Wade through some of the doublespeak and you can gleam a few good nuggets from yet another stallwart NYT writer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/books/review/Wheatcroft-t.html?ref=books. Like gillions of other ignorant high school chillens, I read "1984." I think that both of my own kids read it at least twice; both in middle school (we called it "junior high" back in the old days) and in high school. I think that English teachers like the foreboding of a society gone over the edge thing that you get from Orwell. I don't know--I wasn't smart enough at the time to pick up on a lot of the book's subtleties or non-subtleties. Mostly, it was a trudge to get through the thing. I found Vonnegut to be more compelling at that age, or at least more entertaining when it came to the subject of morbid authority. I didn't take Vonnegut seriously even then--he would be hurt by that--he still chafes that neither Bush is in prison. I mostly took him as fun to read and also largely full of shit. It was the filtering thing--you know, the effort of wading through and casting aside the idiotic political bent or slant from a writer or broadcaster or actor to get at the core of the message or to take what entertainment you wish from the thing. Anyway, I'm not very good at a lot of things but I think I am a pretty good filterer. A friend asked me the other day what I wanted to leave behind as a legacy when I die. Alas, I can only recommend that "He was a pretty good filterer" on the grave stone. I guess that's better than "He was an okay shrubber" or "He could tie a decent knot." Mrs. Bulba is intent on burying me in her family cemetery on the border, an idea I find incongruous for a lot of reasons but I have no inclination to object to on account that I really don't care. Funny to think though, that assuming I die first, she'll get planted on top of me. Yeah, baby.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/books/review/Wheatcroft-t.html?ref=books. Like gillions of other ignorant high school chillens, I read "1984." I think that both of my own kids read it at least twice; both in middle school (we called it "junior high" back in the old days) and in high school. I think that English teachers like the foreboding of a society gone over the edge thing that you get from Orwell. I don't know--I wasn't smart enough at the time to pick up on a lot of the book's subtleties or non-subtleties. Mostly, it was a trudge to get through the thing. I found Vonnegut to be more compelling at that age, or at least more entertaining when it came to the subject of morbid authority. I didn't take Vonnegut seriously even then--he would be hurt by that--he still chafes that neither Bush is in prison. I mostly took him as fun to read and also largely full of shit. It was the filtering thing--you know, the effort of wading through and casting aside the idiotic political bent or slant from a writer or broadcaster or actor to get at the core of the message or to take what entertainment you wish from the thing. Anyway, I'm not very good at a lot of things but I think I am a pretty good filterer. A friend asked me the other day what I wanted to leave behind as a legacy when I die. Alas, I can only recommend that "He was a pretty good filterer" on the grave stone. I guess that's better than "He was an okay shrubber" or "He could tie a decent knot." Mrs. Bulba is intent on burying me in her family cemetery on the border, an idea I find incongruous for a lot of reasons but I have no inclination to object to on account that I really don't care. Funny to think though, that assuming I die first, she'll get planted on top of me. Yeah, baby.
2 comments:
Ethan Edwards would be proud.
Funny you said that--thought the same thing.
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