07/07/2005 11:25 PM
Posted by T-Rex

Generation of Vipers Philip Wylie

Read any good invectives lately? They never seem to have the punch they used to. I mean , today's Jeremiads take themselves a bit too literally. The heavy handed doomsday speech of the religious right seems to be our main source for a good moral ass-whooping, and frankly, they're so tied up in maintaining the prejudicial status quo against anyone who's having a good time that you can't read their shit without wanting to punch their lights out or wallow in a puddle of self abasement. The liberals are at least more accepting of sins of the flesh, but crimes against humanity or the environment? I suddenly regret every single unecessary square of toilet paper I used to wipe my bum, imagining the growing cess pool that could be my grandchild's drinking water. No fun.

Perhaps the secret in enjoying a tongue lashing is distance. If you see too much of yourself in the subject, then you risk becoming a hypocrite, or worse, a convert. But time seems to temper this genre. Take Philip Wylie's Generation of Vipers. (Yep, he's quoting Christ there. But don't worry--according to Wylie, Christ is one of the vipers.) This book was published in 1942, the first year the U.S. fought in WWII, so there's your historical context. Wylie purportedly wrote Vipers in about seven weeks, and considered it a convulsive action, involuntary but not uninformed. Unlike some of our recent war time non-fiction entries in the New York Times Bestseller list, this book does not ooze with American self love. Wylie was not above kicking our nation in the spiritual nads when we were down.

The result is hilarious, enraging, sobering, and shocking. Wylie spares no one. Homosexuals, intellectuals, Bible thumpers, scientists, senators, even--and especially--dear old Mom. Ever wonder where the backlash against women dominated domesticity came from? Well, this is the book that started the late 1940's and 1950's movement against "Momism". It even coined the term. Sensitive readers might prickle at Wylie's apparent mysogyny. However, when you look at the scale of Wylie's attack (men, children, and household pets are slaughtered in other chapters) and consider that he's railing against the phenomenon that sent women back into the homes for a mad twenty years, suddenly he could be Betty Fridan's best buddy. Doctors are skewered for ignoring the poor; scientists (not to be confused with the doctors) are book brained imbeciles still shackled to religion. Young women are waspy Cinderellas looking for their fellas, and the fellas are in danger of becoming panty waisted fags or leading the standard, if not wasteful, lives of quiet desperation. And the root of all this? Our inablitlity to take stock of our own shortcomings, own them for ourselves, and fix them. In short, we're all going to hell because we're making it right here on the homefront.

But Wylie's book goes deeper than a laundry list of complaints against anything institutionalized in American Culture. He actually has a theory, and it hinges largely on Jungian analysis. His quest for truth--no matter how demeaning and ego-shattering--was a personal one that he made in his own therapuetic journey. As much as it sounds like Wylie wants to beat most Americans with a nobby stick, he really just wants us to spend a few years in analysis. For inspiration, he provides a sample analysis of the man most consider beyond the shrink couch: Jesus Christ. If you can read no other chapter, then at least check out "The Man on the Cross". Whether or not you believe in the divinity of Christ, it's just good fun to read a preacher's son calling Jesus an unfulfilled megolomaniac with a suicide wish. it doesn't get any better than this. Wylie believes he has handled his shit. He's using Christ as a celebrity example of how to handle shit in general, and now he's taking it to the streets. Unlike so many other Jeremiads that focus on one issue, or two or three groups with an issue, Wylie's harangue does not focus. Period. His frustration with America--with every single American-- is in our inability to slow down our own spin, cut through our own crap and deal with our "issues".

Bottom Line: This is a romping good time. At around 300 pages, it flies by, especially if you like emotionally charged non-fiction. You get so pissed, then curious, then saddened, then confused, then pissed again that you just keep reading for the emotional charge. The sixty year gap does boggle at times, but if anything, it invites you to research a bit so you understand the context better. Highly recommended, especially for history buffs, political or social science fans, or anyone who just likes getting pissed off now and then. Like me.