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THE SOUT HERN I_S R A E L I T E
The Ten Best Books
A Critic Reviews His Favorites And Others
By HENRY MONTOR
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In the following comprehensive article, Mr. Monitor reviews the
literary outf/ut of the year 5691 and chooses ten books in the
fxetwn aiid ten in. the non-fiction field which he regards as the
outstanding volumes of the twelve-month period. His comments
on the work of contemporary Jewish writers provide an illumi
nating survey of the status of Jews in the Literary world.
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PROF. HAROLD LASKI
The noteworthy aspect of the
books written by Jews during
the past year is their unprece
dented preoccupation w r ith some
phase of Jewish life. In reviews
of the literary output of Jewish
authors in previous years, it has
been necessary to emphasize
that such and such a book was
selected for inclusion among the
best volumes of the year simply
because its author was Jewish.
And inevitably there followed
the observation that writing Jews have no con
cern with that milieu which should have the
most intimate attraction for them and with
which they should be the most conversant.
It may, of course, be a coincidence that a
greater proportion than ever of the books by
Jews published during the past year have some
form of Jewish background. On the other hand,
it is undeniable that many Jews who have
hitherto remained aloof from the Jewish ques
tion and who have professed to see their birth
as a pure accident with no relationship what
ever to their temperament or their outlook are
beginning to penetrate beyond the fiction which
they set up. The inwardness of the literary Jew
may be a natural phenomenon, the climax of a
process of normal development. It is more likely,
however, that the outside world is a more potent
’actor in making the Jew turn to himself for his
literary material. The Jew everywhere is being
objected to an extraordinary pressure. Many
respond to that force by repudiating their Jew-
-hness entirely. Many more, however, begin to
ake a closer interest in the factors which op
press them. That makes for a greater percentage
of Jewish writing.
I have been thoroughly arbitrary in selecting
the number ten as the limit for the best fiction
of the year. But out of the fiction
ten, eight deal entirely with Jew
ish life or a Jewish character
plays a central role. In the non
fiction list, four are in one way
or another related to Jewish lit
erature and history, past or con
temporary. That is the highest
percentage that has ever been
compiled. It must be said at the
outset that the mere fact that a
book deals with Jewish life did
not give it a place in the selection
of the year’s best. Almost all the
ten in both lists not only com
pare favorably with the books
that might be selected in a gen
eral summary but in most in
stances are synonymous. That
ISAAC DON LEVINE
FELIX SALTEN
E HURST
coincidence might furnish the
theme for a long essay on the
utterly disproportionate number
of Jews in the literary world.
What holds true in the profes
sions, with regard to Jewish
overcrowding, is most certainly
true in the writing field. It will
not be long, perhaps before the
Author’s League in this country
and the P. E. N. abroad will be
gin considering the problem of
clamping a numerus clausus on
Jewish writers. This measure of self-protection
by Christians will be forgiven in the case of some
writers. In the main, however, it is not chauvin
ism to say that writers of Jewish origin domi
nate the contemporary world of letters far be
yond their proper ratio. The explanation for that
will be left to Jewish theologians and to profes
sional Jews who have worked out some mystic
theory as to why and how Jews constitute the
Chosen People.
The ten books by Jews which, I think, emerge
from the level of monotonous writing are the
following (fiction) : “Success,” by Lion Feucht-
wanger; “Last Days of Shylock,” by Ludwig
Lewisohn; “Fifteen Rabbits,” by Felix Salten,
“Sampson and Delilah,” by Felix Salten; “Be
loved,” by Sarah Levy; “Back Street,” by Fan
nie Hurst; “The Pure in Heart,” by Franz
Werfel; “Thirty-One Families Under Heaven,”
by George Fink; “A Jew in Love,” by Ben
Hecht; and “Yehuda,” by Meyer Levin.
The ten most important books in the non-fic
tion field which include one by a non-Jewish
author, selected because of its significance, are
the following: “Liberty in the Modern State,”
by Harold J. Laski; “Universities,” by Abraham
Flexner; “Since Calvary,” by Lewis Browne;
“Hebrew Reborn,” by Shalom Spiegel; “Stalin,”
by Isaac Don Levine; “Tin Pan
Alley,” by Isaac Goldberg;
“Christians Only,” by Heywood
Broun and George Britt; “Stud
ies in the Literature of Natural
Science,” by Julian M. Drach-
man; “History of the Jews in
Venice,” by Cecil Roth; and
“Royal Charles,” by David Loth.
In many respects Harold
Lask’s “Liberty in the Modern
State” is the most important vol
ume of the year. Written with
graceful simplicity, it is a pow
erful statement of what the mod
ern liberal can and should be
lieve. It is a book which adds to
Laski’s prestige as the most
compe- (Please turn to page 40)
LOUIS BROWN