Just Plain Folk

...Just Plain Folk A Vein of Riches By John Knowles Atlantic—Little, Brown 343 pp $9 95 Reviewed by Laurel Graeber The rich who are at the center of John Knowles' latest novel have few qualities that distinguish them, and few capabilities entitling them to their money Having grown wealthy from the coal boom of the early 1900s, the Catherwood family doesn't know how to cope with the position it is thrust in Clarkson Catherwood, businessman and mogul, acquires large sums that his son, Lyle, squanders, and his wife, Minnie, puts aside for worthy causes These are not remarkable people, but that is Knowles' point It doesn't take genius to build a dynasty, only greed The author, however, is not so preoccupied with ethical considerations that he neglects a story The one told here is the stuff television movies are made of It spans two decades, during which Lyle Catherwood reaches adulthood, confronts his past and falls in love with an older woman, Dons Lee Pence, who happens to be his father s mistress She is also a widow—a situation both Lyle and Clarkson are partially responsible for bringing about The death of Virgil Pence is, in fact, the turning point of the novel and its best-written episode Instead of fitting the action into a moral framework as Knowles does elsewhere, here his points flow from the incident The chapters preceding Virgil's demise consist of letters he writes to his v,ite The reader sees the emotional turmoil ot the miners' revolt, the decisions precipitating the crisis, the evolution of events leading to the bloodshed, and the contusion ot a \oung man m-\ol\ed—albeit marginally—in a cause that he has no clear allegiance to The tone is touching and believable, and Virgil's accidental death has a stronger impact than most crises in the book The message, though, is the same Power corrupts When coal (and later oil) is discovered, people worship it for its economic potential The rich then try to justify their status by implying that they, too, should be worshipped "It seemed that anyone who was in high society was not just privileged, but also somehow charmed, specially endowed by destiny, even, some might say, the favored of God " The novelist then shows that the joke is on them In an ironic passage, Lyle prays with a shabby country preacher who has won his mother's faith The Reverend Roanoke has the reputed ability to determine whether or not his followers will enter the Kingdom of Heaven And his verdict is that Lyle will not get there The book is most effective when Knowles creates such illustrative moments Unfortunately, the characters too often engage in vague philosophical ramblmgs concerning conditions they refuse to change Minnie Cather-wood, for instance, adheres to her principles—nonviolence and compromise—yet she lacks the initiative to implement them for the benefit of the miners' children she cares so much about Subtly warning her menfolk of impending doom, she becomes a Cassandra with an embroidery hoop Thus, while the writer hints that there is more to Minnie than her family imagines, he never shows us just what it is, and she is somewhat unconvincing Knowles fares better with Dons Lee Pence, making it clear that she is no simple opportunist Although she could earn a living on her own, her decision to be a "kept woman" is based on the realization that she needs a "protector " Alone with a child in a new city, the book asks, "What else could she do7" Nevertheless, she has too much integrity to let herself be completely supported, and too much sense to believe black diamonds are indestructible Unlike many of the figures m the book, she is a survivor, not a parasite But when it comes to treating Dons Lee as a feeling being, not simply as a modern woman in an evolutionary period, Knowles is less successful It is difficult to understand why a woman who sincerely loved her husband would become involved with his urbane, somewhat unscrupulous, former employer, other men could have protected her equally well Intriguing possible explanations—among them the bond of shared guilt for Virgil's death—are left undeveloped, as are the reasons why Dons Lee alternately spurns and encourages Lyle And what she finally does is no more plausible than the ending of The Summer of '42, her head may be in the right place, but her heart is misguided As for Lyle, he is as much of a di&-appointment to the reader as he is to his father Knowles must have intended him to embody all the moral ambivalence of the times Upon becoming involved in the miners' uprising, he tends to sympathize with their cause, as soon as he sees an opportunity to achieve glory by betraying them, he does so While Lyle eventually sheds some of this adolescent caprice, he never attains enough stature to justify—or resolve—his perpetual self-searching, he's a Prince Hal who never grows up Part of the problem Knowles has with his characters is perhaps attributable to the form of the "big novel " Unlike the intense, private world of his A Separate Peace, the author is In Coming Issues Ruth Mathewson on Daniel Levinson's 'The Seasons ol a Man's Life' and George E Vaillanl s 'Adaptation to Life' Theodore Draper on Vivien Gornick's 'The Romance of American Communism writing about the entire Industrial Revolution In attempting to treat all the great themes—religion and nihilism, sexual and class conflict, love and death—he says a little about everything and a lot about nothing The novelist also seems hampered by his perspective He is so determined to show that the rich are gods, he makes them less than mortal, the Ca-therwoods, the Chftons, the Hayses, and the other millionaire families of West Virginia are ultimately too ordinary Knowles depicts them as downhome folks gone astray, deluded beings who fear what he already knows—that they would be nothing without their Packards Still, even if all the coal kings were peasants at heart, they must have had some intellect and will to have gotten ahead in business That fortune and power dropped into their laps is too simple a thesis Similarly, human vice may be at the heart of all historical tragedies, including the Depression, but to blame all on greed is like taking Dons Lee's simple-minded view of the Civil War It wouldn't have happened if God hadn't made people different colors Moreover, Knowles dispenses with one myth—that the rich are endowed with superhuman gifts—only to replace it with another—that poverty purifies At the book's conclusion, we see that Clarkson and Minnie have reached a new understanding, Lyle has been redeemed by love, and Dons Lee Pence is again on her way to dignified wifedom—all this through the beneficent effects of bankruptcy Freed from the burden of name and fortune, the Catherwoods and those influenced by them can fulfill their human potential The plot has potential for real drama, and the historical passages are frequently fascinating Nonetheless, Knowles should have worried less about whether a camel can go through the eye of a needle and more about the camel Then we might have seen how men mold history, instead of how they become its puppets As matters stand, A Vein of Riches is a big book that is fun to read but easily forgotten...