tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post3221459415013970086..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: The Nobel Prize winnerD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-86313673436474766212010-10-21T15:31:38.619-04:002010-10-21T15:31:38.619-04:00I was reading Britain's only well-known (for a...I was reading Britain's only well-known (for all I know, <i>only</i>) investigative journalism paper this evening and couldn't help but think of you. An excerpt from this fortnight's <i>Private Eye</i> (No. 1273):<br /><br />"[...] there's a puzzle here. The Swedes favour figures ranging from the moderate to the far left, with Naipaul the only manifest reactionary picked since the 1980s; and Vargos Llosa is a right-winger who identified himself with Reagan and Thatcher when running for office. So how did he slip through?<br /><br />"What may be significant is that he publicly criticised Israel's invasion of Gaza in early 2009, thereby aligning himself with the liberal consensus rather than the neo-cons. Can it be coincidence that less than two years later the academy chose him, having previously let almost three decades pass since his last acknowledged major novel?"Guy Purseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03389223432095066078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-52498621715164318472010-10-08T12:18:20.726-04:002010-10-08T12:18:20.726-04:00Did Time-Life do a series of books or television p...Did Time-Life do a series of books or television programs about ideological epithets of the 1960s that I missed? <br /><br />I mean, are people who in all likelihood weren't old enough to remember the Berlin Wall coming down even allowed to use the word "reactionaries"?Jonathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-72942057478471236462010-10-08T08:41:56.596-04:002010-10-08T08:41:56.596-04:00To quote someone I respect and admire
It reads li...<i>To quote someone I respect and admire</i><br /><br />It reads like criticism, though it sounds like praise, Evie.<br /><br />At all events, I see that Andrew Seal is tweeting that Vargas Llosa’s award is making “reactionaries happy,” and then he links to this post.<br /><br />What goes around comes around, I suppose.<br /><br />But you can always count upon Seal to display the vacuousness of Leftist rhetoric in its purest form.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-90724579080377275452010-10-07T21:22:49.941-04:002010-10-07T21:22:49.941-04:00I read John Podhoretz regularly in The Weekly Stan...I read John Podhoretz regularly in The Weekly Standard and agree with him most of the time, but I, too, felt a twang of dissonance at the suggestion in his article that writing a powerfully erotic novel disqualifies one from being a true conservative. I'm not even certain living a libertine life disqualifies one from being a true conservative, at least not from being a small government/personal liberty/pro-small business/strong-national defense conservative (true enough, I think, even for John). <br /><br />Hard to touch all the bases all the time.Richard Baragerhttp://www.theliterarydoctor.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-76656012999864809612010-10-07T21:10:43.044-04:002010-10-07T21:10:43.044-04:00To quote someone I respect and admire, despite our...To quote someone I respect and admire, despite our differing political views:<br /><br />"Since conservatives do not attribute unstated views to those they oppose, I can write with a clear conscience from now on."Evienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-26480724223243812082010-10-07T15:51:35.211-04:002010-10-07T15:51:35.211-04:00Vargas Llosa's recent collection of essays, We...Vargas Llosa's recent collection of essays, Wellsprings, is a thoughtful examination of the relationship between history and literature in Latin America, and well worth reading.jeff mauvaisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-8795038382025366222010-10-07T12:31:28.225-04:002010-10-07T12:31:28.225-04:00If the Nobel committee and D.G. Myers somehow enjo...If the Nobel committee and D.G. Myers somehow enjoy the same author I feel immediately compelled to the library. I'm looking forward to it.dan m.http://www.vivaelbirdos.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-81530741224772286172010-10-07T11:14:37.789-04:002010-10-07T11:14:37.789-04:00I've only read The Bad Girl and found it decen...I've only read <i>The Bad Girl</i> and found it decent but uninspiring.To me it was overly reminscent of a certain genre of "man obsessed with girl" that I primarily associate with Romance language literature, for lack of a better grouping term (French, Italian, Spanish)...and it's not a trope that is my cup of tea. Perhaps I should give some of his other work a try, now, though...Perpetual Pilgrimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16856646425963437798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-13116306889991951732010-10-07T08:35:13.905-04:002010-10-07T08:35:13.905-04:00I watched the announcement live at 7:00 EST. I was...I watched the announcement live at 7:00 EST. I was so startled that I nearly spilled my coffee in my lap.<br /><br />Philip Roth remains the greatest living novelist, but Vargas Llosa was a worthy choice.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-45852919845203164242010-10-07T07:20:29.948-04:002010-10-07T07:20:29.948-04:00How do you know? What about Philip Roth?How do you know? What about Philip Roth?Paul Joseph Strassfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15507897955226505757noreply@blogger.com