P I E C E S O F H A T E
HEYWOOD BROUN
PIECES OF HATE
And Other Enthusiasms
B Y H E Y W O O D B R O U N
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PUBLISHERS 1922 NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1922
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PIECES OF HATE.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO MY FATHER
HEYWOOD C. BROUN
PREFACE
The trouble with prefaces is that they are partial and so we havedecided to offer instead an unbiased review of "Pieces of Hate." Thepublishers have kindly furnished us advance proofs for this purpose.
We wish we could speak with unreserved enthusiasm about this book. Itwould be pleasant to make out a list of three essential volumes forhumanity and suggest the complete works of William Shakespeare, theBible and "Pieces of Hate," but Mr. Broun's book does not deserve anysuch ranking. Speaking as a critic of books, we are not at all sure thatwe care to recommend it. It seems to us that the author is honest, butthe value of that quality has been vastly overstressed in present-dayreviewing. We are inclined to say "What of it?" There would be nothingparticularly persuasive if a man should approach a poker game and say,"Won't you let Broun in; I can assure he's honest." Why should arecommendation which is taken for granted among common gamblers beconsidered flattering when applied to a writer?
Anyhow, it does not seem to us that Broun carries honesty to excess.There is every indication that most of the work in "Pieces of Hate" hasbeen done so hurriedly that there has been no opportunity for a recount.If it balances at any given point luck must be with him as well asvirtue. All the vices of haste are in this book of stories, criticalessays and what not. The author is not content to stalk down an idea andsalt it. Whenever he sees what he believes to be a notion he leaves hisfeet and tries to bring it down with a flying tackle. Occasionally thereactually is an exciting and interesting crash of flying bodies cominginto contact. But just as often Mr. Broun misses his mark and falls onhis face. At other times he gets the object of his dive only to findthat it was not a genuine idea after all, but only a straw man, a sortof tackling dummy set up to fool and educate novices.
And Broun does not learn fast. Like most newspaper persons he is anextraordinary mixture of sophistication and naïveté. At one moment hewill be found belaboring a novelist or a dramatist for sentimentalityand on the next page