Introduction
The appearance of Reluctant Wives by Mande Woljar, the famed literary figure of the Eastern European equivalent of the "Now Generation," is another milestone in the history of American publishing, rivaled in this century by only the phenomenon of Vladimir Nabokov, Russia-born author who also made the remarkable transition from his native tongue to English, in his case with that unequaled literary achievement entitled Lolita.
Miss Woljar, whose dual career as novelist and consultant to the Warsaw Center for the Study of the Behavioral Sciences in her native Poland earned her acclaim for many years from only a limited part of the world, became an international cause celebre with her daring flight to freedom in the West and the subsequent legal battle in being granted political asylum over the strenuous objections of her government.
Now making her home in the United States, Miss Woljar has written her first novel with a contemporary American setting, and we, the publishers, believe it to be an authoritative contribution to the library of literature touching upon the fast-changing social scene in this country.
The text clearly reveals Miss Woljar's lifetime of study and attention to the most minute details of that mysterious creature known as man, his strengths and his failings. And oddly, it has taken the patient, practiced and penetrating eye of an emigre, to stirringly depict the dehumanizing aspect of the unfeeling, often unfettered, world of business as now practiced in the United States of America.
The sensitivities of a stranger to these shores reacted to a segment of American life that people seldom discuss, or even seem aware of. Miss Woljar unerringly has portrayed the lengths some people will go to in their mad climb for success, how they actually will put a price tag on themselves and their loved ones to advance one more rung up the ladder in the arena of commerce.
Miss Woljar achieves her thematic purpose by introducing the reader to Joan and Harry Welby, so typical of young American married couples whose thirsts for the material comforts available through money make them forget that life has a higher meaning and carries with it the responsibility for one's own conduct.
The Welbys are natural targets for Tom Carter and his wife, Alice, both of them spectacularly jaded by a life of making and abiding by the jungle rules of Big Business. Tom has added leverage by being in a position of power over Harry, but there can be little doubt in the mind of the discerning reader that Tom would work his will even without trickery or guile, simply because Harry is so infected with the disease of striving for the summit that he would sacrifice anything that hindered him, including the sanctity of his own marriage contract.
Once Harry and Joan have tested the unfamiliar lifestyle of the Carters, they find themselves unwittingly, but not unwillingly, as passengers on a train to nowhere, a vehicle enmeshing itself more tangled into its own incestuous web. Their survival depends, like that of the vampire monsters of legend, on fueling their swapping circle with new combustible couples.
Authoress Woljar, with the artistic insight and understanding that belies her youth, creatively paints this familiar canvas for the reader using broad colorful strokes, but always respecting the intelligence of members of her audience by not injecting her own moral viewpoints and assessments. She lets the story tell itself honestly and straightforwardly, and the words leap from the pages as if propelled by that rare ingredient known as Truth.
The publishers are indebted to Miss Woljar for allowing us the distinct honor and privilege of presenting her first novel written in English and with an American locale to a long-waiting public. The message she conveys, however, is by no means limited to the North American continent. It is as universal as the simple virtues of honesty and loyalty, attributes we cherish so dearly that are shown as something to be bartered in the competitive was of the free enterprise system as portrayed in Reluctant Wives.
The Publishers