ey (4.), p. xii) edition of The Viking Portable Library. He was captured in the structure of his lies, the discrepancy between him and the image he had set up grew larger every day. To be a liar and worthless in comparison to that shining idol must have reinforced his alcohol-related depressions and made him more liable to the hurts he received.
             After all, there is a certain ambivalence of death and violence. It had done some good, and taught him priceless philosophies. But at the same time, they hurt him so much, the only thing he could do was to make fiction from them. He did that superbly well.
             He starting writing for the Kansas City Star and adopted as his personal standand the main directives of newspaper's stylebook: "Brevity, a reconciliation of vigour with smoothness, the positive approach". In 1918 he left the Star to travel overseas. Against his father's wishes, he tried to join the United States Army but failed the medical examination. Later, he enlisted in the
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