Caldwell, Erskine - Edwin Rolfe (essay date 1935)

Edwin Rolfe (essay date 1935)

SOURCE: "Progress or Retrogression?" in Partisan Review, Vol. II, No. 8, July-August, 1935, pp. 61-3.

[In the mixed review below, Rolfe finds many of the stories in Kneel to the Rising Sun amusing and pleasant, but he also considers them evidence that Caldwell's writing has stagnated, failing to address profound and complex issues.]

Erskine Caldwell has become more certain of himself during the past few years. The seventeen stories in his new volume [Kneel to the Rising Sun] are written with ease of manner, and, in most cases, with surety of execution. Occasionally, he finds a theme important enough for his abilities at their best, and the result is a remarkably moving tale like the title story of this collection or—even better—"Masses of Men". "Kneel to the Rising Sun," a narrative of the events leading up to a lynching, and of the lynching itself, deserves to be included in every...

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