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Speaking of Operations—, by Irvin S. Cobb, Reviewed and Commented on by Doug Larsen in Betsy-Tacy Society
Journal #14 Irvin S. Cobb's Speaking of Operations— is
simply rich. But you have to bring Dreiser or Shaw to the club now," Sigrid grumbled. We found Irvin S. Cobb's book in a little antique store in Lanesboro, Minnesota. Rather, my wife Linda found it. She has an ability to scan a musty bookshelf that's crammed with old volumes with uncanny accuracy, looking for a Betsy book, or one of the few Janet Lambert books that has so far eluded her. "An, ha!" she cried triumphantly, grabbing the book and waving it under my nose. I stared at it uncomprehendingly. She quoted the passage from BETSY'S WEDDING that made her her recognize it. I shouldn't have been surprised - it's her favorite Betsy book, and my least favorite, so it stood to reason that I wouldn't place it. "How can it be your least favorite book?" she demanded. "It just isn't as much fun," I said. "I mean, the war is looming over everything, and their problems are real, serious problems. It's not 'Will we ever get to go to UNCLE TOM'S CABIN?' or 'Will I have a date for the dance?' It's 'Will my husband be killed?' or 'Will Tib marry an arrogant and abusive man?'" "But--but they all get married in this book!" Linda protested. "It's the culmination of the dreams that they've had all their lives!" "That's another thing," I said. "Most of the fun of the High School books was seeing Betsy and Joe competing as equals. But when they get married, she turns into this subservient wife, and Joe is seen as a wonderful guy because he doesn't beat her when she burns dinner! She never claimed to be able to cook. She was always different from Carney and Bonnie because she wasn't domestic. Why should she feel like a failure now?" "It was 1915, for crying out loud!" Linda said, "Give her a break!" "Well, okay, but it just wasn't as much fun." "You know, the other books had serious parts," she persisted. "What about baby Bee? What about Cab's father, or Miss Cobb's nephews?" Of course, there's no way to resolve this kind of argument. We abandoned it quickly, and Linda hurried up to the counter, holding Irvin S. Cobb's book protectingly under her arm. It cost a dollar. She found it. She bought it. But I'm the only one who's read it. SPEAKING OF OPERATIONS— (yes, with a dash at the end of the title) is written as a humorous monologue, about the author's experience in having an operation in 1915. The most interesting thing about the book was that it was a real, live book that I held in my hands that Betsy and Joe (or Maud and Delos, if you prefer) had really read. The second most interesting thing was that the description of the operation wasn't very different from how you'd describe it today. Humor, however, has changed over the years. Most parts were mildly clever, and some just missed me completely. The flyleaf before the first chapter reads: "Contents: Mostly my own." Another quote from inside" Anything doctors do in a mass is ethical. Almost anything they do singly and on individual responsibility is unethical. Being unethical among doctors is practically he same thing as a being a Democrat in Texas or a Presbyterian in Scotland." The humor in SPEAKING OF OPERATIONS— hasn't aged real well with time. I noted, somewhat uncharitably, that I had heard of IVANHOE, one of Betsy's favorite books, but hadn't hear of this one, and I understood why. It wasn't bad, but compared to modern humorists like Dave Barry or Calvin Trillin, the humor seemed definitely lukewarm. But then, who knows how well Dave and Calvin will be received in eighty years or so? The attraction in owning the book is in picturing Betsy and Joe, with their friends., laughing riotously at this and other witticisms, and understanding a little more clearly what they laughed at. "Besides," Linda persisted as we drove away. "We know Joe didn't get killed in the war. He's Delos, and lived for years." "But what about Cab, or Sam Hutchnson, or Julia's husband, Paige?" I countered. "They enlisted too, and we never find out what happens to them. It just takes some of the fun out of it. And Cab is one of my favorite characters, especially in EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY. "If any of them had been killed in the war, we'd have heard about it," she said. "I suppose. But in the Battle of Belleau Wood, the American casualties were more than fifty percent. Just thinking about that takes some of the fun out the book, that's all." "Only a man could read a Betsy book and think about casualty statistics," Linda retorted. Whenever we argue about this stuff, I remember Joe inviting Betsy to fight about LES MISERABLES versus VANITY FAIR. We both love discussion like that. and this one was started by the little book by Irvin S. Cobb. It was worth the dollar.
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