Hardly A Triumph

Philip Wylie is getting old, and all the worst aspects of his writing are becoming accentuated as he ages. His latest novel, Triumph, treats the Third World War with hysteria and platitudes; his improbable plot is no more than an unwieldy vehicle to parade Wylie's ideas on desegregation, prejudice, sex, miscegenation, brotherly love and a swarm of other fascinating topics. Unfortunately for the novel, Wylie's ideas of these and all other matters are insipid. His book is the dullest piece of writing you can find anywhere on the best-seller list.

Americans today seem peculiarly fascinated with stories of how they will all be eventually vaporized. Two of the top ten best-sellers deal with the theme of atomic war. But unlike Fail-safe, in which a mere two cities are destroyed, Triumph obliterates two continents. The Russians--those traditional villains--start a war, their cunning leaders having first stashed away several thousand people in bombproof shelters. These people will provide a nucleus for Soviet world domination once the bothersome populations of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. have been eliminated.

Some Survive

Nobody in America survives, with the exception of 14 people in millionaire Vance Farr's plush fallout shelter. They form a fascinating group. With Farr himself, there is his alcoholic wife; a Jewish physicist; Farr's lovely daughter; a Japanese engineer; a Chinese 'Cliffie; an electric company meter-reader; a Negro house man and his lovely daughter (a Vassar graduate); Farr's latest mistress, her real lover--the list continues, and continues. Not content with saving a handful of people Wylie insists on a whole regiment. Indeed he has little choice: with so many themes to handle, he needs a wide variety of ministers to preach, and sinners to reform. He also needs time, so he keeps his actors underground for two years.

Miracles Underground

In the meantime, American atomic submarines polish off the hidden evil Russians, foiling their scheme for world domination. But this is secondary to the miracles of personality transformation that take place underground. With endless fanfare and speeches, Farr gives up his mistress and his wife gives up the bottle; the Japanese engineer and the Chinese student get together--but only after a painfully long dissertation on tolerance and race prejudice; the Vassar girl becomes very attached to a meter-reader and undertakes his education (he's really very bright); Farr's mistress proves that she has a heart of gold. Finally, after two years--it seems longer to the reader--they are all whisked off to Australia, where a brave new world is forming, free from evils of the last.

What does it all prove? Nothing except that enough people will tolerate platitudinous writing to hoist another bad book up onto the best-seller list.