Dear Editor
Dear Editor Blacks in Books I am writing in response to a truly bizarre remark in Pearl K. Bell's review of Diane Johnson's novel, The Shadow Knows ("Desperate Characters," NL, January 20). It...
...It would be strange, indeed, if some other writer knew Johnson's characters better than she...
...This "State" had most of the attributes that were consistent with the standards of contemporary Fascist governments...
...Madison, Wis...
...perhaps even a subscriber...
...In fact, it is so compelling that it could well be the cross to which his jailers will eventually nail him...
...Our members have also inspected various archives where one can find the true history and evidence of Tito's crimes...
...If so, then Bell's point is that a given novelist is more attuned to the invented creatures of her own imagining than some other novelists are to those very same fictional characters...
...On July 16, 1946, he stood before a firing squad and was shot dead...
...It should be noted, however, that Mihajlov's article contains a few mistakes...
...Of these deserters, 986 held high-ranking military positions, from battalion to division commanders...
...We have spent years taping interviews, accumulating evidence, and examining records-here in the United States, as well as in Yugoslavia and other European countries...
...Second, he declares that a white writer, with his necessarily "alien mind," is thereby rendered incapable of knowing, responding accurately to, judging, or writing about any particular blacks or blacks in general, a notion that I find not only intellectually reductive but also deplorably racist...
...The prosecution will be headed by the Dean of a leading American law school and assisted by two practicing attorneys, one from New York and the other from London...
...Can she or anyone else get away with confounding actual people with make-believe images...
...Is it even possible to judge the "accuracy" of portraits whose sitters are unknown to you...
...For why restrict it to black writers...
...From the historical, political and ethical point of view, the attitudes held by the author are both one-sided and tendentious...
...If this is correct, Bell is guilty not only of sloppy writing but also of a serious error in thought...
...Is it possible to find out anything at all about a people by reading works that at best can merely show a reflection in an alien mind...
...These men, whose mere existence chills the blood of the Titoists and keeps international attention focused on Belgrade, are more than mere symbols of another human struggle...
...Robert Ruffin Pearl K. Bell replies: I will grant Robert Ruffin his charge that the antecedent of "their" is lamentably ambiguous, but his quarrel is clearly not with my grammar...
...Now he is gone, and while we continue to mourn him, we must not forget the other grand men we can credit with equal personal sacrifice-Djurovich, Djilas, Mihajlov, and the many, many more who are continuing the battle against totalitarianism in any homeland today...
...We will clear Mihajlovich's name...
...As a human being, I strongly protest Mihajlov's arrest for expressing his views, despite the fact that this time I strongly disagree with him...
...In truth, Mihajlovich led a band of unshaven savages who, before their demise, had mercilessly slaughtered countless men, women and children...
...Perhaps the most infamous aspect of the brief struggle was the desertion of 3,592 Croation officers from the Yugoslav Army to the side of the Nazi-Fascist invading force...
...Mihajlovich Mihajlo Mihajlov's article on General Drazha Mihajlovich ("The Mihajlovich Tragedy," NL, February 3) is an excellent and important contribution...
...New York City Hrvaje Lun It was 30 years ago this May that Europe's first anti-Nazi guerrilla leader, General Drasha Mihajlovich, fought his final battle...
...Their unfaltering efforts can only help to hasten the movement toward national democracy in Yugoslavia, and we shall not let them bear the burden of this cause alone...
...The kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro did not fight on the Axis side during World War I, but on the side of the Entente...
...Nothing surprising here...
...Milan M. Radovich University of Wisconsin Memorial Library...
...All other occupied territories had provisional local governments that were appointed by and completely subordinate to the occupational military administrations...
...Secondly, his statement that Yugoslavia was forced to a shameful capitulation after two weeks of fighting because the King lacked popular support is unfounded...
...We hope that in the course of this mock trial the evidence presented will also serve to revise history's view of Mihajlovich...
...Rather, his indignant severity toward Diane Johnson's novel and my remark is based on several dubious assumptions...
...Third, his belief that readers cannot judge the accuracy of fictional portraits whose sitters are unknown to them not only belies his earlier assertion that the portraits had no sitters-were only "imaginings"-but arrogantly disregards the crucial difference between the kind of truth that must be demonstrated and the self-verifying fidelity of a work of art...
...Mihajlov has suggested that "a reintroduction of freedom of the press" in Yugoslavia may be necessary before there can be any "reevaluating [of] the civil war and particularly Mihajlovich's role" in it...
...Tito and 32 others will be charged, in absentia, with Nazi collaboration, suppression of human rights, and mass murder...
...No, it seems that the word "their" is meant to refer to actual people (i.e., black) and not to invented characters...
...Is she really so naive as to think that simply because her own imaginings about blacks happen to coincide with those of a novelist, the latter has achieved some sort of special accuracy...
...I'm shocked that even though he opposes Tito's dictatorship vehemently, he seems determined to "rehabilitate" one that was even worse...
...Albeit upon Tito's appeal for aid, this action also marked the Soviet's first postwar military intervention in the purely internal affairs of an allied nation...
...Shortly, an organization of which I am a member will be initiating such a proceeding...
...He was buried outside of Belgrade in an unmarked grave...
...But before he dies, he shall know that finally he, too, was made to stand trial...
...Soon, the cold, crooked finger of the Grim Reaper will beckon and claim Josip Broz Tito forever, and with him will go his title of "President for Life...
...That is not much, but it is certainly more than you could possibly find out by reading a white author...
...With the help of the Soviet Air Force, Tito's Partisan divisions annihilated the last fighting units The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...First, he seems to think that "invented" characters in a novel are idle fantasies having no connection with or resemblance to real people-a bizarre view of the relation between experience and the art of fiction...
...R. Mihalich-Cooper Until recently I have read The New Leader only occasionally...
...Seven hollow-nosed bullets pierced his chest and blew an eight-inch hole out of his back...
...This was done to an old man whose great "crime" was to engage in battle with Nazi and Communist oppressors...
...Mihajlov makes another error in saying that after Yugoslavia fell to the Axis invaders, there existed two puppet states-namely Croatia and Serbia...
...there is no doubt about that...
...But this obvious and banal point can hardly be what is intended...
...As the struggle for freedom continues, however, the truth must always receive our top priority...
...Describing it as the interplay of historical circumstances, a mixture of the impotency of Yugoslav democracy and the Machiavellian pragmatism of certain protagonists at home and abroad, Mihajlov courageously brought the truth about this sad story to the public's attention...
...If you read anything by a black author, you won't find out a great deal about blacks in general, but at least you will learn something about the nature of the imagination of that particular black...
...At present, we are in the process of considering firms and individuals that might be interested in handling the defense...
...But we emigre Yugoslavs are proud of the fact that the blood of our homeland runs warm in our veins, and I can assure him that the extended efforts of our various ethnic organizations are quite well along in vindicating the General...
...But after the appearance of the recent Mihajlov article, you have gained another steady reader...
...Monterey, Calif...
...In the nine days prior to the German invasion-the length of Peter II's reign-it would have been impossible for anyone to bring about the political cohesion that previous Yugoslav governments had failed to achieve for decades...
...of this legendary hero...
...Again suffering Tito's inimitable brand of "justice" because of his writings, the author is clearly the victim of a new series of Yugoslav witchhunts, well-known in previous decades...
...They all surrendered their units and command posts less than 48 hours after Hitler's attack commenced...
...It would seem to be "characters...
...However, my reasons for wanting to follow you more closely are mostly negative...
...The term "Axis powers," of course, belongs to the World War II era...
...It appears in a sentence that strikes me as a unique mixture of poor grammar and questionable thinking, which would not be worthy of notice if it did not involve black people, The sentence reads: "While all of Miss Johnson's black characters are drawn with flawless unsentimental precision-her ear for their vitality, their anger and sadness, is more accurately tuned than that of many black writers-Osella is a malevolent masterpiece...
...The event will be filmed by both West German and British-Canadian television stations...
...Who or what is the referrent of "their...
...Actually, there existed only one such state, the so-called "Independent State of Croatia," created as a kingdom and linked to the throne of the Italian dynasty...
...The views of Mihajlo Mihajlov greatly hurt me, both as a Yugoslav citizen and as a strong believer in the final victory of democracy over all tyrannical regimes, including the one currently in power in Yugoslavia...
...The dastardly incarceration of individuals who have sought to initiate change and expose to the world some of the miseries that man is still inflicting upon man is unquestionably cause enough for the jailor himself to be judged...
...Indeed, every believer in freedom the world over must join these patriots in their struggle and vigorously protest the regime's constant efforts to still their voices...
...Cos Cob, Conn...
Vol. 58 • March 1975 • No. 6
