11 JULY 1931, Page 28

Those passages of Money Writes (T. Werner Laurie, 7s. 6d.)

in which Mr. Upton Sinclair writes about his own experiences of the capitalist press, and of other writers whom he has known, are valuable as a picture of contemporary America. ' Where he deals in pure literary criticism, he is less interesting. He is only capable of seeing things from one angle ; if a writer is not also a Communist propagandist, he stands condemned in Mr. Sinclair's eyes. If the author had really been serious in his attempt to expose the corruption of literary America he would not have wasted powder and shot upon many of the writers whom he mentions. Though " corruption " is not the right word ; as a senator once said to Mr. Sinclair about judges, the literary men "are not corrupt.; they are selected." In writing about the system of selection, Mr. Sinclair, though plausible, is not quite honest. If every-thing he said were true, he would not have been able to say it. The truth is that Americans, like Englishmen in this respect:, love them that revile them, and especially anyone who will tell them that they are Machiavel- lian in their designs. It flatters them ; and it is by this form of flattery that Mr. Sinclair makes his living.

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