Life, 1925-10-22 · page 8 of 74
Life — October 22, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces: **Top cartoon**: Shows a dinosaur figure confronting another character, with text about "an age of unbelief." This appears to satirize skepticism toward evolution or religious doubt in the modern era. **"Bedtime Story"**: A prose satire about an author who writes a mediocre book, gets it rejected domestically, publishes it abroad under a false name, then has it "discovered" and praised by multiple critics upon re-import. This mocks the literary establishment's tendency to value foreign or prestigious-seeming sources over domestic merit. **Bottom cartoon**: Depicts a figure walking past multiple books on pedestals labeled "JAZZ," satirizing what appears to be the proliferation or commercialization of jazz literature/culture. **"The Vogue" section**: A brief dialogue about debt and financial negotiations. The page satirizes pretension in literature, criticism, and culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Weegaellos sty The Minotaur WHETHER You VFS, THIS IS AN AGE OF UNBELIER! WILY, THE DAY MAY COME WHEN SOME PrOPLe WILL DOURT Ok T EVER EXISTED! Bedtime Story NCE there was an author who had one row after another with the critics. “These fools!" he shouted. “What do they know about Art? Parasites, asses that they are! How can they pre sume to pass judgment on my work?” At last he decided to show the critics up. “I will write,” said he, “the silliest book I can write and T will have it published abroad under an assumed name Then I will have it translated and published over here After which all the critics will fall on their faces and hail it as a Masterpiece. Then I will show them up!" So he did write the silliest book imaginable, and he had COMIC STRIP ARTIST GOING THROUGH IIS DAILY nOZEN it published under an assumed name abroad, and then | had it translated and published over here. And before very long, a critic came out and hailed it as te great book. Then a second critic came and hailed it a a great book, And a third critic, and a fourth, a fifth. « sixth... When the twelfth critic had added his praises to th laudations of the others, the author announced that th hook was his and that it was excellent. And when the cighteenth critic roasted the book, the author sat down and wrote him a letter, asking him, “What do you know about Art. anyway?" Bertram Bloch, The Vogue ILL: When are you going to pay me that ten you owe? Pui: T intend to open negotiations with you soon with a view to funding the debt UR Bureau of Missing Wars has just reported the discovery that the Taena-Arica dispute is not a dis agreement between a couple of rival tooth-paste manufacturers. That matter heing settled, our Bureau is now en- deavoring to ascertain what it is. comicbooks.com