Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter

Ship of Fools tells the story of a voyage on a German passenger ship from Vercruz, Mexico, to Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1931. It has a large cast of characters, including German, Swiss, Spanish, Cuban, Mexican, Swedish, Jewish, and American passengers, in addition to the German crew members.

It took forever for me to read this novel, because I kept thinking of urgent things I needed to do besides reading. Usually I have the opposite problem--I keep putting off other things while I read just a little bit longer. I had to make myself finish this, for a couple of reasons.

First, the structure of the book is just a series of incidents and social encounters on board a passenger ship, not leading to any climax or grand revelation, designed only to reveal the foolishness, shallowness, and prejudices of the characters. Thus, there is no narrative tension, and no real sympathy developed for any of the characters. This might work if the author had offered any great insights as to human nature or the human condition, but the only insight offered is a very negative one. And that brings up the second reason I kept being tempted to quit reading.

Porter's analysis of humanity seems to be that all are so flawed that life is a progression from purgatory toward hell, and that any hope for happiness is just a dream. The whole novel of a voyage seems to be a metaphor for this viewpoint. And that's damned depressing.

Among other failings of the passengers, Porter mostly highlights their prejudices. The men feel superior to the women; the upper classes feel superior to the perceived lower classes; the Anglo races feel superior to the darker races; the Lutherans feel superior to the Catholics; the Jews feel superior to the Goy; and everybody feels superior to the Jews, especially the Germans. One of the Americans, a man from Texas, longs to get back to Brownsville, where "a man knows who was who and what was what, and niggers, crazy Swedes, Jews, greasers, bone-headed micks, polacks, wasps, Guineas and damn Yankees know their place and stayed in it." (Porter, by the way, was born and reared in Texas.)

I'm sorry Katherine Anne Porter viewed life in this way as she reached her latter years, but I refuse to believe, even in my latter years, that humanity is so hopeless.

The novel is well written, and Katherine Anne Porter is an outstanding short story writer. This was her only novel. Even so, I do not recommend it.