This chapter considers how Rahv’s Marxism and anti-Stalinism shaped his timid response to fascism. It presents the loosening of his ties with Marxism and move toward the American identity manifest in “Paleface and Redskin,” which divided American writers into plebian redskins (Steinbeck, Dreiser) and patrician palefaces (Eliot, James). The muted response to the Holocaust by major newspapers, the Roosevelt administration, and Jewish groups sets the stage for a discussion of how Partisan Review responded, including publishing Eliot despite his alleged anti-Semitism. A discussion of the complexities of Rahv’s marital status and military record is followed by a consideration of “Under Forty,” essays on Jewish identity by eleven young Jewish writers which Rahv published as editor of Contemporary Jewish Record in February 1944 and which reflected his evolving identity as an American Jew. The chapter closes with reactions to the Holocaust—by Rahv, New York intellectuals, and in my own life.
