The Oasis

The Oasis is a short satirical novel by the American writer Mary McCarthy, published by Random House in 1949. McCarthy describes this, her second novel, as a "conte philosophique". It tells the story of a group of embattled intellectuals, their quest to establish a Utopian community in the mountains of New England, and their failure to surmount ideological and personal differences for the greater good of the commune. Doubling as a roman à clef, The Oasis borrows heavily from McCarthy's experiences and frustrations with the short lived European-American Group, and serves more broadly as a critique of the “abstract idealism of intellectuals” and their inability to enact actual change. Plot Set in the near future following 1949, The Oasis depicts a group of 50 radical and liberal intellectuals who venture into the mountains of New England to create a shared living commune (aptly named, “Utopia”). Already present in Utopia's formation, however, is a deep ideological schism between two rival factions: the cynical Realists and the self-righteous Purists. The Realists, led by the embittered former Marxist William Taub, anticipate the experiment will end in little more than a summer vacation and await Utopia's eventual demise, while the Purists, led by the magazine editor Macdougal Macdermott, are hesitant to perform any action that could contradict their radical, libertarian beliefs. The first challenge presented to both factions is whether or not they will admit into Utopia the Lockman family, led by the exuberant blue-blood Joe Lockman. Macdermott, who regards Lockman as a “philistine,” eventually grants the Lockmans his approval for fear that he might otherwise appear elitist. The acceptance of the Lockmans, however, calls forth the larger question, “Was it to follow that anyone could be admitted to Utopia?” By the end of the first night in Utopia, it is the Realist leader Taub, not Macdermott, who finds Lockman to be a nuisance; Taub is put on edge by Lockman's bombastic spirit and hunting rifle. The next morning, Katy Norell, one of Utopia's more vocal Purists, burns herself and ruins the commune's breakfast while cooking. Most likely an honest mishap, the incident is quickly politicized and blamed on Lockman by the Realists. Following the mishap, Katy's husband, Preston, publicly scolds Katy for ruining breakfast, demonstrating the immense strain that communal living has taken on the Utopia's residents.