Jonathan Yardley writes about some of the great memoirs of the past and the dredge we have clogging the half-priced bookshelves today. He says, “On the one hand, we want ‘authenticity and credibility’ in autobiographical writing; on the other, we want to be entertained, which can sometimes lead writers to exaggeration or invention. . . . [But] what the memoir boom has in fact given us is too many dull or forgettable memoirs, precious few of which have enriched our literature but most of which have simply encouraged the narcissism of their authors.”
Category Archives: Authors
Douglas Wilson on Deep Reading
The men I am most indebted to philosophically are: C.S. Lewis, Cornelius Van Til, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Calvin, Richard Weaver, the early Rushdoony, Augustine, John Knox, Gary North, J.I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, G.K. Chesterton, Paul Johnson, John Stott, Christopher Dawson, H.L. Mencken, William Buckley, David Wells, R.L. Dabney, E. Michael Jones, P.G. Wodehouse, Greg Bahnsen, and Peter Leithart. And after a diet of such books for twenty-six years, I have to say that reading an emergent book by Brian McLaren is like watching a six-year-old do card tricks.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of Minnesota’s most famous sons, though it’s hard to imagine any author less typically Minnesotan. I once visited some people who lived in the town house he once occupied, on St. Paul’s toney Summit Avenue.
Anyway, Robert J. Avrech, one of the consistently most interesting writers at Big Hollywood, posts about Fitzgerald’s sojourn in Hollywood today. Although he doesn’t agree entirely, he quotes the opinion of one of Fitzgerald’s friends, John Lee Mahin, who blamed at least part of the author’s implosion on political pressures from the film community’s burgeoning Communist movement.
His work was condemned, they said, and he believed them. He denounced himself even more harshly than his judges, accusing his work of being trivial and superficial.
“He actually told me he’s ashamed of The Great Gatsby,” John fairly snarled. “Those cursed Do-gooders… they’ve got him believing his work isn’t worth a tinkers damn just because he wasn’t waving a banner or marching in a picket line. They’ve destroyed him, as sure as God made little apples.”
“Thanks for stopping by”
This is one of the intangible rewards of blogging.
A few days ago I wrote about the death of mystery writer Stuart M. Kaminsky, mentioning how much I liked his books.
Today Kaminsky’s son Peter responded in the comments.
How very strange and satisfying.
Lynn Vincent on Conservative Politics
Here’s a great lecture with Q&A by World Magazine’s Lynn Vincent on political dialogue today and where conservatives stand. This is very interesting and not at all exaggerated as some political speeches are.
An Interview with Hunter Baker
To the Source, a weekly email on cultural issues, has interviewed Hunter Baker about his new book, The End of Secularism. Hunter says:
I think Christians should kindly refuse the invitation to take their religious activity and speech private. They should maintain the validity of the faith for their approach to community life and politics. They should point out that secularism provides little guidance for dealing with big political questions and that the values have to come from somewhere. Too often, secularists selectively crib Christian values without acknowledging the source. We didn’t just get here by accident. We don’t appreciate things like liberty, equality, and democracy by sheer accident. Christianity has been a major civilizational force.
Cool Notice
I’ve been occupied away from the blog lately, so I have not yet linked to this cool post by world famous author Hunter Baker on the reception of his book by ubercool and famous author Andrew Klavan. Klavan said, “I’m startled to report I glanced at it while laying it aside, then picked it up again, then read it through. This is a very well written, concise and learned primer on the secularization of the public square.” I love it.
What’s your next book going to be, Dr. Baker?
The Poetic Muse
Robert Roper writes, “Contemporary psychologists have unearthed strong associations between poetry and introspection, between introspection and depression, and between depression and self-destructiveness. Not all poets are depressives, but there is a statistical connection. If that child of yours is writing a poem at this moment, go into his bedroom right now and stop him!”
Ahem.
“I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;”
And if it landed in your heart,
I hope you die, you little tart.
Gasp–I’m so depressed now.
Thursday was Wodehouse Day
Thinking back, Thursday was a pretty good day for me, despite having my teeth professionally cleaned. I have learned it was Wodehouse’s birthday (via Books, Inq.).
Live Q&A with Randy Alcorn
Author Randy Alcorn will be online Thursday at 2:00 p.m. eastern to discuss his new book, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering & Evil. I heard him talking about the book last week on Moody’s Prime Time America, and it sounds like a good one. Is it as good as the books Ravi Zacharias has done on the same subject? I don’t know, but it sounds like a good book on its own.
Did anyone join the live Q&A with Bruce Wilkinson the other day?