Cannibals and Missionaries
Wimsatt, Margaret
Books: TERRORISTS VS. TALKERS M ' ARY McCARTHY'S work, particularly her non-fictional prose, bears witness to her extended interest in political matters. But never before has a novel of hers,...
...The arguments for the value of each human life are put into the mouth of her most fatuous liberal, a Protestant clergyman...
...But never before has a novel of hers, not even the timely The Groves of Academe (1951), approached so closely to the tall bloody headlines of last year, last week, next week...
...And for anti-hero, Lucifer, there is Jeroan, chief of the terrorists, a Dutchman too, who, viewing the Rijksmuseum's treasures as a child, had desired to become an artist...
...But most important to refute is the author's assumption that works of art are more important than human beings...
...21 December 1979:727...
...I complex issues involved in trying to ~veaken the influence of sexism in Catholic religious education...
...But works of art were a different type of noncombatant, not to be touched with a tenfoot pole by any government respectful of 'values.' It was in the nature of civilians to die sooner or later.., while works of art by their nature and in principle were imperishable...
...Up in f'trst class is traveling a group of wealthy art collectors on a tour of Iran's museums and antiquities...
...But the novelist should manage things better, and McCarthy has not...
...In fact, the greatest value of the book is, perhaps, that it makes the reader newly aware of the many questions involved in any such efforts--for example, problems of language and of God-language...
...Perhaps real-life victims too have nothing to do but talk at length, reflect endlessly, or keep a journal...
...And why do all the wealthies speak like Vassar girls, circa 1934, even the husbands, even the supposedly rebellious daughter...
...problems of interpreting the scriptures, doctrinal and moral formulations and traditional practices.., problems of cultural conditioning, of authority, of realistic possibilities of change in the church...
...Margaret W~_m_eatt nation's fragile position, geographically and physically...
...It is a pleasure to recognize Miss McCarthy's real affection for and knowledge of the Netherlands, her empathy with its people, her understanding of the CANNIBALS AND MISSIONARIES Mary McCarthy Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $10.95, 369 PP...
...on whose behalf has the takeover occurred...
...He became an artist of revolution instead, and fell fatally in love with a captured Vermeer...
...So reflects a politician, presented as intelligent and good-willed...
...Why the title, which, Eighty-five theses FAITH & SEXISM GUIDELINES FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS Marianne Sawicki Seabury, $3.95, 93 pp...
...The book is about the philosophies of terrorism, the attitudes attendant upon ownership, and the fallacies of liberalism, at least as sometimes embodied...
...In spite of Miss McCarthy's opinion, the average reader does not "feel a thrill of horror" at the vanda, lism of art, and would probably rather have saved Aldo Moro than any picture anywhere...
...In spite of its spots of fast action, especially near the end, the novel is often tedious...
...Mary Perkins Ryan H IGH PRAISE is surely, due to all those concerned with this project-planners, consultants and particularly, of course, the author of the book--for their courage in thus tackling the many and though striking, does not apply...
...current events are invoked, off-page, in this particulgr fiction, But present happenings in Iran are not what her book is about...
...Her cast of characters, sometimes difficult to keep straight, numbers about thirty, including walk-ons--three groups, written with three pens...
...The loss of treasure in war is real and sad, the destruction of Coventry Cathedral or the lesser fine churches of Cologne--but this does not add up to that...
...If a hostage or two got killed, it had to be seen in the perspective of the greater good of the greater number...
...Life imitates art...
...Miss McCarthy slants her sympathies in their direction, her antipathies to~,ards the wealthy, but she lavishes the most care, the most words, on the members of the committee, so that we know them best, for what it's worth...
...The terrorists come on stage gradually, and are the~only characters to develop as the plot Unfolds...
...They include two of the most self-satisfied fools she has ever drawn, one of them a villain, several ordinary empty-heads, and Sophie Weft, a journalist, who speaks in part for the author, and is punished accordingly...
...First we are introduced to a committee of American liberals in economy class on their way to Iran to investigate alleged abuses in the Shah's jails...
...Doubtless in real life too it is true that kidnapping and ransom have their long hours of waiting, on the airport tarmac, at the jail...
...When the plane is hijacked, a rivalry develops between the two groups...
...If the novel has a hero, it is Van Vliet de Jonge, Dutch Parliamentarian, and readers will learn a lot about his country...
...In addition, they were irreplaceable, which could not be said of their owners...
...In a novel of suspense, the reviewer must not give away the ending, but I think it is fair to remark that the nastiest people go home, if not all free, at least all intact...
...This point of view is illustrated by recent examples: the kidnapping of the Kenwood House Vermeer, the desecration of the PietY, red paint sprayed on Mona Lisa...
Vol. 106 • December 1979 • No. 23
