Comments on: Arrowsmith: Still Not Done

By: jwrosenzweig

jwrosenzweig — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:26:50 +0000

Wow, we seem to have had incredibly similar experiences with this one! I certainly agree about the condescension, but also your comments about Lewis’s talent (which only made his failings all the more frustrating, for me). I don’t know that I’d agree, though, that Martin Arrowsmith is so one-dimensional. I thought there was more to him than any of the other characters (pretty much all of them flat and undeveloped), and I thought he therefore had an appeal, even a limited likeability. I didn’t get frustrated as early as you did, at least.

And I know what you mean about how most of these authors seem to condescend to their characters (though not Wharton, my one shining star and the reason I press onward with hope). Is this a consistent theme in 1920s literature, or are the Pulitzer Committee’s tastes steering us in this direction (and if so, why?)? I haven’t read enough outside of this Pulitzer quest to know if this is characteristic of the age or not.

By: Dreadful Penny

Dreadful Penny — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:19:17 +0000

I don’t know that I’ve ever read a more interminable novel, and I can’t say I would have pushed as far into it as I have (270ish pages!) without insisting that it be the only book that I carry with me and that I always stay on the local when I take the train. Even with those restrictions, I’ve still chosen to catnap over read even five more pages of Arrowsmith more often than not.

“Hectoring” is the perfect word for Lewis’s tone; I just want there to be a character in this book that he genuinely admires as an author and is willing to cut a freakin’ break. Maybe this is a really accurate portrait of a main character who consistently manages to render himself unlikeable.

Also, slang, even if captured accurately, does not age well. I can’t help but wonder if the author is prettying up dialogue that, in any age, would actually have been full of f-bombs. Otherwise, it’s like the line in The Music Man about “gee whiz” and “so’s your old man.”