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9 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 iiiimiiiiminiimmnMiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiimmmiiMMHimiimiiiimiimmiiimimMiniiiiMiimimiimiimiimmiiiMmmiMmiiiiiiiiiiimiiii' 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. IIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItlllllllllllHIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIItlllllltlllllllllMIIIIIIHIIIIIHIIIIIIIIII; 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