Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade
About this book
The 2nd of three volumes by Wald tracking political & personal lives of several generations of US left-wing writers, "Trinity of Passion" carries forward the chronicle launched in "Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-20th-century Literary Left." This volume delves into literary, emotional & ideological trajectories of radical cultural workers in the era when the Internat'l Brigades fought in the Spanish Civil War ('36-39) & the USA battled in WWII ('41-45). Probing in detail the controversial impact of the Popular Front on literary culture, he explores the ethical & esthetic challenges that pro-Communist writers faced. He presents a cross section of literary talent, from famous to forgotten. The writers examined include Len Zinberg (aka Ed Lacy), John Oliver Killens, Irwin Shaw, Albert Maltz, Ann Petry, Chester Himes, Henry Roth, Lauren Gilfillan, Ruth McKenney, Morris U. Schappes & Jo Sinclair. He also uncovers dramatic new information about Arthur Miller's complex commitment to the Left. Confronting heartfelt questions about Jewish masculinity, racism at the core of liberal democracy, the corrosion of utopian dreams & the thorny interaction between antifascism & Communism, Wald recreates the intellectual & cultural landscape of a remarkable era.PrefaceIntroduction: the strange career of Len Zinberg Tough Jews in the Spanish Civil War The agony of the African American leftThe peculiarities of the GermansA rage in Harlem Disappearing acts The conversion of the Jews Arthur Miller's missing chapter Conclusion: the fates of antifascismNotesAcknowledgments & SourcesIndex