
oHe doesnTt speak English?� he asked,
nodding his head at the old man gazing
intently at him.
oNiah, Papa he only learn few words
from soldiers that come through.�
Russ looked at her questioningly. He
wondered how she had learned the lan-
guage so well.
She must have understood because she
continued, oI young. I learn English easy
and very good, huh?�
oYes,� he said.
oDo you and the old man live here
alone,� Russ asked, not knowing why.
Perhaps he was just trying to make con-
versation.
oPapa and me always live here.� Her
eyes saddened as she continued, oOne
time Papa, Mama, and me live here.�
He didnTt ask what had happened to
her mother, but she continued.
oMama die. She just die. Papa and me
miss her, but Papa say Mama in better
place, now, so we still happy.�
Russ sat there wondering and amazed
how such a child and an old man could
find such peace when all around them
everything was in such turmoil and con-
fusion.
Katrine refilled the beer mug, then
poked the fire, adding a few logs from
off the side of the hearth.
oYou from the city?� she asked and her
eyes brightened with interest.
He looked at her. He thought carefully
before he spoke. How could he tell her
of the horror, of the brutality of the
world she had never seen.
Russ glanced down again. He supposed
the beer, mellow with age, had the same
affect on him.
He talked and talked, Lord knows about
what, and she sat there, never taking her
eyes from his face. Russ just knew he
made things beautiful and pleasant. He
did remember saying something about
America.
aware of the Inn with its rustic atmos-
phere, and he remembered where he was.
He sw the fireplace in which lay the
burned, charred logs.
Then he glanced down. There lay Kat-
rine, her head resting on the scatter rug.
The REBEL
She had curled up to keep warm when the
fire had gone out.
Over his legs someone had laid a big,
plaid blanket.
Somehow as he sat there, he knew he
had to leave this place or heTd stay.
He couldnTt remember what he had
said and that worried him.
He quickly rose from the chair and
made his way over to the table on which
lay his clothing. Noiselessly he slipped
everything on.
The old man stirred a little but didnTt
wake when he opened the log slatted door.
Russ walked down off the porch and
out onto the path, trackless from the new-
fallen snow.
He didnTt look back because he knew
that if he had he would have returned.
He looked down to see his ring was gone,
but even that did not matter at this point.
The rocking of the ship brought Russ
back into the present, but he could still
see that little Inn.
He chuckled to himself remembering.
Suddenly the chuckle was gone and a
sharp pang of guilt came over him.
His mind returned to the girl standing
beside him and to her problem; at least
he considered it a problem.
Russ thought: I must be getting soft.
How can I tell her that all G.I.Ts look alike
in the khakis.
He remembered his uniform. He also
remembered how he had never been cov-
ered with frontline dirt. Understanding,
he hadnTt complained. Reporting all dur-
ing the war had been his obaby.� There
had been enough human interest back of
the lines to keep him busy.
Somehow he never got away from re-
porting. In civies he had still plugged
away at it, that is, until recently. The
main office had politely, for his health,
they said, relieved him of his job. One
thing Russ Warren had never done was
pretty up a story.
The guys at the office had weak
stomachs, he had reasoned.
Russ glanced up in time to see the girlTs
eyes straining into the distance. He
thought to himself, what sort of person
was this guy who could bring such hope
to a person? He knew he could never be
that convincing.
oHow big America?T
oBig enough, kid. Look.� Russ pointed
FALL, 1959
to the New York skyline which appeared
to be big toy blocks stacked in various
sizes and shapes in the gray morning fog.
The girl clamped one hand over her
mouth.
Russ noticed her large, bony hand held
tightly over her mouth.
He could almost feel her tremble with
excitement and anticipation.
Then he saw it. On one finger of her
hand was a ring. One like his, only he
had lost his. He stopped suddenly. There
went that pang again. Had he lost it, or
given it away?
His cheeks felt hot and his eyes burned.
He suddenly knew that that was his
ring.
Without thinking, Russ thrust out his
hand towards where the girl was stand-
ing.
There was nothing there, nothing at
all! He just knew he couldnTt have
dreamed it.
The fog had lifted!
Maybe you do need a rest, Russ War-
ren thought.
4A
wr >
LL)
2 type Olt LD
Standing in the doorway was a tall,
hig-framed man.
The REBEL
10
Rebel Yell
With the new school year, the Rebel has
taken on a new face. This issue and those
following will endeavor to present a more
comprehensive view of East Carolina Col-
lege and reach more fully its members.
Basic changes in policy will be evident
in this issue by larger faculty representa-
tion, national advertising, and increased
publication. Through the efforts of an
increased staff, the Rebel hopes to bring
you during the school year a better mag-
azine giving non-collegiate readers a more
favorable introduction ~to East Carolina
College.
The fall issue includes several articles
contributed by faculty members. Dr.
James Prince is the author of oLa Cuisine
Des Anges and My Three Angels,� a
critical essay dealing with the compari-
sons of the original French play and the
popular production. The business depart-
ment is represented by James H. Bearden
with oThe World of Hemingway.� Mrs.
Claire Holt, wife of registar Robert Holt,
presents her work on the organized re-
ligion theme of Sinclair Lewis.
Student contributions are deservedly
noteworthy in this issue. Kay McLawhon,
winner of the Second Congressional Dis-
trict Book Prize presented by the Poetry
Council of North Carolina, contributes
her award-winning poem, oThe Masses.�
Janice Brand also adds some of her poetic
work.
In view of the increased interest in
North Carolina literature, an interview
with Inglis Fletcher is included. Conduct-
ed by staff member, Gail Cohoon from
Columbia, N. C., the interview deals with
Mrs. FletcherTs approach to writing and
her attitudes on contemporary literature.
This should be of particular interest to
aspiring writers and literary enthusiasts.
For fiction lovers, short stories by
Tom Carson and Tom Jackson may be
found. The book review section has been
FALL, 1959
enlarged to meet the demand for more
complete coverage. These should provide
a larger area of interest for amateur and
professional work.
Nelson Dudley, junior from Greenville,
heads the newly organized art depart-
meant for the Rebel. His assistants, Jim
Roper and Larry Blizzard, are well-known
for their previous art work. By posing for
the fall cover, Jim Roper illustrates his
talents as a othinker� as well as an ar-
tist
This first issue carries a special wel-
come to the freshmen. In many respects
the Rebel and you are both embarking
on a new experiment. We will need the
combined efforts of the faculty and older
students to firmly acclamate ourselves
into East Carolina College. However,
above all else the Rebel will need the sup-
port of you, the freshmen, to become the
type of magazine worthy of your partici-
pation. The staff welcomes you to the
college and to the magazine. Contribute
actively in both to make both an integral
part of your college life.
With student and faculty co-operation
the Rebel hopes to entertain, enlighten,
and instruct its readers during the year.
By increasing the exchange program be-
tween national and collegiate magazines,
the Rebel will serve as an example of the
student-faculty talents at East Carolina
College. To correctly present the total
view of the college, faculty contributions
will be presented. This does in no way
alter the initial purpose of the Rebel as
a student publication. The policy has
been put into motion and the exchanges
have been mailed; the worth of the Rebel
now rests in the hands of you, the stu-
dents. It is primarily dedicated to your
efforts and ultimately designed for your
benefit. Only. through your interest can
the Rebel hope to achieve its creative
potential.
11
12
THE MASSES
The Masses
Entangled
Entwined
In that clinging, engulfing trap of
footless netting,
Grasping
Clutching
Octagonal shapes of pliable, yet
impenetrable threads,
Caught within its sticky grip
Hurling
Stumbling
Fighting against the force inevitable.
Let them fight.
They are the masses whose pious,
hypocritical reasoning
Means nothing to the net which binds
them all with its
Silent grip.
Their cries and sounds of fury beat
against the walls and
Resound again
As though the net-wall were an echo
chamber of all their
Moanings.
The net is unmoved by the masses
huddled there
And with camouflaged strength it holds
them in steel bondage
Deafened to their outraged fury
and even to their
cries of repentance.
DO NOT TAP YOUR BEWARE THE
TUNES TREACHEROUS HORIZONS
Do not tap your tunes
upon this wall
Beware the treacherous horizons.
They daily and intently swim
however delicate. back within their casual beginnings.
Beware the horizons.
The silver egg is They swim convexly,
nullity
you will not break
its shell.
lizard-lipped and grim.
Jaws wide,
they clamp upon the tails
of their origins.
The REBEL
The World of Hemingway
by James Bearden
In his critical biography of Ernest
Hemingway, Phillip Young says: oEvery
true novelist has a world of some kind,
an imaginary vision of some sphere or
scene of life and action which his indivi-
sual has caused him to see, and which tie
re-creates in fiction. This is his equiva-
lent for what, if he wrote philosophy,
would be a system of ideas. He sees a
kind of life going against some _ back-
ground, and he tries to make it coherent
and dramatic. He induces us to see it all
through his eyes, and after we have done
this we ask ourselves questions about the
breadth of his vision and the depth of
his perspective. We ask if this is a real
world, one we can recognize, and accept.
A characteristic not of the world of
Ernest Hemingway is his love for the
good earth, of cool streams, of clean air,
of the fresh smell of woodlands, and of
the challenge of a long hike. It is this
same type of thing that annually lures
the office-ridden and the factory work-
ing city dweller to the streams and moun-
tains of parks and vacation spots through-
out the country. In this phenomenon is
found a kind of instinctive admission that
man is a creature of earth and derives
his strength and physical well-being
from intimate contact with her.
The words of Hemingway convey so
exactly the taste, smell, and feel of ex-
perience as it was, that we unconsciously
translate our own senzations into their
terms.
This intense awareness of the world of
the senses is one of the things that makes
his work seem so fresh and pure. The
beauty of the physical world is a back-
ground for the human predicament, and
this beauty usually represents some form
of compensation possitle in the midst of
the predicament.
HemingwayTs world, ultimately, is a
world at war. Sometimes it exists in the
literal sense of armed and calculated con-
flict, and sometimes it exists figuratively
FALL, 1959
as marked everywhere with violence,
potential or present.
In the early stories and novels Hem-
ingway was able to realize all he knew
in terms of his first education at war.
It served him as a barricade against every
emotion. The code of hig best heroes was
the code of war. Either the war went
fine, or it went badly. If a man broke
down in the war, if his nerves went to
pieces under pressure, then he was lost.
If he behaved badly in the peace, he was
also lost.
In The Sun Also Rises there emerges
apart from the war of guns and munitions
a war between men and women. This too
is a conflict that continues through all
Hemingway. Through story after story
it is love that defeats man of his heroes.
As for the typical characters of Hem-
ingwayTs world, they are usually tough
men, experienced in the hard worlds they
inhabit, and not obviously given to emo-
tional display or sensitive shrinking. Or
if the typical character is not of this
seasonal order, he is a very young man,
or boy, first entering the violent world
and adjusting to it.
The typical character faces defeat or
death. But out of defeat or death the
characters usually manage to salvage
something. His heroes are not defeated
except under their own terms. They are
not cowards, and when they confront de-
feat they realize that the stance they take
means a kind of victory. If they are to
be defeated, they are defeated upon their
own terms. They represent a code, some
brand of honor, that makes a man, and
that is his claim to the realm of distinc-
tion.
oT did not care what it was all about.
All I wanted to know was how to live it.�
The heroes of Hemingway live in a
world beyond moral good and evil. Liquor
fails to break down this emotional imper-
viousness, and they are men of action
rather than thinkers. In most of the cen-
13
tral figures there is a hint of the anti-
social and loneliness.
Typical of the ovictory-in-defeat�T con-
cept is Robert Jordan, in For Whom the
Bell Tolls, as he appears happy lying
wounded behind a machine gun covering
the escape of his friends and his sweet-
heart. Similarly, in The Sun Also Rises,
Lady Brett Ashley has her moment of
virtue when she renounces the seduction
of a young bullfighter interpreting her
sacrifice to Jake Barnes as, oyou know
it makes one feel rather good deciding
not to be a bitch.� Again in The Old Man
and the Sea the central figure, an old
fisherman, though defeated in his attempt
to reach the mainland with his tremen-
dous catch, emerge the victor.
HemingwayTs character is character-
ized in a statement he once made, oThere
is honor among pickpockets and honor
among whores. It is simply that the stan-
dards differ.�
The situation in this world of Heming-
way is usually violent. There is the hard-
drinking and sexually promiscuous world
of The Sun Also Rises; the chaotic and
brutal world of war as in A Farewell to
Arms; For Whom the Bell Tolls, and
many of the sketches of In Our Time;
the world of sport, as in Fifty Grand,
and My Old Man; the world of crime, as
in The Gambler, The Nun, and The Radio.
Even when the story does not fall into
one of these categories, it usually involves
a desperate risk, and behind it is the
shadow of ruin.
Maxwell Geiswer said that in creat-
ing this situation Hemingway oemerges
most clearly as the artist of disaster, the
poet of catastrophe, the natural histor-
ian of the organism that seeks to die in
its own way.�
HemingwayTs principle opposition has
come from ~those who have attacked him
for being pessimistic, bitter and for paint-
ing only a dark picture of life. Some dis-
paragement of his works stems from
his expatriation. Perhaps the ogood life�
has not been elucidated with the same
vigor as the tragic tone, but his portray-
als have been real.
The scene shifts in the situations, but
the violence remains the typical condi-
14
tion of life. This tragic sense is the one
factor in his craft that sets him apart
from writers of the oordinary life.� In
a period which has been dominated by
the view of manTs ultimate and certain
triumph, the ability of Hemingway to
maintain this tragic spirit has been as-
tounding.
It is quite possible that Hemingway
commands most respect as a stylist. The
style characteristically is simple, both
in diction and sentence structure. The
words are chiefly short and common ones,
and there is a severe and austere econ-
omy in their use. Hemingway has put
the raw language of the street, the pool-
room, the barracks, and the brothel into
modern literature. The typical sentence
is a simple declarative sentence, or a
couple of these joined by a conjunction.
The paragraph structure is usually based
on simple sequence. The rhythmic, clipped
march of sentences contributes to his
narrative power.
The simplicity of style makes for much
imitation, but it also is a style that keeps
out of sight the intelligence behind it.
The sequence in which events are des-
cribed is the sequence in which they oc-
curred. Writing in Death in the After-
noon of his apprentice days in Paris he
put it this way:
oIT was trying to write then and I founa
the greatest difficulty, aside from know-
ing what you really felt, rather than what
you were supposed to feel, and had been
taught to feel, was to put down what real-
ly happened in action: what the actual
things were which produced the emotion
that you experienced .. . the real thing,
the sequence of motion and fact which
made the emotion . . . I was trying to
learn to write, commencing with the
simplest things.�
Many characteristics can be listed
in the makeup of this style. Impersonal
tone, objectivity, immediacy, and econo-
my of prose are butt a few of the multi-
farious elements that characterize Hem-
ingwayTs work. For good or for bad Hem-
ingway has maintained this style. It has
become his trademark; it is Hemingway
the man.
In the field of literature, Hemingway,
(Continued on Page 31)
The REBEL
S49YLOAT IY T,,
pipzzyg hssyT
FALL, 1959
15
HERO
by Tom Jackson
UAUAS TAS
We Talked As We Drank.
The juke box was blaring, and occa-
sionally I could hear a couvle of words
from the song above the roar of the
crowd. It was a hot night, and sweat
streamed down my face as I struggled
toward the door to catch a few minutes
of fresh air from the breeze that is al-
ways coming off the lake.
The bunch was really in rare form to-
night, and I could see Sylvia Jean swing-
ing her hips to the delight of that circle
of boys that always forms around her
when she dances. She and Raymond real-
ly had the beat, and they had been danc-
ing together all night, really having a
ball. I think everyone was having a pret-
16
ty good time, we were all trying hard
enough. After all, this would be the last
summer that the bunch would be together
and really swing as we had all through
high school. At least thatTs what every-
one told us, so we were living it up. But
I donTt think any of us really thought it
would end. I didnTt, anyway.
I was almost to the door when Jimmy
stopped me to get a cigarette. We shout-
ed to each other above the noise for a
minute or two, and I was about to go on
when, for the first time in my life, I saw
Samuel Rowland.
He had just come in and was edging
his way through the crowd. [ think I was
The REBEL
the only one who noticed him, and I donTt
know why I did unless it was because I
knew everybody who hung out at Sam-
boTs Place, and this was a new one to me.
He was a little guy, kind of dried up
looking with wrinkles around the corner
of his eyes and his mouth. I couldnTt tell
if they were from squinting or from
laughing, but I figured he must be a
li~tle older than most of us to have wrin-
kles so deep.
He bumped into Raymond, and I knew
the wrinkles around his eyes didnTt come
from squinting as I saw a wide grin cov-
er his entire face and spread into the
edge of his soot-black hair when he apolo-
gized. It was then that I really noticed
his hair. It was black and _ perfectly
groomed. Not just plain black, but al-
most blue-black like a crow or maybe the
blued steel of a gun barrel, and it looked
like he had just left a barber shop. Fun-
ny how that hair made me think of a
gun barrel. I mean hair and gun barrels
just arenTt alike, but his was. The blue-
blackness and the precision in combing
made me think of it then and often later
in the summer when | knew him better,
I still thought of the same thing when
I noticed his hair.
I went on out and the breeze felt so
good that I slipped out to the car and
opened one of the beers iced down there
and carried it with me up on the dam
where that big beech tree blew down a
couple of years ago.
As IJ sat there on the tree trunk sipping
my beer and smiling occasionally as I
s2°y an initial that I recognized among
the many carved there in the tree bark,
I could see a few of the mob spilling out
of the door and standing there talking
and laughing. Now and then a cackle
would break out ~above the continuous
murmur as one of them laughed a little
louder than the rest. And above the
crowd and the roar of the water falling
in the mill house behind me I could hear
Jimmy shout out tto somebody inside,
oCome on, throw me a damn cigarette,
will ya?�
Pretty soon I stood up, tossed the beer
can into the lake and lighted a cigarette.
I watched for a while as the waves push-
ed the can back and ferth slowly filling
it with water until it sank. Then flipping
the cigarette out over the dark water I
headed back for the dance hall.
FALL, 1959
When I got back inside the music had
stopped momentarily and the crowd was
milling around the edge of the dance
floor. I saw the little guy with the black
hair again. He was standing a little fur-
ther out on the floor than the others and
as another record started playing I watch-
ed him make his way over to the knot of
people standing around Sylvia Jean and
ask her to dance. Almost everybody in
there noticed him then. Sylvia Jean was
the best dancer in the crowd and nobody
but the best ever danced with her because
she made you look foolish if you werenTt
really good. She looked at him for a min-
ute and tilted up the corners of her mouth
in a little grin. Nobody else started for
the floor. We all knew that she was going
to show this character up on the dance
floor and we wanted to see it. He and
Sylvia Jean walked out to the center of
the big circle of people that was already
starting to form and the talking and
laughing dropped low enough you could
hear the music. It was a pretty fast rec-
ord and they just stood there and looked
at each other for a while like a couple
of chickens fixing to fight. The colored
reflections from the revolving lights in
the jukebox danced with the shadows on
the ceiling and I could smell the sour
tingle of the mud flats as a light breeze
shift came in from the open back win-
dows and pushed out some of the beer
breath and stale sweat odor.
Then they started. With a little twist
he was moving all over at once. His
cleated shoes clattered in perfect time to
the music and they were moving so fast
you could hardly see them. He slipped
over the floor one way and then the other,
doing steps that were more complicated
than any of us had ever been able to do
and he was leading Sylvia Jean almost
faster than she could keep up. He would
skiddle sideways and do a quick turn that
would get her out of step every time. This
had never happened before. She was the
best, and he was dancing circles around
her. Pretty soon the grin left her face
and she started looking jas serious as he
did. Then he.started grinning in a devil-
ish sort of way. The grin spread like a
blush over his face and disappeared into
that midnight of hair.
Just before the record was over he did
a complicated turn that left Sylvia Jean
completely confused because she, as well
17
as the rest of us, had never seen it done
but a couple of times in our lives. Just
as the record ended he ducked down,
quickly swung her all the way over his
back, and dropped her right side up on
the floor on the other side. During all
this he never lost step to the music.
For a few seconds after the record ended
there was not a sound in the dance hall
except for Sylvia JeanTs breathing. Boy,
she was tired. Then everybody was talk-
ing at once. oWho is this guy.� oWhere
did he come from, and where did he
learn to dance like that?� We gathered
around him and before the night was
over his name, Samuel had been short-
ened to Sammy and he was one of the
bunch.
Sammy and I got to be pretty good
friends that summer. I guess it was be-
cause he didnTt have a car and I did.
Anyway we started hanging around to-
gether right much. We double dated, we
went to SamboTs or to the beach, we drank
together, and we talked.
Sammy was funny, but he was a great
guy too. His body could never be called
the ohe man� type, he was more of a o97
pound weakling� just from looks, but ac-
tually he weighed about 115 and was at
least five feet six or seven. He was freck-
led all over and never had a good sun
tan. He just turned bright red and then
spotted up when he got in the sun. His
skinny freckled arms always seemed just
a little bit too little for his body, but
then clothes did a lot for that body. In a
bathing suit he was all arms and legs,
or knees and elbows I ought to say. He
could fool you though, because he was
pretty strong for his size and had the
spunk of a bantam rooster. He wouldnTt
just get in a fight, he would jump in it.
I guess he got in ten or twelve fights
during the time I knew him and I never
saw him win one yet. But he loved to
fight and would do it until he was beat
black and blue. The next day he would
come around blue all over with both eyes
puffed shut and say, oWell he got a good
sized meal off of me, but I got a sand-
wich off the big s.o.b.� then he would
laugh in that high pitched cackle of his
and forget about it.
Sammy never was much for holding
down a job either. It wasnTt that he mind-
ed work so much, it was just that he did-
not like regular jobs. He would fool
18
around every evening until he ran up
with somebody that was busy, and then
he would do whatever they were doing.
It didnTt matter to him if they were
fishing or digging ditches heTd fall right
in and help. Sammy seemed to get in the
way more than anything else, but he al-
ways got right much done in spite of
that.
Once in a while he would get a pay-
ing job for a day or two to get a little
cigarette and beer money, but he never
stayed at work long. He drove dump
trucks a little, barned tobacco, painted
signs, and stuff like that as long as he
didnTt have to work over two or three
days in a stretch.
Sammy wasnTt the kind of guy that
would ever really be important, but there
was something about him that you had to
like. When you got to know him, you
wished you had known him all your life.
He danced better than anybody around
home, played the piano a little, piddled at
singing, and could tel! dirty jokes all
night without stopping except maybe to
open another beer now and then or to
light a cigarette.
Have you ever tried to eat one salty
peanut and stop? ThatTs the way it was
talking to Sammy. If you spoke, you had
to hang around and shoot the bull a few
minutes. When he was serious or even
mad, talking to him was still a pleasant
experience. Sometimes heTd really get hot
about something, but no matter what he
said, it came out funny.
As the summer went by Sammy and I
developed a kind of a weekly ritual that
we both enjoyed. Every Thursday night,
as regular as a clock, we would go up
town and as soon as Sammy had finished
getting his hair cut we would go to DickTs
Coffee Shop and sit around talking and
drinking beer. Yessir, just as sure as it
got to be Thursday night, we were in
DickTs with those big cold beer mugs on
the table in front of us. Dick always kept
his mugs in a big ice cream freezer and
they were colder than the beer. When
you poured the beer in, the foam would
bubble up over the top and run down the
side and freeze, making a thin skim of
ice on the side of the mug. We would sco-
op the frozen foam off the top with our
fingers and lick them clean before drink-
ing ~the beer. We talked as we drank and
Sammy used to tell me all about Sylvia
The REBEL
Jean. He was dating her right much, but
she kept trying to give him a run-around
and it worried him sometimes.
Well, weTd sit there and drink one beer
after another until SammyTs ears turned
bright red and the skin on my forehead
began to feel tight and everything got
real funny. About the time we reached
this stage, Dick would blink the lights
three times, which meant it was 11:45
and time to go. We would get three or
four beers oto go� and drink them on the
way home with the radio turned wide
open. Sammy could always out drink me
so he drove the car on Thursday nights.
We would drive home and he would park
in the garage for me and walk on to his
house. I didnTt think he should have to
walk home; but after I ditched the Chevy
on the second night I tried it from his
house to mine, he had insisted on walking.
Well as you know, things change, and
since I left at the end of that summer
they have changed a hell of a lot. ITve
been gone for about two years now, ex-
cept for one weekend right after basic
training and this past time; and it was
hard to understand what had happened
when I was here the last time.
You see, itTs like this. About the same
time I enlisted, most of the rest of the
little bunch that hung around SamboTs
left too. Sylvia Jean finally married a
Benton boy from uptown, Buzz went to
the army with Dickie and Pete. Ray went
to a barber schoo] in Charlotte, Sondra
works in Raleigh now and Frankie made
it to Duke. Some of them I donTt know
where they are. They just all left at one
time and you never hear from them any
more except once in a while you'll see in
the paper where another one of them is
getting married or shipped overseas.
Well, Sammy was left by himself and
I guess he was pretty lonesome because
he never could stand not to be in a crowd.
I didnTt hear from him for a long time
and then the last time I was home I ran
into Doc Huggins and he told me that
Sammy was driving a dump truck for
Bud Williamson and had been at it for
some time. And he said Sammy was
drinking pretty heavy all the time. I was
a little surprised to know that Sammy
had been driving a truck, but I didnTt
think anything about the drinking part
until sometime later in the day when
three or four other people said something
FALL, 1959
about it to me.
Well I began trying to look Sammy
up. He wasnTt at home, he wasnTt at Bud
WilliamsonTs and I was beginning to be
afraid that I was not going to find him
before my week at home was up, but I
did. It was Sunday evening when I final-
ly ran into him.
He was asleep on a bench in LeaTs
Truck Stop just out of town a little on
713. He had on » filthy green truck driv-
erTs uniform and he hadnTt shaved for at
least five days. There was a long streak
of grease on his left arm and his knuckles
and both elbows were covered with thick
red scabs. One of them was bleeding a
little. And his hair, it had grown down
around his ears and low on the back of
his neck in ragged strands.
I felt ag if the very air I was breathing
had congealed in my mouth. I watched
him for a minute or two, lighted a cigar-
ette, then ground it out and tried to wake
him up. He was shaking pretty bad and
didnTt recognize me for a minute.
When he did recognize me he just
stared at me for a minute and then kind
of grinned. He got up off the bench and
we shook hands and mumbled hello to
each other. oCome on Sammy, letTs go
get a hot dog and a Coke,� I said.
Well, we had our hot dog, and our Coke
too. And we talked. But it was not the
same. In ten minutes we had talked out
every possible subject we had in common
and were discussing the weather.
He wanted to borrow five dollars, and
I let him have it. He said he would pay
me back the next day.
Pretty soon after I gave him the money,
he said he had to meet somebody; and so,
I carried him to a filling station out on
the other side of town and left him there
where he was supposed to meet him. He
said heTd see me Monday.
The next day I tried to get up with him
again, but I couldnTt find him anywhere.
He had just left every place I asked. I
didnTt find him again until the Wednes-
day afternoon that I was leaving. I was
all packed and started back when I ran
across him. I stopped at Lea~s to gas up
and while I was talking to Bill, the man
that runs the store there, I mentioned
that I hadnTt been able to find Sammy.
Bill kind of smiled and said Sammy was
there and had gone around back a few
minutes before, so I walked around to the
19
back of the store.
Sammy wag there all right. He was
lying face down in the edge of the corn
field behind the store. His feet and legs
were in a little drainage ditch and the
rest of him was draped over the bank of
it. He had not shaved. The only dif-
ference was his hair. It had been cut and
combed. He still looked pretty run down.
His face was grey except for the black
stubble of beard and two eyes that look-
ed like blood clots. Then he turned to me.
On the top of all the filth on his clothes
there was a layer of red mud, still wet
from the drainage ditch. From his back
pocket stuck a half filled wine bottle and
he was crying like a baby. He blubbered
and slobbered all over the place and didnTt
make much sense when he talked. It was
beginning to drizzle rain again, so I got
him up and helped him to a little shelter
that stuck out from the side of the build-
ing and covered him up with some old
cotton bagging I found there, and he went
to sleep. I figured he was broke so I left
a couple of dollars in his pocket, took the
rest of the wine and earried it across the
yard to the ditch. I threw the bottle in
and stood there watching it bouncing
around as the water carried it down the
tiling that ran under the highway and to
the creek on the other side. It bumped
into one bank and then the other ag it
was carried faster and faster by the
water.
I looked back at Sammy, and then I
scrambled down the bank after that bot-
tle. I grabbed for it, but the current car-
ried it over to the other bank, and it
lodged in some weeds. I went back up the
bank and got an old tobacco stick that I
found there and pulled the bottle back out
of the weeds, but before I could get it, the
current had carried it further down. I
moved along, just out of reach almost to
the tiling until I reached a spot where
the ditch had partially filled in and was
not as wide. Ag I stepped out on the little
mound of dirt that had washed down,
the dull red mud ran in cold and sticky
over the top of my right shoe and soaked
in my sock. I got pretty wet in the rain,
but I finally got the bottle just as it start-
ed into the tile.
I carried it back to the shelter and
wiped it off with a burlap bag and left
it sitting there beside Sammy with the
flies buzzing around it.
20
East Carolina College
Music Foundation
Some six years ago the East Carolina
Music Foundation was incorporated. It
was formed by the members of the Music
Department and also by numerous in-
terested people in the community.
The purpose of the Foundation is to
provide funds for various types of needs
that cannot be included in the state and
college budget. Some of the many pur-
poses of the fund are: 1) to provide ad-
ditional scholarships for outstanding and
needy students, both in rectuiting ond
helping keep students we now have, who
have financial problems, 2) ~to bring to
the campus outstanding composers, con-
ductors, and clinicians, 3) to bring to
the campus guest lecturers of national
reputation, 4) to bring to the department
guest instructors of national reputation
for one or more quarters to teach in the
area of their speciality. Other uses of the
fund are: 1) to secure graduate teaching
assistantships in areas where instructional
assistance is needed, 2) to enable the de-
partment to affiliate with additional pro-
fessional music organizations that are
national in scope, 3) to purchase addi-
tional equipment above and beyond what
can be dene with our state music budget,
(harp, harpsichord, audio-visual equip-
ment, organ-electronic and pipe, and 4)
to enable the department to hold recep-
tions for guest artists so students, faculty,
and townspeople have the opportunity
of meeting them.
(Continued from Page 6)
This throws you off your track. No
one has any say so about my work
except my editor.
17. Where do you do most of your writ-
ing?
In one or two vacant rooms up-
stairs. In the summer I work in the
schoolhouse. This building dates back
to 1750 and is one of the oldest plan-
tation school houses.
The REBEL
;
sd f VEG bE
SM
em SAE it
AS ie h}
eee
.
eee
Seer
1959
FALL,
- 7 : , . ° es ." --f
Sn sipgicg a
~~ ne Ce EES PE 2 A: igi
Satire of Organized Religion In Some
of The Writings of Sinclair Lewis
by Claire Holt
oLittle Harry Lewis of the Sauk Cen-
tre Congregational Sunday School could
still (as an adult) sing hymns and quote
from the Bible, but he had no faith in
organized religion. oThe moment it be-
comes organized it ceases to be effective,�
he said. Thus Grace Hegger Lewis, first
wife of Sinclair Lewis, pinpoints the
source of one of Mr. LewisTs strongest
satirical attacks.
Although one of his novels, Elmer
Gantry, deals specifically and almost
wholly with the war against organized
religion, it does not stand alone or apart
from other of his works. For through-
out the bulk of his writing he carries at
least a strain of this thinking.
The religious satire in the novels of
Sinclair Lewis may be broken down into
three major aspects: the institution and
institutions of the church (protestant in
the main) ; the membership of the church;
and the leadership of the church " its
ministers, evangelists, and lay-leaders.
Lewis depicts the institution of the
general church, first of all, as being a
tradition-bound organization which is of
itself evil and misleading to its member-
ship. In Main Street, Carol Kennicott
feelingly decries: oNot individuals but
institutions are the enemies, and they
most afflict the disciples who the most
generously serve them. They insinuate
their tyranny under a hundred guises and
pompous names, such as .. . the Church
The church, with all its tradition, is
seen again by Lewis as being the force
from which its members can not free
themselves. Elmer GantryTs church ohad
nurtured him in a fear of religious ma-
chinery which he could never lose... .
(It) had been the center of all its emo-
tions. . .. oHe had, in fact, got every-
thing from the church and Sunday
School, except, perhaps, any longing
whatever for decency and kindness and
22
reason.�
And, further, Lewis views the church
as an institution interested primarily in
economic gain. This is evident again in
the words of Carol Kennicott: oWhat an
eternal art"finding names for our Op-
ponents. How we do sanctify our efforts
to keep them from getting the holy dollars
we want for ourselves. The churches have
always done it.�
These remarks about the general church
are aprons of the many various sects
within it. And Lewis is particularly sa-
tiric about the variety of faiths that make
up the larger institutions, each of them
claiming superiority: oThe Baptist (and,
somewhat less, the Methodists, Congre-
gational, and Presbyterian Churches) is
the perfect, the divinely ordained stand-
ard in music, oratory, philanthropy and
ethics.�
Within the individual sects there are
yet smaller institutions which do not es-
cape LewisTs sharp attack. A major ex-
ample of this is seen in his treatment of
the denominational college. Before her
marriage Carol Kennicott attended Blod-
gett College, othe bulwark of sound reli-
gion ... Pious fiamilies...send their
children thither, and Blodgett protects
them from the wickedness of the univer-
sities.�
In the same novel, the lawyer Guy Pol-
lock says: oI went to a denominational
college and learned that since dictating
the Bible, and hiring a perfect race of
ministers to explain it, God has never
done much but creep around and try to
catch us disobeying it.�
In Arrowsmith, Mugford Christian Col-
lege is described as a small school with
a faculty made up predominantly of
ministers ~and with a curriculum that is
vastly inadequate. Such faculty members
as are found in the churchesT educational
institutions are themselves a target for
satire. This is depicted in the person of
The REBEL
""
""
the president of Elmer GantryTs Ter-
willinger College, the Rev. Dr. Willough-
by Quarlees, oformerly pastor of the Rock
of Ages Baptist Church of Moline, [lli-
nois, and than whom no man had written
more about the necessity of baptism by
immersion, in fact in every way a thor-
oughly fine figureT.
And, finally, the practices of such in-
stitutions are satirized. Of Elmer Gan-
try, Lewis writes, oThough he had an
excellent opinion of himself, he had seen
too much football, as played by denomina-
tional colleges with the Christian accom-
paniments of kneeing or gouging...�
Another practice common in ElmerTs
theological seminary was the oMispah
sport of looking up Biblical texts to prove
a preconceived opinion.�
Besides denominational colleges, other
Christian institutions with which Sin-
clair Lewis makes a good deal of sport
are the Y.W.C.A. and the Y.M.C.A.
To Mr. Lewis the institutions of the
church are made up of a mass of more or
less conforming individuals. In a sense,
therefore, his description of particular
members of the church reflects his larger
criticism of the church as an institution.
There are at least four elements of mem-
bers within the churches in LewisTs
novels: the overly pioug and sanctimoni-
ous, the lower class which must be kept
in order, the ogood fellow� or obooster,�
and the person who wishes to belong but
who has no notion of reasons or doc-
trines. This latter group takes part of
its number from each of the other
groups.
A typical Lewis character who is over-
ly pious is the Widow Bogart in Main
Street. So repulsive is her religion that
Carol Kennicott says of her: oIf that
woman ig on the side of angels, then I
have no choice; I must be on the side of
the devil.�
The lower class who must be kept in
order are represented by such groups as
the strikers who are vividly portrayed in
Babbitt and the poor Swede farmer in
Main Street. The strikers are presented
solely as an economic group, though in-
dividuals stand out in the latter element.
Porticularly obstreperous and in need of
heing okept in his place� is the Swede
Miles Bjornstam who meets a deputa-
tion from the local church just prior to
the death of his wife and baby son with
FALL, 1959
the stinging words: oYouTre too late.
You canTt do nothing now. BeaTs always
kind of hoped that you folks would come
to see her. ... She used to sit waiting for
somebody to knock. . . . Now,"oh, you
ainTt worth god-damning.� And with this,
he shut the door in their faces.
The last type of church member satir-
ized by Lewis is the one who, like the
obooster,� supports the church as a part
of the community, though not necessarily
for personal gain. This individual feels
a kinship with the members, but has no
understanding whatsoever of doctrines
proclaimed by the institution to which
he belongs. Main StreetTs Doc Kennicott
is a typical example of this type of church
member. oHe believed in the Christian
religion, and never thought about it; he
believed in the church, and seldom went
near it; he was shocked by CarolTs lack
of faith, and wasnTt quite sure what was
the nature of the faith she lacked.�
In all of these types of members, their
so-called beliefs are not only mouthed
without understanding but application
of them is also rarely practiced. The
church membersT lack of olove of neigh-
bor� has already been pointed out in the
Miles Bjornstam incident. Another ex-
ample of this is the account of Carol] Ken-
nicott being taken to task by more ar-
dent church members for paying her
maid a living wage. And in Elmer Gantry
it is pointed up that though there are
Jews, Negroes, and foreigners within the
American population, it is a olot safer,
to avoid the problem� which they create
for a church that preaches brotherhood
but whose general attitude is that Ameri-
can born whites are superior.
Generally this lack of a practical ap-
plication of religion may be summed up
in the words: oIn Gopher Prairie it is
not good form to be holy except at church,
between ten-thirty and twelve on Sun-
day.�
Just as the individuals making up the
church reflect upon the institution itself,
so does the leadership reflect upon the
followers. And because the oblind are
leading the blind,� the total structure of
church organization becomes an endless
circle of hypocrisy.
In his depiction of the protestant min-
istry, Lewis is not at his best, for his
characters at times do not seem real, but
rather as caricatures. And his forced
23
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The REBEL
24
humor and ribald treatment of sex de-
tracts somewhat from what could be
satire in its finest sense. Yet even so,
Lewis does focus his search light upon
many weak spots within the clergy and
reveals situations which the church gen-
erally prefers not to admit.
The most colorful minister Sinclair
Lewis paints is Elmer Gantry, whose
career is traced from his religious con-
version during college days, through
seminary training, through a_ Baptist
pastorate, into a moral slip necessitating
his resignation, through a period as shoe
salesman and one ag a roving evangelist,
and finally into his acceptance of Metho-
dist doctrines and subsequent climb in
that denomination from the pastorate of
a small rural church to that of a large
city church. Throughout his entire story
ElmerTs physical and emotional character-
istics take precedence over his intellec-
tual and spiritual qualities. Issue may be
taken with Barbara Grace Spayd that
Elmer Gantry is a opicture somewhat out
of focus� and that he is a caricature. As
detestable a character as he is, he does
exist, nevertheless, within the protestant
ministry. However, he is the exception
rather than the rule of ministers. While
many a minister has had ElmerTs thick
lack of intelligence, many his ambitions
to climb, many his pompous and pious
use of phrases unmeaningful and inap-
plicable to life, many his sensationalisms,
some his characteristic of sex deviations,
and some a combination of perhaps two
of these, it is the very rare individual
indeed whose life contains all of them.
Saron Falconer, woman evangelist in
the same story, appears, however, as a
definite caricature. While the organiza-
tion of her evangelistic troop, its eco-
nomic outlook, and its conduction of re-
ligious services are not unknown, LewisTs
story of her religious sex orgy is cer-
tainly a far-fetched one which is repul-
sive and which does not captivate any
belief on the part of the reader.
Lewis is better in his satire of other
evangelists, depicting them as_ proto-
types of Billy Sunday, the controversial
evangelistic orator who cast his influence
across America during the period of
LewisTs writing. For instance, in Babbitt
Mike Monday, the oworldTs greatest sales-
FALL, 1959
man of salvation,� wasnTt asked to Ze-
nith till it was reported that oin every
city where he had appeared, Mr. Monday
had turned the minds of workmen from
wages and hours to higher things, and
thus averted strikes.�
The fanaticism of LewisTs evangelists
is seen in pastozates and missions also.
The Rev. Ira Hinkley, medical mission-
ary from the Sanctification Bible and
Missions School, discovered in his mis-
sion his school mate, Dr. Martin Arrow-
smith, who has come for scientific experi-
mentation with an epidemic of the
plague. With a near wildness he ex-
claims: oOh, Mart, if you knew how my
heart bleeds to see these ignorant fel-
lows going unrepentant to eternal tor-
ture! After all these years I know you
canTt still be a scoffer. I come to you
with open hands, begging you not mere-
ly to comfort the sufferers but to snatch
their souls from the burning lakes of sul-
phur to which, in His everlasting mercy,
(note: not justice but mercy) the Lord
of Hosts hath condemned those that
blaspheme against His gospel, freely
given"�
There is only one type of minister with
whom Lewis apparently sympathizes.
His strongest representation is found in
Frank Shallard, a young liberal in Elmer
Gantry. He came from an educated and
devout family. Through his keen intel-
lect and study he became aware of con-
tradictions and fallacies within the
church. He hopes to improve conditions
from within. But from his seminary days
with Elmer Gantry, and through several
subsequent pastorates, his doubts and con-
flicts grew. Finally because of his liber-
al views he was forced to oresign� from
his church. Although he did it in a con-
ventional manner, his real desire was to
be able to present his resignation by say-
ing: oI have decided that no one in this
room, including your pastor, believes in
the Christian religion. Not one of us
would turn the other cheek. Not one of
us would sell all that he has and give to
the poor. Not one of us would give his
coat to some man who took his overcoat.
Everyone of us lays up all the treasure he
ean. We donTt practice the Christian re-
ligion. We donTt intend to practice it.
Therefore, we donTt believe in it. There-
25
fore I resign, and I advise you to quit
lying and disband.�
Thus, in a really tragic note, Sinclair
Lewis directs the readerTs sympathy to-
ward the very small element within or-
ganized religion who feel their small-
ness, their lack of understanding of
omnipotent things, and who attempt at
least in some measure to liberalize tra-
ditional forms. Yet, if Lewis does not
depict their case as being entirely hope-
less, he certainly makes it our to be nearly
so.
The difficulties of organized religion
are clearly pointed up; yet its solutions
are never found. Even in LewisTs most
genuine characters there remain varying
degrees of hopelessness which, though
mingled at times with optimism, present
in the main a deep pessimism. His satire
is most of the time graphically real. But
the real is not beautiful to behold.
The Woodcutter
by Dr. Bruce Carter
Art Department
Printmaking is a creative art process,
of which the layman has little or no
awareness. Prints, which are mechanic-
ally reproduced, are too often thought by
the layman to be the same as original
prints made from wood blocks, etching
plates, or lithograph stones. Printmaking
involves the creation of an origina] work
of the artistTs expression. This product,
unlike the Japanese, who combined the
group efforts of three guilds of crafts-
men, artists, woodcutters, and printers,
is the result of one artist, who conceived
the original idea, drew it, cut the block
by means of a knife and chisels, and
printed the inked block on paper. This
print is an original work of an artist;
and because more prints can be opulled�
from the inked block, each original print
is relatively economical for the layman
to purchase.
The traditional concept of a woodcut
print is the organization of black lines
on a white background. Although many
woodcut artists are primarily concerned
26
with this relationship, there is a strong
direction on the part of the contemporary
printmaker not only to successfully or-
ganize the black lines on a white back-
ground, but to utilize the reverse, white
lines on a black background, in the same
print. ~The tools he employs are a sharp
knife, chisels, V-shaped and _ gouges,
nails, wire brushes, blow torches, ham-
mers, awls, and any other tools by which
he may create a line or texture on the
wood surface to be printed. After the
reverse image has been cut from the
woodblock, the block is inked with a rol-
ler or brayer and printing ink. The print
itself is created by the application of a
piece of paper, usually Japanese rice
paper, to the inked block. The paper is
lifted carefully from the block, and the
result is the woodcut print.
It is interesting to note that although
the original print as an art work is rela-
tively inexpensive, the print as an art
form is not as popular with the American
layman as in Europe and the Orient. This
problem of the contemporary printmaker,
in seeking appreciators of his craft and
outlets for his work, can be rooted in
our art educational systems. We have
educated generations, who, unfortunate-
ly are too, educating future generations,
to the false concept that art is comprised
solely of drawing and painting. As an ex-
ample, the usual remark of a non-art
major student in an art class is the trite,
old statement, oI canTt draw a straight
line.� This, although meant in jest, too
often betrays a very narrow conception
of art, which includes only drawing and
painting, and fails to include the other
forms of printmaking, sculpture, cer-
amics, weaving, and photography.
It is, therefore, the responsibility of an
art educational system to a society, which
stresses the rights of individual expres-
sion, to broaden the societyTs conception
of art and the numerous forms that it
takes.
The REBEL
FALL, 1959
27
La Cuisine Des Anges or My Three
Anyels - a comparison
by Dr. Roy Prince
oMy Three Angels� is an adaptation
of ~La Cuisine des Anges,� a French play
by Albert Husson. Mr. Husson is a gov-
ernment employee, now 37 years of age,
whose plays have been well received and
have remained popular. For this play he
won the Prix Tristan Bernard, an im-
portant literary prize. The adaptation of
this play wags made by Sam and Bella
Spewack who also wrote oKiss Me Kate.�
When oLa Cuisine� was first produced
in Paris in January 1952, it was an im-
mediate success. American producers saw
its possibilities, and soon the Spewack
version was ready and was produced in
New York in March, 1953. It was a suc-
cess at the box office, although the re-
views were either mild or antagonistic
towards it. It has since been produced
with great success by drama groups all
over the country, particularly by colleges
and little theatres. The movie version
under the title of ooWeTre No Angels� was
produced by Paramount in 1955. Its re-
views were even less favorable than those
of the play although it was an interesting
movie, particularly for people who had
seen the play. The focal point of the
criticism seemed to be the immoral do-
ings of the three main characters. How-
ever, the reason the play has been less a
success than it might have been is that it
has been almost universally misunder-
stood. Actually it should be interpreted
as being completely symbolic.
The American play is shorter. The in-
dividual] speeches of the characters are
shorter. The Spewacks made some slight
rearrangements in the action. They have
made clear some of the subtleties of the
language, and the intellectual depth of
the characterizations has been made less
deep. Neither of the plays can be said
to be particularly deep intellectually, al-
though the characters in oLa Cuisine� do
often say things which would provoke
philosophical thought. The French play
28
seems to have been written with the view
of allowing character types to _ build
themselves up, not just be words but ulso
by pantomine and gestures, giving them-
selves ample opportunity to reveal their
abilities and to project themselves to
their hearers. Laughter is meant to be
provided not just by what the actors say,
but more so by what they do and how
they do it.
The European idea is to see a play, not
to find out how it comes out but to see
how the actors play it. Thus, a production
would be successful only if it is played
by a cast of capable artists. European
audiences are interested in hearing how
the actors say their lines and also what
they do at the same time. They are in-
terested in the philosophical ideas of the
play. They like pantomine which can be
more forceful than words if properly exe-
cuted. The American theatre-goers in
general do not go to a play to see how
well it is done, but to follow the literal
meaning of the story, to see how it comes
out, to be amused. They do not usually
see a play more than once. It is our firm
belief that anyone who gees this or any
other play will enjoy it far more if he
has read or seen it beforehand. When one
knows the direction ef the action, when
he has the thread of the story in mind,
and is more or less familiar with what
is being said, he does not need to con-
centrate so much on catching the exact
words lest he lose the train of thought.
Then he can lend more attention to what
is being said, what the actors are doing,
and what philosophy the play develops.
Thus, he has more time to appreciate the
play and to meditate on the problems it
has raised.
The date of the French play was 1880;
that of the American play was 1910. How-
ever, in the important matterg the Ameri-
can play follows the French play. If it
is taken in its literal sense, the play be-
The REBEL
comes amusing yet bold and has a stand-
ard of conduct which is quite shocking to
our sense of justice and to due process of
law. The French play gives more promi-
nence to reflective thought; the American
version depends on rapid-fire dialogue,
action and comic situation. The French
play has more speeches with double mean-
ing (not necessarily suggestive of evil) ;
the American play says things more di-
rectly and positively. The French play
opens when a native boy enters a store,
and after looking around for a while, he
steals a harmonica. No words are spoken
for a few moments until he has gone
out. The American play says only that
a harmonica has been stolen. The seri-
ousness of the previous love affair be-
tween the daughter Marie-Louise and her
cousin Paul is emphasized in the French
play but minimized in the American play.
The French play minimizes the forged
will; the American play emphasizes it.
The French play gives more emphasis to
characterizations; the American play em-
phasizes the setting and the action. Dis-
regarding the language in which each
is written, the French play would be bet-
ter if done by French actors and for a
French audience, and the American play
would be better if done by American
actors for an American audience.
The play tells the story of the Ducotel
family who have come to a penal colony
in French Guiana to establish a store.
Felix, the father, is not a good business
man and his store has been losing business
and is about to go to ruin. Emilie is his
long suffering and loving wife who has
more business sense than her husband.
Since the business is going so poorly, its
backer, an uncle, Henri Trochard, a tough
man with eyes only for money, is coming
to inspect everything, and the Ducotels
fear he will throw them out. Their daugh-
ter, Marie-Louise, is in love with a cousin
Paul who has remained in France, but who
is coming along with his Uncle Henri
whose heir he is to be. Marie-Louise be-
lieves that her love will at last be ful-
filled, but Paul is coming to break off the
affair since his uncle has induced him to
promise to marry the daughter of a rich
man " a union which would further so-
lidify the Trochard business. The two
arrive on Christmas Eve night, the same
night on which Emilie has invited three
FALL, 1959
convicts (free on the island but not free
to leave it) to spend Christmas Eve night
with them. When the play opens the con-
victs are busy repairing the roof of the
Ducotel house. From above they over-
hear enough of the conversations below
to size-up the situation at once and to
realize that the Ducotels are in danger
of losing everything since business is so
bad; the account books have not been
kept up to date; and Marie-Louise is be-
ing jilted. Only desperate action will
save them, and the three convicts are
prepared for it. They later decide to re-
lease into the bedroom of the sleeping
Henri a deadly snake named, Adolphe
which they carry in a coconut shell. He
does indeed find the bed of Henri and
the result is sure. This having been ac-
complished, and before Adolphe can be
recaptured, the convicts find that the
nephew Paul has been bitten when he
puts his hand into the pocket of his dead
uncle. In the meantime one of the crimi-
nals has forged a will in the name of
Henri in favor of the Ducotels. After
Paul has died, the Angels cause Marie-
Louise to meet a handsome naval officer,
and having accomplished their mission
on earth they go back up the ladder to
the roof as the play ends.
This play should not be taken at its
face value for what it seems to be. If we
do take it literally, it is a shocking and
revolting story about a trio of criminals
who cause the death of two people who
they feel do not deserve to live. Thus, we
would have a farcial mixture of the
comic and the tragic. What may be easily
overlooked igs that the play is symbolic.
Even the title, oMy Three Angels,� makes
this clear. While it may not be the duty
of mankind consciously to speed-up the
workings of Providence, still much of the
work of the Almighty has always been
done by man himelf. The oThree Angels�
should not be looked on as murderers, but
as instruments for the execution of di-
vine judgment. Thus, the serpent Adolphe
becomes the symbol of the wrath of God
and the agent by which His will is exe-
cuted. The Three Angels become inter-
medizries between God and man, sent
down to earth to carry out in a physical
way the ends of divine justice.
Further evidence of this is in the fact
that in the play Adolphe bites two peo-
29
ple and only two " those who most de-
serve to die. If Adolphe were a mere
snake and the Angels base criminals,
then it would be asking too much of a
snake to expect him to bite only those who
deserve death, and of the criminals to
limit their activities to committing crimes
for the good of others. We would not ex-
pect a snake to be so discriminating in
his tastes or criminals to protect the
needy. In the beginning the Angels were
on the roof repairing it. This is a symbol
of the fact that they were there to per-
form actions which would prevent the
world of the Ducotels from caving in up-
on them ag it was about to do. In the
early scenes every time the Deity is men-
tioned, hammering"thunder"is heard
from above. The harmonica seems to be
used to usher in the Angels and set the
stage with heavenly music for the com-
ing of the Three. The harmonica plays
both on the entrance of the Angels and
also on their final exit; as well as at
times when the idea of Angels is men-
tioned. When the Angels enter the scene,
it is by climbing down the ladder from
above as if they were coming down from
heaven. In the French play the harmon-
ica plays a Christmas carol oLe Christ
est neTT"Christ is born, symbolizing the
coming of Christ but in the form of his
Angels. Significant also is the fact that
the time of the play is Christmas Eve
night and Christmas Day.
One apparently superfluous character
in both plays is Madam Parole (a signif-
icant name). She offers some comic re-
lief because she is a universal type. She
warns the Ducotels to be on the lookout
for thieves, yet in her manner and by her
actions she reveals herself as the worst
thief of jall since she deals in fraud and
deceit under the hypocritical mask of re-
spectability. It seems likely that she was
put in as a contrast to the three Angels.
She outwardly pretends to be respectable
but she has no scruples and swindles any-
body she can, but the three Angels, who
admit being criminals, go about doing
good. It would be dangerous to general-
ize and say that so it is in life, but no
doubt her type does exist.
The Three Angels enter when they are
first needed but not until they are needed,
although their presence nearby has been
30
pointed out from the first. They seem to
know all, to anticipate everything and to
always have the right answers. They are
uncannily superhuman in this regard.
They hesitate only once and that is when
they are trying to recapture Adolphe af-
ter the death of Henri Trochard. This
could mean that Angels can deal success-
fully with man but that the ways of God
sometimes elude anyone of lesser impor-
tance.
Adolphe in his cage is always present
except when he is at work. The convicts
first met Adolphe when he _ suddenly
dropped down from above on the neck
of a cruel guard. Henceforth he was a
pal of the three. Again this is an illus-
tration of the wrath of God coming down
from heaven to punish an evil man.
When Marie-Louise, disappointed in
love, wants to run away to a convent,
one of the Three asks her the right ques-
tions and makes just the right comments
to help her change her mind. He gives
her hope because he helps her use her
better judgment and good gense to solve
a problem for which at first she saw no
solution. This is just as God himself might
help anyone to solve a problem"through
the inner workings of his own mind and
the tendency of his better judgment to
prevail.
The harmonica plays as omiracles� are
being carried out. The Christmas tree and
its trimmings have all come from the
garden of the Governor"he who could
best afford to share. For the preparation
of the dinner, the procuring of food,
flowers and the serving of the dinner, it
is the Angels who unhesitatingly and
swiftly provide for everything. Heavenly
music from the harmonica towards the
close of the first act tells of three Angels
who came down to earth. When the toy
Angels are placed as decorations on the
top of the tree, they are shopworn, bruised
and damaged"but Angels nevertheless"
fallen Angels"just as these Angels on
earth are. Surely the intention of the
author to have the convicts become Angels
in reality could not be more plain. They
could hardly have been pictured as less
like what they were in reality or more
like what they represented. The things
which happen in the play may be shock-
ing to the senses, but one should not take
The REBEL
these murderers seriously. They werenTt
meant that way, since as Angels they
can do no wrong.
The value of any play or of any piece
of literature is, the larger number of pos-
sible interpretations it can have. oMy
Three Angels� ig an _ excellent and
thought-provoking play, and all who have
seen it enjoyed it, but those who are best
acquainted with it in advance enjoy and
profit from it most.
East Carolina
College Playhouse
Director: Dr. J. A. Withey
Assistant Director: Mr. James A. Brewer
President: Bill Faulkner
The Playhouse presented its first
production on November 6, 7, and 8. This
production, My Three Angels, wag pre-
sented on Broadway and later made into
a movie with Humphrey Bogart, Aldo
Ray, and Peter Ustinov playing the lead-
ing roles. In the E.C. production of this,
Mr. J. A. Brewer served as director
and played a leading role as one of the
angels. Mr. Brewer played this role
previously at the University of Southern
California. Others in the playhouse who
had leading roles in this production were
Jim Roper, Ed Barcliff, Leigh Dob-
son, Lynn Glassford, and Dan Yanchin-
sin.
The E.C. Playhouse will present an-
other major production during January"
The Diary of Anne Frank. There will also
be the Shakespearean production in the
spring.
Other plans for the year include the
annual childrenTs play and several work-
shop plays. Mr. James A. Brewer will
work with the Music Department next
spring on the annual musical production,
South Pacific.
The playhouse definitely feels the need
for more people who are interested in such
things as make-up, publicity, and scenery.
For the first time, the playhouse has pre-
pared and sent out a brochure of plays
for the year and a list of different classes
to be taught concerning different aspects
of drama such as acting interpretation
FALL, 1959
SONG OF THE BOUGH
by Janice Brand
Unter den linden,
flowering now,
Sweet leaves of sorrow
Hung from a bough.
Silent, I washed them,
PityTs sweet brow,
Hung from the lindenTs
pondering bough.
Shadows from under,
green, like the bough,
PassionTs sweet wonder
sorrowing now.
Sing, minnesingers,
A linden is now
Sweet from its way-winding,
Stooped with its bough.
(Written as ia sequel to Unter Den Liden,
Walther von der Vogelweide, Middle
Ages"1400?)
(Continued from Page 14)
undoubtedly, has his own little world. In
his book, After the Lost Generation, John
W. Peridge speaks of the boundaries of
HemingwayTs world. oThe Hemingway of
those first stories"printed in the small
de luxe way by friends in Paris"had al-
ready staked out the dimensions of this
world. The boundaries of that world
would extend from the Michigan woods
to the battlefield at Caporetto and the
bull rings of Spain around to the studios
along the Paris Left Bank.�
HemingwayTs world thrives on the utili-
zation of the senses; HemingwayTs world
is a world at war; the people of the world
operate under such conditions as, des-
paration, apprehension, emergency, and
violence; HemingwayTs world is one in
which things do not grow, but explode,
break, or are eaten away
It is easy to protest this world. It is
sometimes hard to believe this world
exists. It may be hard to distinguish
which, of all the worlds our writers of-
fer, will be the ones we shal] live in; but
no matter which we choose, a little of
HemingwayTs will be included.
31
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'GORNTO
ROSE MARIE
esc ees
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tis.
\ l We a STM ic
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The REBEL
o2
The Rebel Review
The world of the printed word is, as
always, full and rich. This world is a
self-sustaining and self-educating realm.
Its horizons are broad and its boundaries
limitless. As one steps into this varigated
realm, one sees a single factor which is
common to all its component parts. Each
has value for us. If we agree with the
idea, there is the thrill which can be
understood only if one has experienced
the sensation of having certain words
and phrases leap before his eyes and in-
tuitively knowing, oThis is me.� If we
violently disagree, there results a deeper
examination of vur own views and the
reasons underlying them. In any case,
there is stimulation of oneTs mental pro-
cesses, which is one of the most essential
of the life activities.
William F. Buckley, editor of the Na-
tional Review and oenfant terrible of the
Conservatives,� is the author of a contro-
versial new book, Up From Liberalism.
Its stated purpose is ~ooTo bring down this
thing called liberalism which is powerful
but decadent; and salvage conservatism
which is weak but viable.� Buckley lauds
McCarthyism as oa movement around
which men of good will and stern moral-
ity can close ranks.� Although many
liberals have admitted that liberalism is
in need of refining its foundations, it
remains to be shown if Mr. Buckley has
anything more than a negative approach
to offer.
Howells, His Life und Work by Van
Wyck Brooks is another interesting new-
comer. Because of the social documentary
nature of some of his work, Howells has
been placed by some in the field of cul-
tural history rather than that of litera-
ture. Brooks attempts to orecreate How-
ells and restores him to his rightful place.�
It should be noted that if the nature of
HowellsT work eliminates him from the
field of literature, the same must be said
of Theodore Driser and Thomas Mann.
Recently published is The Collected
Essays of Aldous Huxley. This volume
has been described as othe spiritual auto-
biography of its author.� HuxleyTs keen
mind probes into almost every area
FALL, 1959
known to man. In this writerTs opinion,
Aldous Huxley is unrivaled for sheer
force of the intellect.
For an unusual and controversial con-
mentary on the implications of FreudTs
work and theories, see The Freudian Eth-
ic, by Richard Ja Piere. A professor of
sociology, La Piere holds the Freudian
ethic and its implications strictly re-
sponsible for the ills of Western civiliza-
tion today.
Albert Camus, a modern enigma in
literature and philosophy, is further ex-
plored in Albert Camus and the Litera-
ture of Revolt by John Cruickshank. The
author attempts to analyze CamusT ideas
and ideology as well as his literary style
and significance.
O To Be A Dragon ig a thin volume of
poetry by Marianne Moore (Her output
seldom exceeds four poems a year.) Some
critics consider Miss Moore dated and
say that she is writing for the Twenties
and Thirties rather than for the Fifties
and Sixties. Certainly as the only real
American disciple of T. S. Eliot, she
writes for his school of criticism. Thus
she receives her share of the criticism
which maintains that modern poetry is
too academic and text-bookish. By whose
standard should she be judged, those of
the criticism she strives to meet, or those
of critics who have no appreciation of
what she is attempting to do?
Faulkner at the Unwersity"As Writ-
v-In-Residence at the University of Vir-
ginia 1957-1958, William Faulkner held
several tape-recorded interviews. Ques-
tions of his audience (ranging from a
freshman English class to Department of
psychiatry) and his replies appear in this
book. Typical questions are ohas he tried
to picture the South and Southern civili-
zation?� (oNot at allT), oWhat does he
consider the best novel by younger writ-
ers?� (The Catcher in the Rye).
oT donTt know too much about ideas. .
ITm interested primarily in people, in man
in conflict with himself, with his fellow
man, or with his time and place, his en-
vironment,� said Faulkner.
33
CormorantTs Brood
by Dr. Herbert R. Paschal
Inglis Fletcher, CormorantTs Brood (Philadelphia
and New York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1959) 345 pp.
$3.95.
For the tenth time Inglis Fletcher has
turned to the history of colonial North
Carolina for the background of a histori-
cal novel. This is dramatic testimony to
both the richness of the colonial history
of this state and the prolific pen of Mrs.
Fletcher.
CormorantTs Brood is a story of life in
Edenton and the surrounding plantation
country in the 1720Ts. It is also a story of
intrigue in high places as Governor George
Burrington, one of the cormorantTs brood
of the title, seeks to undermine his pro-
prietary masterTs rule in North Carolina
and establish royal control over the colony.
Adding further to the intrigue is the ap-
pearance on the scene of Anthony Gran-
ville, nephew of the Palatine of Carolina,
who arrives incognito in Edenton to re-
port to his uncle on the state of proprie-
tary government in the colony. Young
Granville soon becomes involved with Di-
erdra Treffry, well born and beautiful
governess in BurringtonTs household, who
spurns him for Allin Gorgas, illegitimate
heir of an old and powerful Devon family.
Moving through the pages are a galaxy
of early North Carolina notables, Edward
Moseley, Christopher Gale, John Lovyck,
and many others. The most interesting
character, and by far the best drawn, is
Governor George Burrington. His erratic
behaviour has apparently intrigued Mrs.
Fletcher as much as it has historians of
this period.
In her foreword Mrs. Fletcher writes
that this is oa novel about a quiet time.�
Perhaps this is the explanation for a
story that moves much too slowly and at
time creaks almost to a halt. One reason
for the slow pace of the action may have
been the writerTs unwillingness to expand
her story beyond the immediate vicinity of
Edenton and paint her picture on a broad-
er canvas.
Yet she gives the reader an unusually
fine picture of early Edenton and of the
34
petty, partisan politics and intrigue of
late proprietary North Carolina. Such act-
ual historical incidents as the Eden will
case, the tria] of Mary Patten, and the
Gale-Burrington feud, are skillfully
woven into the tale. Nevertheless, the
reader must bear in mind that Mrs. Flet-
cher is not trying to write history as she
would doubtless be the first to admit.
Historical events are telescoped, rearrang-
ed, and tossed aside as best suits the story.
Her contribution to the history of the
state is to awaken in the reader an in-
tense desire to learn more of what actual-
ly did happen in early Carolina. For this
Mrs. Fletcher deserves the thanks of all
who labor to unfold the true story of
North CarolinaTs past.
The Undefeated
by Virginia Evans
The Undefeated by George Paloczi-Horvath
THE UNDEFEATED winner of At-
lantic Non-Fiction Award, is a profound-
ly moving autobiography of George Pal-
oczi-Horvath, Hungarian writer and
journalist. He describes his physical and
intellectual growth in the midst of the
most ideologica] clashes in our age, his
deep concern for the people of Hungary,
and his fight to free them from injustice
by using his literary talents.
His childhood was divided between
two worlds, the feudalistic estate of his
fatherTs family and friends, and the cul-
tured atmosphere of his stepfather and
motherTs home in Budapest. George re-
belled against his fatherTs way of life on
the feudal estate. At fifteen he left both
homes for colleges in Hungary, Vienna,
and the United States. At twenty-one he
returned to Hungary and joined the staff
of the liberal paper, Pesti Naplo.
As the undercurrents of the Second
World War began to be felt, George be-
came one of the most conspicuous anti-
Nazi publicists in Hungary. In 1941 he
had to leave Hungary because his anti-
Nazi work was enraging the Germans.
He went to Cairo where he began prop-
The REBEL
aganda work with a secret British or-
ganization.
In 1947 he returned to Hungary, and
bee2n drifting toward the ideals of com-
munism. As an intellectual he felt that
comrunismTs theory of the dictatorship
oi the party leaders disguised as the dic-
tatorship of the proletariat would be re-
vised under the impact of the mid-twen-
ti th century situation. He felt also that
it was the duty of intellectuals from out-
side the party to help in the rejuvenation
of Marxism. Although he had reserva-
tions about party discipline, he applied
and s accepted by the communists as
a j-arty member. He worked and devoted
himself entirely to the ocause,� but sud-
denly when he thought he was a true par-
ty member, he was arrested by the secur-
ity police. He was swiftly taken to an
underground jail for a confession. He was
b wildeved and confused by these actions.
he was questioned for several hours with
glaring lights shining in his eyes, and
he was not allowed to sleep for two days.
The communists had said when he became
a member that his record was beyond
reproach; he knew he was innocent and
there must be a mistake. He found out
from the officers during a oconfession�
period that hig arrest concerned the work
he did during the war with the British.
The communists never gave him a con-
crete reason for his arrest.
Tortured, starved, and frozen, he was
reduced to skin and bones within fifteen
months. The officers always promised
him blankets, and better food and clothes,
but he never saw the results of their
promises. Living a semi-existence with
few rations, in verminous cells often
ankle deep in water, and a board for a
bed, he had to fight for strength to live
and to keep his sanity. By daydreaming
and giving himself lectures, he managed
to keep his mind occupied. Because he
was adept in six languages, his hard la-
bor consisted of translating books; he ap-
plied himself wholeheartedly to this
task. He knew now that he was one of
many innocent people imprisoned. by the
communists while communism was _ un-
dergoing a major change.
When he gradually had accepted the
idea that his beloved party had arrested
him without a cause, he felt like ~~some-
FALL, 1959
one who is kicked in the stomach by his
mother.� For two long and painful years
in prison, he clung to the faith of com-
munism. Suddenly he saw the utter dis-
honesty of the ocause,� and he began to
call himself a oformer communist.� Then
as the years passed he stopped being a
oformer communist.�
Five years later in September, 1954, he
was released, and he wag declared unfit
to be a party member. He started to write
articles for the Literary Gazette, which
had a platform of free writing and proved
immensely popular in Budopest. In 1956,
poems, essays, and articles were printed
attacking party dictatorship. Soon the
entire city was in arms against Soviet
Russia and communism. Demonstnations
and firing started against the security
police and Soviet troops. In November
Russian tanks poured into Budapest.
George Paloczi-Horvath again had to es-
cape from his own country through a
dark march under Russian bombing of
the area. He is now living and writing
in London still a political exile. He states,
oT am confused and believe in simple
things like common sense and common
decency.�
The Undefeated is a fascinating book.
The scenes of the war years in Hungary
and the fight of the Hungarians against
communism ig described in vivid details.
It is the story of a courageous man and
his country fighting for their right to
express themselves against uneven odds.
Love, adventure, intrigue, and excitement
are interwoven through the fast pace of
an unforgettable book.
What End But Love
by Bryan Harrison
Whkat End But Love by Gordon Webber. Little,
Brown & Co. 425 pp. $4.75.
What End But Love is the story of a
Northern family who have seen in their
time a land of sprawling farms trans-
formed into factory lots and consequently
a change in their lives. The head of the
tribe, Holly Hobart, still maintains the
old home place although on a quiet day
he can hear the whistles of the automobile
35
factories in nearby Flint, Michigan. His
many sons and daughters have gone their
own ways and he, a widower, is left alone
to uphold the Hobart farm and what is
left of the family tradition. However, he
too finally submits to the inevitable
changes of the times and makes a contract
to sell the farm to a new production plant.
The focal point of the novel is the an-
nual family reunion where all the sons
and daughters, uncles, cousins and aunts,
come home. This year many are coming
for curiosity, for they have heard the
rumor that Holly has torn up his contract
and despite his years has decided to take
a young wife.
The old manTs decision and how he
faces it in spite of the pressures of many
loves and approaching death is the dra-
matic climax of the novel. In facing it he
must fight a battle within himself and at
hig age many old memories and relation-
ships enter the fray. The memories and
the recollections of the family form the
narrative of the book. And through the
web of memories and recollections, of de-
tailed description of a rapidly-changing
men and landscapes, a true theme emer-
ges; that love, and that which goes under
the name of love, is a manTs only salva-
tion.
Here is a book that examines the many
facets of love; the love of husband and
wife, of father and son, of man and na-
ture. Gordon Webber, a superb techni-
cian, remaing consistently true to his
theme, which is expressed in a line in
William Carlos WilliamsT poem from
where he gets the title:
Death will be too late to bring us aid.
What end but love,
That stares death in the eye?
Advise and Consent
by Dr. Hubert Coleman
Advise and Consent. By Allen Drury. (Garden
City: Doubleday and Company, 1959. pp. 616.
$5.75. Book of the Month Edition).
Here is a novel about government that
will certainly supplement the civics books.
The book is so believable, so true to nor-
36
mal and accepted behavior in the U. S.
Senate, that one is likely to forget after
the first few pages that it is supposed to
be fiction. There is also the possibility
that this novel may disturb the odoctor-
patient� relationship between Senators
and their constituents. At any rate, set
down in this book is a complete explora-
tion of the varied stresses and strains un-
der which government officials operate.
One can see the awful agonies suffered
by Senators and other high government
officials in making up their minds on is-
sues when the pressures (both good and
evil) reach the unbearable stage.
The action in this book takes place
chiefly in the U. S. Senate over the no-
mination by the President of a contro-
versial figure, Bob Leffingwell, to be Se-
cretary of State. The Senate hearings are
held against the background of the terri-
ble fear of the Soviet Union, and this
fact adds importance to the office of Se-
cretary of State. The Senators know that
this is to be a battle of a lifetime, oand
each is wondering what it will mean for
him in terms of power, reputation, ad-
vantage, political fortune, national re-
sponsibility, and integrity of soul.�
The hearings developed that Mr. Lef-
fingwell while at the University of Chica-
go several years ago had belonged to a
Communist cell. When asked about this
the nominee chose to lie about it.
The struggle between the President and
the Senate gets rough. Both sides are
sincere in what they think is necessary
for the safety and defense of the country.
The President is sincerely convinced that
Leffingwell is essential to the welfare of
the country. He uses the great powers of
his office, even blackmail, to break the
Senators who are holding up confirmation.
One Senator committed suicide rather
than submit to blackmail by the Presi-
dent. Another key Senator got a written
offer from the President that he would
make the Senator his successor. This Se-
nator had to decide whether to be Presi-
dent or to be right. He could not be bought.
The souls of these strong men who differ
are bared to the reader. It is great writing,
and the s«action moves with increasing
Suspense and pressure to the climax: the
The REBEL
defeat of Leffingwell and the sudden
death of the President.
The characters are composite Senators,
but close enough to some present Senators
to cause a bit of chagrin. The events have
paraliels in recent history, but they are
generally used in different circumstances.
This is a superb novel. It has impact.
Moreover, it illuminates the strengths and
weaknesses oi the operation of the Ameri-
can government. There is also a fine ana-
lysis of the bungling that led to the diffi-
culties with the Soviet Union. The book
has a fine plot and is beautifully written.
It has excitement, suspense, drama, path-
os, comedy, tragedy"all skillfully blend-
ed to provide the reader with an interest-
ing but sobering experience.
Since Mr. Drury may feel a little chill
in the Senate after the publication of this
book, the reviewer suggests that he take
his pot of gold (royalties) and subsidize
himself as a politica] science professor.
Case For Basic Education
by Hugh Agee
The Case For Basic Education Edited by James
D. Koerner. Little, Brown, 1959. 256 pp. $4.00.
Out of the tumult of the battle over
American secondary schools comes The
Case for Basic Education, a meaningful
and hard hitting book that attacks the
weaknesses of our school program and
offers some possible solutions. The book
is sponsored by The Council for Basic
Education, and it represents the first
book of its type to be written since 1894
when the now-famous Committee of Ten
published its recommendation.
The writers of the various essays are
distinguished scholars in their respective
fields. Each writer concerns himself with
the end product of secondary education"
the graduate"and not the means to that
end. Consequently, as the editor points
out in his forward, it is not a book about
curriculum, although it is difficult to
divorce curriculum from the minds as
one reads it.
Clifton FadimanTs introductory essays
FALL, 1959
provides a challenging overture to the
reader as he lays bare the need for basic
education. His attitude, and a most formi-
dable one, it would seem"may best be
summarized in his own words:
The root of our trouble... lies in the
circumstance that somehow the average
high school graduate does not know who
he is, where he is, or how he got there.
It lies in the fact that naturally enough
he owill settle for shallow and trivial
meanings.� If nothing in his early educa-
tion hag convinced him that Newton,,
Shakespeare and Lincoln are both more
interesting and more admirable than
Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and Pat
Boone, he will find answers to his ques-
tions in Sinatra, Lewis and Boone, and
not in Newton, Shakespeare and Lin-
on css
As Douglas Bush points out in his es-
say on literature othe high school diploma
should represent a measure of positive
achievement and not simply attendance.�
Some of our systems are already becom-
ing aware of this fact as they do a re-
appraisal of social promotions.
Art, music, philosophy, and speech, the
electives treated in this book, are point-
edly listed as ~o~some electives,� and not as
the most desirable in any curriculum.
They are the most desirable from the stu-
dent viewpoint, however, as they are
most often elected.
It is doubtful that this book will re-
solve the conflict between the profession-
ial educators and the academicians, but
it does state the case for basic education
very adequately. It also places the prob-
lem into the laps of the laymen, who have
stood quietly by all too long.
The Years With Ross
by Sherre Maske
James Thurber hag written a fascinat-
ing and, in places, hilariously funny bio-
graphy of the founder and editor of the
New Yorker, Harold Ross. Mr. Thurber
was well qualified to write this book
as he was on the staff of the magazine
for 25 years and was intimately associ-
ated with its editor.
Harold Rosg was born in Aspen, Col-
37
orado, in 1892. He worked for seven dif-
ferent newspapers before he was twen-
ty-five years old, beginning when he
was only fourteen. He established the
New Yorker in 1925 and was its editor
until his death in 1951. During these
years Mr. Ross ocontributed something
that had not happened before in his
country, or anywhere else, to literature,
comedy, and journalism.�
Harold Ross was an important man and
an imposing public figure, but James
Thurber has succeeded in removing him
from his pedestal of fame and revealing
him as a warmly human and loveable
person,
Mr. Thurber began the book as a ser-
ies for the Atlantic Monthly and later
combined and supplemented these articles
to form the book, which took eighteen
months to write. The pattern is not one
of strict chronological order"the book
begins with the death of its subject"
and the reader may enjoy each chapter
as an entity in itself.
The author says that one of the minor
problems, that became a major problem
as he went along, was RossTs ovirtual in-
ability to talk without a continuous flow
of profanity . . . RossTs ~goddamT referred
to a god that had nothing to do with the
Deity .. .� The fact that Ross was often
not conscious of his profanity is appar-
ent in his farewell to a friend: ~Well,
God bless you, goddam it!�
Ross did not have an extensive liter-
ary background; one critic remarked of
him, oRossTs mind is uncluttered with
culture.� He had a seemingly instinctive
knowledge of what was right and what
was wrong in material submitted to the
New Yorker, and this instinct served him
well as editor of the magazine.
Harold RossTs social habits were ec-
centric, as Thurber expresses it. He de-
lighted in playing practical jokes on his
friends and often persuaded Thurber to
help him. He was married othree times
to women, and once, and for keeps, to
the New Yorker magazine.T�T He was com-
pletely wrapped up in his magazine and
the men and women who contributed to
it. Paul Nash, English artist, said of
38
Ross after his first meeting with him:
oHe is like your skyscrapers. They are
unelievable, but there they are.�
The Years With Ross traces the career
of James Thurber as well as that of Ross.
Thurber first went to work for the New
Yorker ag oadministrative editor. (Ross
was firmly convinced that someday he
would find a omiracle man� who would
run the office with the smoothness and
precision of a machine, and he tried
everyone who came along in the position
of ~administrative editor.�) Later both
ThurberTs writings and his drawings be-
came regular features of the magazine.
Mr. Thurber describes many others con-
nected with RossTs magazine over the
years*" Robert Benchley, Alexander
Woollcott, Ogden Nash, Peter Arno, Dor-
othy Parker"to name but a few.
The Years With Ross is more than a.
biography. It is a history of the growth
of the New Yorker from a shaky olittle
magazine� to a osupposedly ~funnyT mag-
azine doing one of the most intelligent,
honest, public-spirited jobs, a service to
civilization, that has ever been rendered
by any one publication.�
Man Who Would Be God
by Sandra Porter
Man Who Would Be God Haakon Chevalier, G. P.
Putnam and Sons, New York. $4.95, 449 pages.
This is a searching novel. While telling
a fascinating story, the author is probing
deep and exploring the area of the human
spirit and its motivation. Haakon Cheva-
lier attempts a full scale study of the
maximum amount of endurance the hu-
man spirit can take before reaching the
breaking point. How far can one go into
objectivity without losing all possible
ability for subjectivity? How far can the
human move without reaching the realm
where comprehensible values become
meaningless and communicable principles
lose their validity? Questions such as
these compose the theme of this book.
The story is set in early World War II.
The REBEL
Dr. Sebastian Bloch, perhaps the most THE LIGHT HOUSE
brilliant physicist in the world, is a much :
admired professor and leader of the lib- Soft, embracing darkness
eral left wing group on campus. His enfolds a brightened sphere"
communistic tendencies come, not from
any practical desire for revolution or
loyalty to Russia and treason to America, Each sound echoes
but from his idealistic humanitarian leaving in its wake
ideas. When he is asked to head the work
on the atom bomb he, for personal rea- ~
sons of integrity, lays aside all political that glide softly
affiliations and works merely as a scien- on the tides of night.
tist for his country. He believes that if
America gets the bomb first its prop-
aganda value will eliminate the necessity
of man made light;
the ripples of silence
for using it (this is his goal), while if ENJOY
Germany gets it first she will certainly a ca
use it. When America uses the bomb al- Carolina Dairies
though it was not essential, Dr. Bloch
rationolizes this, and it is here that his :
real deterioration becomes inevitable. The Milk and Ice Cream
remainder of the book reveals the effects heahk A
of this and the fina] degeneration of the
humanity of Sebastian Bloch. It is not a
pretty picture"human using human, the
fraility of friendship, the shaky relativity
of truth and principles, the transitory 9
nature of all things and above all, the S T E | N B E C K S
isolation and alienation of the human
spirit. SMART CLOTHES FOR
This book has a valid message for the MEN "AND BOYS
world today, especially concerning the ~A Condial Welcome. to Collade
rivalry between science and the humani- Students and Faculty :
ties. The Man Who Would Be God is
deeply symbolic. It is the kind of book that 427 S. Evans St., Greenville, N. C.
can be read over and over again gaining
new inference and ideas each time.
Guaranty Bank.
AND TRUST COMPANY
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corposation
FALL, 1959 39
WELCOME TO BE SMART!
RESPESS-JAMES " Save at "
oThe Barbecue House� First Federal Savings
Intersection Ayden-Farmville Highway and Loan Association
Greenville, N. C. Phone PL 2-4160 324 Evans Street Greenville, N. C.
Be Social
Have A Pepsi
EPSI:
FELICIOUS- HEAL oad
The Light Refreshment
Eastern CarolinaTs Shopping Center
Where a number of your fellow students
are on hand to serve you.
In the Modern MenTs Department there
is a Varsity Shop containing the following
items:
Smart styled Shoes by Florsheim, Jarman,
Bob Smart. Sweaters and Jackets by Jant-
zen and Rugby. Shirts by Arrow, Van
Heusen, and Manhattan. A big assortment g
of fine. Hickok Jewelry, Accessories and ¢&
Belts.
A wide assortment of Ivy League Styles.
See Latest Styles in Raw] Dis-
play during the month of
December
40 The REBEL
TAFF OFFICE EQUIPMENT
COMPANY
Remington Standard and Portable
Typewriters
College School Supplies
214 E. Fifth Street Greenville, N. C.
LARRYTS SHOE STORE
oSmart Styles for
the Family�
431 Evang Street
Greenville, N. C.
PERKINS-PROCTOR
oThe House of Name Brands�
oYour College StoreT�T
Fifth and Cotanche Streets
Greenville, N. C.
Compliments of
SOUTHERN GRAIN AND
OIL, INC.
TARBORO, N. C.
We Appreciate Your Business at
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FALL, 1959
Renfrew PRINTING Company
COMMERCIAL PRINTERS
GREENVILLE. NORTH CAROLINA
42
The REBEL