A story linked at Mark Shea's blog reminded me of a bit of dialogue in Pictures from An Institution, the poet Randall Jarrell's novel set at an advanced women's college and published almost fifty years ago. Spoken by a Central European soprano of advanced years: "You Americans do not rear children, you incite them. You give them food and shelter and applause."



A good line. And, of course, there's something worth quoting on almost every page of Jarrell's novel. Like this mordant gem: "The really damned not only like Hell, they feel loyal to it."



But don't take my word. Here's Robert Penn Warren's judgment: "I'm greatly impressed by the real fun, the incisive satire, the closeness of observation, and in the end by a kind of sympathy and human warmth. It's a remarkable book."



Here's a review essay on some of Jarrell's prose work by Dana Gioia, the distinguished poet and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.