Among the Literati

Ruth Suckow, an Iowa girl who lately became a bride but who has for too many years been considered one of America’s most “promising” young authors finally delivered her magnum opus which she calls “The Folks.” It was published last week. In the longest manner possible, some 600 pages to be nearly accurate, “The Folks” unfolds in detail the lives from childhood of the members of a typical middle-class family from Iowa. The Literary Guild picked it as a selection for this month. It has the distinction of being one of the dullest books of the season. It should prove a boom to all sufferers from insomnia…

Twenty-nine years-old Clifton (Kip) Fadiman, Simon and Schuster’s editor-in-chief will not, rumors to the contrary, leave the publishing business. He is said to be the highest paid editor in the field which means that his salary is in the neighborhood of $100 per week. The near-sighted Mr. Fadiman incidentally one of the cleverest literati in town, adds appreciably to the family income by writing the book page for the New Yorker each week.

Gray-thatched, rather florid Joseph Fulling Fishman once practiced law in New York but he soon tired of merely defending law-breakers and became interested in finding out what happened to them when they were sent way to prison. To equip himself so that he could have some scientific understanding of the problems arising in prison management, he studied criminology and penology and found these subjects so engrossing that he gave up the practice of law to devote all his time to them.

Since that time he has become one of the best informed men in the country in his subject and has held many positions of importance.

In his varied experiences which took him to all parts of the world and which enabled him to see prisons and prisoners under varied conditions he found that the question of sex in prison was either slurred over or ignored entirely by authorities. He also discovered that the problem of sex prevaded all prisons and its neglect was in a great measure contributing to the further delinquency of inmates. To bring this important subject to the attention of the public he wrote a book titled “Sex In Prison” which was published recently by the National Library Press. It is not a pretty tale but one which should be known. In writing his book, Mr. Fishman has set down his findings without a trace of prudery. It is a revealing document.