Lulu Scudder’s Call - “Fame’s First Wooing”
Thomas Wolfe writes, “He had been back in New York only a few days when Lulu Scudder, the literary agent, telephoned him in great excitement. The publishing house of James Rodney & Co. was interested in his manuscript, and Foxhall Edwards, the distinguished editor of this great house, wanted to talk to him about it.” Lulu Scudder’s call is ironic considering “one publisher already turned the book down, saying that it was no novel? That publisher had even written —— and the words of his rejection had seared themselves in. George’s brain —“The novel form is not adapted to such talents, as you have.” Clearly, the two publishers’ views apropos the novel are incongruous whereby one publisher regards the novel as nifty whereas the other underestimates it. The ironic perception of George’s text exemplifies the partisanship which discriminates distinct publishers.
The Irony of George’s Euphoria - “The Drunken Beggar on a Horseback”
George’s vibrant cheerfulness is implausible: “The simple joy he felt at being once more a part of such familiar things also contained an element of strangeness and unreality. With a sharp stab of wonder he reminded himself, as he had done a hundred times in the last few weeks, that he had really come home again — home to America, home to Manhattan’s swarming rock, and home again to love; and his happiness was faintly edged with guilt when he remembered that less than a year before he had gone abroad in anger and despair, seeking to escape what now he had returned to.” George would be projected to be melancholic upon returning to Manhattan because it retells him of all that he had endeavored to dodge when he committed to relocate from Manhattan. Instead, he displays a sparkle which designates that he is not penitent about his return. The irony epitomized in George’s penetrating gladness illustrates the discrepancy between his conscious and unconscious passions. Consciously, he coveted to be away from Manhattan, but unconsciously he covets to be there because Manhattan embodies all the pleasure that he craves.
