Triage
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- Publication date
- 1972
- Publisher
- New York, Dial Press
- Collection
- inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks; americana
- Contributor
- Internet Archive
- Language
- English
215 p. 22 cm
- Access-restricted-item
- true
- Addeddate
- 2010-03-02 18:40:46
- Boxid
- IA114514
- Camera
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- External-identifier
-
urn:oclc:record:1036960799
urn:lcp:triagelewi00lewi:lcpdf:761ee67b-343c-4083-ac40-cae41286d941
urn:lcp:triagelewi00lewi:epub:eada5dd7-afa7-4b77-bb97-20476d479151
- Foldoutcount
- 0
- Identifier
- triagelewi00lewi
- Identifier-ark
- ark:/13960/t2x35ff77
- Lccn
- 79038901
- Ocr_converted
- abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20
- Ocr_module_version
- 0.0.17
- Openlibrary_edition
- OL4424634M
- Openlibrary_work
- OL3231780W
- Page-progression
- lr
- Page_number_confidence
- 90
- Page_number_module_version
- 1.0.5
- Pages
- 238
- Pdf_module_version
- 0.0.23
- Ppi
- 400
- Scandate
- 20100318222910
- Scanner
- scribe9.sanfrancisco.archive.org
- Scanningcenter
- sanfrancisco
- Worldcat (source edition)
- 227489
- Full catalog record
- MARCXML
comment
Reviews
Reviewer:
NotStanley
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July 29, 2022
Subject: ON THE BANALITY OF HYPER-RATIONALIZED TECHNOCRATIC EVIL
Subject: ON THE BANALITY OF HYPER-RATIONALIZED TECHNOCRATIC EVIL
"A warning to technological man"
Book Review by William Hjorstberg
*The New York Times*, July 2, 1972, Section BR, Page 9
An interesting footnote to modern history is the problem the prosecution at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial confronted in preparing its case. There was no difficulty gathering evidence; the immense task was sorting through a mountain of bureaucratic memoranda and official reports detailing the trivial minutia of genocide. It is precisely this aspect of contemporary life that forms the basis of Leonard C. Lewin's latest book. (His last, he confesses, was the satire *The Report From Iron Mountain* [1967].)
*Triage*
By Leonard C. Lewin. 215 pp. New York: The Dial Press. $5.95.
A triage is [an extreme-emergency victim-viability-grading operation dispassionately overseen by] a battlefield doctor who “determines who will be selected for immediate medical treatment, who will be put off till later, and who will be abandoned to die.” Such decisions form the crux of Lewin's intriguing novel—only this battlefield is everyday society and the decision‐makers are college presidents, hospital administrators, businessmen, a Presidential Commission and an independent organization of think‐tank specialists freelancing in murder. The victims of the purge are the aged, the indigent, the terminal ill, as well as mental defectives, criminals, drug addicts and elderly multimillionaires who have retired from active public life. In short, anyone whose existence hampers the smooth functioning of the social mechanism.
What makes *Triage* particularly terrifying is its utter plausibility. Indeed, considering the clouds of doubt that still surround the Attica uprising and the death of George Jackson, a section of the book detailing a prison riot (provoked deliberately by the authorities, then suppressed with undue violence) confronts the reader with the immediacy of today's headlines. The mundane logic of Mr. Lewin's faceless characters is convincing enough to confirm everyone's suspicions of governmental double‐dealing and behind‐the‐scenes Fu Manchu manipulations. Population control is a definite problem; abortion on demand is becoming the law of the land; euthanasia is just around the corner; death squads and the cyanide pie borne by *Zap Comix*'s lethal clowns no longer seem idle prophecy.
And yet, *Triage* is presented as a work of fiction. The author's introductory disclaimer insists on that fact and here is the book's essential weakness—for, if what we have is fiction, then it must be judged as such, not on the basis of the ideas conveyed. Unfortunately, *Triage* is very poor fiction. It's not just the absence of plot or definable characters — the French “new novel” has long since taught us to do without such trifling adornments as these—but a certain indispensable tension within the material is lacking. There are no descriptions, nor even any action. Instead, we have the transcript of bland dialogues, intercommittee memos, newspaper clippings, snatches of television interviews, all followed at intervals by Lewin's didactic comments. Such a technique might easily be used to create an effective fiction; consider Thornton Wilder's superlative epistolary novel, *The Ides of March*, or even the more prosaic achievements of a thriller like *The Anderson Tapes*. In the hands of Mr. Lewin, what comes out is merely sociology.
Also, the language of the book is at fault. *Triage* is written in what the author himself describes as “an administrative jargon, which bureaucrats always find necessary as an anesthetic against the human consequences of abstract schemes.” In this case, it also serves as an anesthetic against the reader's involvement. The interoffice memos of the President's Commission on National Priorities (Mr. Lewin's primary fiction) are every bit as banal as those of the Third Reich.
This, of course, is the point the author is trying to make, and it is a point worthy of attention; but mimicry is not satire, no matter how accurate the mimic. Jonathan Swift's *Modest Proposal* remains a model of satire precisely because the notion of eating babies to control population is so absurd. In the latter half of the 20th century, genocide and euthanasia are not at all absurd: to the tank‐thinkers they are possible, pragmatic solutions. *Triage* may not succeed as satire, but it serves as a clear‐cut warning of the excesses technological man is capable of committing in the name of progress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LEONARD C. LEWIN (1916-1999) was an American writer, best known as the (semi-anonymous) author of the bestseller *The Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace* (1967), a purported government report that concluded that if a lasting peace "could be achieved, it would almost certainly not be in the best interests of society to achieve it." Many were (and still are) fooled into thinking the *Report* is an authentic whistleblower's leaked document. He also wrote *Triage* (1972), a novel about a covert group dedicated to clandestinely killing, in plausibly-unexceptionable ways, people it considers to be not worth having around.
Lewin graduated from Harvard University. Before becoming a writer, he worked as a labor organizer in New England and in his father's sugar refinery in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was twice married: first to Iris Zinn Lewin and later to poet, playwright, and children's book author Eve Merriam. Both marriages ended in divorce. Later, his "longtime companion" was Lorraine Davis. Father of mystery author Michael Z. Lewin.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_C._Lewin
Book Review by William Hjorstberg
*The New York Times*, July 2, 1972, Section BR, Page 9
An interesting footnote to modern history is the problem the prosecution at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial confronted in preparing its case. There was no difficulty gathering evidence; the immense task was sorting through a mountain of bureaucratic memoranda and official reports detailing the trivial minutia of genocide. It is precisely this aspect of contemporary life that forms the basis of Leonard C. Lewin's latest book. (His last, he confesses, was the satire *The Report From Iron Mountain* [1967].)
*Triage*
By Leonard C. Lewin. 215 pp. New York: The Dial Press. $5.95.
A triage is [an extreme-emergency victim-viability-grading operation dispassionately overseen by] a battlefield doctor who “determines who will be selected for immediate medical treatment, who will be put off till later, and who will be abandoned to die.” Such decisions form the crux of Lewin's intriguing novel—only this battlefield is everyday society and the decision‐makers are college presidents, hospital administrators, businessmen, a Presidential Commission and an independent organization of think‐tank specialists freelancing in murder. The victims of the purge are the aged, the indigent, the terminal ill, as well as mental defectives, criminals, drug addicts and elderly multimillionaires who have retired from active public life. In short, anyone whose existence hampers the smooth functioning of the social mechanism.
What makes *Triage* particularly terrifying is its utter plausibility. Indeed, considering the clouds of doubt that still surround the Attica uprising and the death of George Jackson, a section of the book detailing a prison riot (provoked deliberately by the authorities, then suppressed with undue violence) confronts the reader with the immediacy of today's headlines. The mundane logic of Mr. Lewin's faceless characters is convincing enough to confirm everyone's suspicions of governmental double‐dealing and behind‐the‐scenes Fu Manchu manipulations. Population control is a definite problem; abortion on demand is becoming the law of the land; euthanasia is just around the corner; death squads and the cyanide pie borne by *Zap Comix*'s lethal clowns no longer seem idle prophecy.
And yet, *Triage* is presented as a work of fiction. The author's introductory disclaimer insists on that fact and here is the book's essential weakness—for, if what we have is fiction, then it must be judged as such, not on the basis of the ideas conveyed. Unfortunately, *Triage* is very poor fiction. It's not just the absence of plot or definable characters — the French “new novel” has long since taught us to do without such trifling adornments as these—but a certain indispensable tension within the material is lacking. There are no descriptions, nor even any action. Instead, we have the transcript of bland dialogues, intercommittee memos, newspaper clippings, snatches of television interviews, all followed at intervals by Lewin's didactic comments. Such a technique might easily be used to create an effective fiction; consider Thornton Wilder's superlative epistolary novel, *The Ides of March*, or even the more prosaic achievements of a thriller like *The Anderson Tapes*. In the hands of Mr. Lewin, what comes out is merely sociology.
Also, the language of the book is at fault. *Triage* is written in what the author himself describes as “an administrative jargon, which bureaucrats always find necessary as an anesthetic against the human consequences of abstract schemes.” In this case, it also serves as an anesthetic against the reader's involvement. The interoffice memos of the President's Commission on National Priorities (Mr. Lewin's primary fiction) are every bit as banal as those of the Third Reich.
This, of course, is the point the author is trying to make, and it is a point worthy of attention; but mimicry is not satire, no matter how accurate the mimic. Jonathan Swift's *Modest Proposal* remains a model of satire precisely because the notion of eating babies to control population is so absurd. In the latter half of the 20th century, genocide and euthanasia are not at all absurd: to the tank‐thinkers they are possible, pragmatic solutions. *Triage* may not succeed as satire, but it serves as a clear‐cut warning of the excesses technological man is capable of committing in the name of progress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LEONARD C. LEWIN (1916-1999) was an American writer, best known as the (semi-anonymous) author of the bestseller *The Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace* (1967), a purported government report that concluded that if a lasting peace "could be achieved, it would almost certainly not be in the best interests of society to achieve it." Many were (and still are) fooled into thinking the *Report* is an authentic whistleblower's leaked document. He also wrote *Triage* (1972), a novel about a covert group dedicated to clandestinely killing, in plausibly-unexceptionable ways, people it considers to be not worth having around.
Lewin graduated from Harvard University. Before becoming a writer, he worked as a labor organizer in New England and in his father's sugar refinery in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was twice married: first to Iris Zinn Lewin and later to poet, playwright, and children's book author Eve Merriam. Both marriages ended in divorce. Later, his "longtime companion" was Lorraine Davis. Father of mystery author Michael Z. Lewin.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_C._Lewin
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