Books: A Socialist in Rome

ROMAN HOLIDAY — Upton Sinclair — Farrar & Rinehart ($2.50).

Upton Sinclair writes in a wide-eyed way that is reminiscent of Little Rollo. but the things he writes about are not Rollo-esque. If a civilization could be destroyed by “indicting” it, Indicter Sinclair would long since have left not one stone upon another.

The narration of Roman Holiday, Sinclair’s latest attack on capitalism, is put in the mouth of an advocatus diaboli: Luke Faber, conservative New Englander. manufacturer and gentleman-driver of racing cars. He is rich, socially correct. has a mistress and a fiancee, is popular with his fellow-townsmen and a power in the local American Legion. When the Reds make trouble in Rivertown factories. Faber helps organize a raid on their headquarters. Then comes the annual automobile race, “the Rivertown classic.” Faber, the local favorite, is doing well, when he blows a front tire, hits the rail and crashes.

When he comes to himself he is in ancient Rome, having just cracked up in a chariot race. Except that he finds himself talking Latin, that his name is Lucius instead of Luke, everything is exactly the same. The Fabers have the same position in Rome as in Rivertown, the same conservative point of view, the same worries and troubles with labor agitators. As in real life, Lucius finds the issue confused for him by falling in love with Marcia a rabid Red. When she is killed in his arms the shock brings him back to Rivertown again, and the first thing he learns is that the real Marcia has really been killed. Then he is in a chaos. Still violently opposed to the Reds, he begins to doubt the divine right of his own convictions, thinks “Maybe this is another religion!”

Upton Sinclair is ingenious but unconvincing. He has tried to show that a capitalist civilization bears within it the germ of its own death; but what he suggests is merely that civilization moves in cycles.

The Author. Like many a home-grown U. S. prophet, Upton Sinclair is not without honor in other countries. His books are well-known and admired by many a radical group in foreign lands; they have been published in 34 countries outside the U. S. Says he: “The thing to which this author is ‘dedicated’ is the promotion of social justice throughout the world. If, however, he were ‘dedicated to a sense of his own importance,’ it would not be so surprising, considering how many editors and critics are ‘dedicated’ to a sense of his unimportance.” Slight, professional, Upton Sinclair is an unremitting propagandist for himself and Socialism. When he talks his face is bright with a fanatic smile; he writes with humorless conviction. Eastern-bred, he lives in Pasadena, has twice run as Socialist candidate for Governor of California. Other books: The Jungle, The Brass Check, The Goose-Step, Oil!, Boston.