Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
... Obscure Books, Part II . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I suppose my pick would be Albert Jay Nock's The Memoirs of a Superfluous Man , an idiosyncratic masterpiece that has had lasting influence on me.
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
... Lives Less Ordinary. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) ... I was very much looking forward to my task when, in 2005, I was asked by the Spectator to review Douglas Parker’s 2005 biography of Nash. If only I had known. Nash, you see, was a hardworking light versifier who sometimes lived in Baltimore and sometimes in New York, loved and remained faithful to his wife, wrote regularly for The...
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
... sort of: A Conversion Story and Religious stock and the belief crunch . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Dummett's experience of doubt is very like my own, though I do not keep from the sacraments at such times, since I feel then is when I need them most - and I don't feel the doubt as a loss of faith, but rather as a test of it. As for gaming your faith, if you can game it, it can be much of...
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 9 hours ago
... Disgruntled Star Editor Takes Constructive Revenge . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I think some of the suggested changes are debatable, but my heart is with the copy editor.
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 9 hours ago
... and A kind of poet . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Only in the crucible of collaboration did his talents manifest themselves completely. Does this diminish the significance of his achievement? Must he necessarily be considered a lesser artist than a writer who works exclusively on his own? To make such a claim, after all, is by extension to relegate all forms of collaborative art to a lower...
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | yesterday
... On working hard . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I remember - I think it was in 1960 - when the composer Alan Hovhaness worked his way around the world. There was an item in Time magazine about hims going from his day job as a bellhop in Tokyo to a gig conducting the Japan Philharmonic.
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... The Critic’s Critic . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... I think: Same Old Story: Best-Books Lists Snub Women Writers. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... Stephen King publishes poem in Playboy . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
... Memo to grammar cops: Back off! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
... Heartbreaker Lord Byron busts the bank! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... The Death of Newsroom Swagger. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.) See also Go West, Old Media. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
... and bid for a yo-yo: SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
... Nature turns 140 . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Books, Inq. (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
... they'll come followin' him: Hark! the Heralded Dylan Sings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) In a devastating essay in Spy magazine, back in 1991, Joe Queenan sifted the wreckage and nominated these as Dylan's worst lyrics: "You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy / You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy." I always thought that was a pretty funny lyric, given that Dylan's...
