NORDAU IN THE LITERARY WORLD
In the Zionist world Dr. Max Nordau is known as an orator, as the trenchant critic of the anti-Zionist position, and as the analyst of Jewish contemporary conditions. At all the Congresses he has been a striking figure. To him has been assigned the task of delivering from the tribune a clear exposition of Zionism, expressed in words of fire and eloquence. Nordau has been the most notable critic of Zionist critics. But he has at no time ventured out of this field to participate in the creative work of the movement.
Nordau occupies, in a measure, a similar position in the world of letters. He has been, in essence, a critic of art and literature, philosophy and science. He has attempted to bring about conceptions of life that are of practical value to humanity. He has represented the normal, sane, well-balanced idealism of the world.
Nordau received a medical training in Austria and Germany and practiced medicine in Paris for many years. When he turned to journalism, therefore, he utilized his training as a physician, and employed the methods of a trained, observer and a keen analyst. His specialty became that of criticism of criticism, and criticism of world movements in art and literature.
He was a student not only of art, but of life as well. Artists and authors and poets have acquired the habit of living in a world of their own. They make a god of their own art, and ultimately divorce themselves, more or less, from the currents of life that eddy about them. It becomes the duty of the enlightened critic to harmonize their egoistic views and inclinations with the normal needs of society, and to check, if that be possible, the unrestrained indulgence in individual eccentricity.
Nordau may be said to have made his
appearance in literature with his book on “Degeneration.” “Degeneration” was written after Cesare Lombroso had discovered the strange connection that exists between genius and degeneration. Lombroso had come to the conclusion that many of our so-called geniuses displayed physical and mental traits remarkably similar to the traits observed by physicians in lunatics. Nordau applied Lombroso’s views to the survey he made of contemporary work in art and literature, He came to the conclusion that what was called the advanced school in art and literature, the symbolists, the impressionists, the ultra-realists, etc., were trying to produce degeneration in art and literature, and indirectly, to affect life itself, to taint life itself with the poison of confusion, individual irresponsibility and disreguard of the welfare of society.”
The first effect of the success of decadence in art and literature, according to Nordau, would be a confusion in moral ideas and ultimately end up in social anarchy. Nordau saw in the rhapsodists and emotionalists and Hellenists of the day, especially in Germany and France, and in part in England, forces hostile to social and esthetic progress.
"Degeneration" made a deep impression wherever it was read. It confounded the apostles of egoism and individual anarchy, and made Nordau the target of the so-called radical schools. But in spite of the criticism to which Nordau was subjected for a number of his mis-statements, for his zeal and, so to speak, his partisan wide-sweeping inclusion of a number of personalities that should not have been included in the category of decadents, the book had a tonic effect upon the world, although it did not check the evils against which he spoke.
What is of interest is the fact that, although Nordau did not come under