The irony of McCarthyism is that this incident was truly a dark, “Un-American” incident of American history. Many historians and researchers have attempted to recount what really happened in that era and have tried to answer the question, “Why and how did one Senator manage to force America into being so devoid of reason and common sense for five years?” Many books and studies concerning McCarthyism have been published. While some of them have dealt with Joseph McCarthy—the person whose name was used to describe the era—or examined the foreign and internal affairs concerning the Cold War structure at the time, there have also been books which have focused on the influence which this incident had on show business, including especially Hollywood and Broadway. Among these writings was Scoundrel Time(1976), written by Lillian Hellman, a popular playwright for Broadway and a talented script writer for Hollywood at the time. In this work, she revisited her days and experiences with McCarthyism.
The highlight of the book is when Hellman recalls the time when she herself was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee known as the HUAC. She was a victim of the notorious act of “naming names.” Hellman was famous for her notable behavior at the meeting. Not only was she courageous, but she also outwitted the HUAC, and survived the ordeal without having to name names. She declared, “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions,” and this declaration became her trademark. There were people who congratulated her for her courage. Yet, at the same time, some people such as Lionel Trilling and his wife Diane and other so-called “the educated, the intellectual” attacked Hellman for her lack of knowledge about Communism in the Soviet Union and denounced her as having been a supporter of Stalinism. There is, however, one similarity between those who supported Hellman and those who didn’t. Both referred to Scoundrel Time as just a historical record of the McCarthy era but failed to consider the fact that it was written in the form of a memoir. As Susan Sontag wrote in an essay, “the strongly individual style of each important writer is an organic aspect of his work.” Thus, when readers consider Hellman’s Scoundrel Time, it is not only important to understand it as a record of that era, but also to understand that it was written as her memoir.
This paper examines Hellman’s intentions in writing her account of McCarthyism in the form of a memoir by focusing on minor characters in the memoir, and by highlighting Hellman’s moral intention of questioning the role of “self” and the notion of “subject” with respect to her writing style. By paying attention to the fact that Scoundrel Time is, indeed, a memoir, this paper aims to shed light on the question of what it means to be “American” and Hellman’s ethical position in the era of McCarthyism.
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