HOW TO REVIVE AN ART

Winston Churchill, one of the first politicians to see the threat posed by an Austrian crackpot named Adolf, once said something to the effect that he could see farther into the future, because he looked further back into the past.

Following that strategy, searching for new influences and sources, I’ve been studying American cultural history of past decades. Current one examined: the 1930’s.

Which has led me to a uniquely overlooked novel: City for Conquest by Aben Kandel. A throwback to when novels were large of experience and passion, and attempted to encompass the world. Were critical standards different from what they are now (critics today favor inward-looking tomes of refined language), it might be considered one of the nation’s great novels, as it portrays the reality of America and its growth as well as any novel ever has. Instead, though, to know about the work, you have to find out about it by accident, inevitably by encountering the minimalist-by-comparison movie version. For the gatekeepers of “Literature-with-a-capital-L,” the novel might not be politically incorrect, but it’s stylistically unacceptable. Too raw. Too real.

The book is described in the Introduction to its latest printing as “vivid, overwrought, and melodramatic.”

My reaction: Awesome! This is exactly what the new novel will need to be to grab the attention of the unwary in this tumultuous, ultra-noisy civilization– every bit as noisy today near the end of 2023 as the way Kandel described it in 1937. I’m nine chapters into the book and it doesn’t disappoint. Its strengths adeptly utilized can be part of an upcoming and very necessary Culture Shock provided by never-before-seen kinds of literary products able to stand a once-great but currently-stagnant art form on its head.

Don’t bet against it.

-Karl Wenclas