Life, 1926-07-01 · page 34 of 40
Life — July 1, 1926 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertisements with editorial content satirizing serious literature. The main satire targets Theodore Dreiser's *An American Tragedy* (1925), a dense naturalistic novel about murder and class struggle. Life's "Compiling an American Tragedy" mockingly reduces Dreiser's weighty narrative to absurdist domestic trivia: a husband named Tom is devastated because his wife Anna hasn't prepared cole slaw for supper—despite serving it the previous two nights. The satire copies Dreiser's overwrought psychological realism ("Tom's mind was confused with all these questions") applied to utterly trivial concerns. Instructions to "reprint the above paragraph twenty-five times" mock Dreiser's exhaustive, repetitive style. The surrounding ads (Johnston's Chocolates, Hackercraft boats, hair remedies) are period typical. A brief note mentions the Geneva Disarmament Conference. The joke: Life ridicules modernist literature's pretensions by applying its serious techniques to meaningless subject matter—suggesting Dreiser's acclaimed novel is equally overwrought about nothing important.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Distinétion of a Gift of JohnSton’s Chocolates ‘THE sophisticated giver well knows the value of Johnston's for paying social “debts,"—for Johnston's is always correct. agency for Jobniton's Chocolates in ene of Pinnacle place among the the better class ores finethings thathavebecome in your neighbourbood, part of our daily lives, ROBERT A. JOHNSTO NEW YORK . CHICAGO . MILWAUKEE The secret of its good-ness is one of a generation's 2 , standing. Today... because Yeu will finda ffecial Y of ic, Johnston's has won a N Co MINNEAPOLIS. I T is expected that the Geneva Dis- armament Conference will ad- urn in time for the mili naval members to rejoin their com- mands for the fall manwuvres. ry and Spend your playtime on the water, Bid dull care goodbye as you speed away in a Hacker Dol- phin. No long lines of traffic — no dust — no nerve strain. Learn more about Hackereraft, the runabout of refine: ment ; as reliable as your car. Mail the coupon now. ERMANN ‘om ane Lire's Fresh Air Fund (Co ontinued from page 26) Thomas + Wither= eae Class of 1928, Horace " Learue, New York. Anna D. Wight, In_memory of \ Rotert E. Carty, vi Schnakenherg, New York . Reverly Hills, Cait. : Master Crawford t Compiling an American Tragedy (Continued from page 10) the wincing had died down. “You know how well I like cole slaw, and have always liked it.” “I certainly do know your fond- ness for cole slaw, Tom,” replied his wife, but with a note of regret in her voice, for she was thinking that she had no cole slaw for supper on the particular night of which we are speaking. “But you will remember that we had cole slaw last night with the cold tongue, and night before last with the baked beans and——” (Run attached “Fifteen Midsum- mer Menus for Cole Slaw Lovers.”) Chapter IV REPARED as Tom was not to have cole slaw for supper, he could not hide his disappointment. Anna had been a good wife to him. But somchow to-night, when he had brought Arthur Berolston home to supper, his disappointment was particularly keen, for he and Arthur had been discussing cole slaw all the way up East Division Street, across Division Strect and through to the southwest corner of Dawson and Margate, where Tom lived, and each had said how much he liked it. Should he strike Anna for failing him at this juncture? He, Tom Ret- tle, strike his wife, Anna Rettle? And, even if he should decide to strike her, where should he direct the blow? Tom's mind was confused with all these questions. (Reprint the above paragraph twenty-five times.) Chapters V-LXXXII inclusive To printer: With the above copy you will find a brief-case containing newspaper clippings giving the com- plete testimony of Anna Rettle, Thomas Rettle and Arthur Berolston in the case of “ANNA Rettie vs. Tuomas Rettie,” tried in the Crim- inal Court of Testiman County, Sep- tember 2-28, 1925. There is also a transcript of the testimony of three neighbors of the Rettles’ (Herman Nordquist, Ethel Nordquist and Jun- tor Nordquist), and of Officer Louis M. Hertzog of the Fifth Precinct. Reprint all these and, at the bot- tom of the last page, put “THE END.” IF YOU ARE AFFLICTED WITH FALLING OR THE GRAYING LACK OF IT Write for authoritative booklet “HATR HEALTH: RUTHS AND UNTRUTHS"—it's frank and hone — by the Eosinh “dal Specialist, J. Windsor, Box 183, Niagara Falls, Ontario. comicbooks.com