THE WHEREFORE OF "BABBITT"

The abundance of the wonderful in modern life has destroyed wonder, thinks Professor Canby, and wonder, has always been the filip to the poetic imagination. The marvels of science have swept away the naive curiosity with which former generations gaped at nature. But a new kind of wonder has arisen--wonder at man. The recent holocaust awoke amazement at the sordidness and stupidity with which man orders his own destiny. A whole literature of disgust has sprung forth to prod man into the realization of his incapability.

The dungheap and motorcar morality of the present novel is the symbol of man's wonder and disgust at his failure. The storm of realism which has swept away the simple sentimentality of pre-war America is not the dying gasp of a degenerate literature: it is the attempt of man to know himself. He has been trying ever since Socrates, but only in periods of disillusioned self-scrutiny has he attained any measure of success. By understanding his strengths, his weaknesses, his abilities and his stupidities he may be able to cure those desperate ills which humanity refastens upon itself in every generation. The literature of eynicism and criticism is an effort to map out the wonders of the much perplexed homo sapiens, to find some escape from the closed circuit of human degradation.