August 15, 2012 at 2:01 P.M. I am unable to access the list of posts for "Against Dark Arts," which is left blank by some criminal obstruction to my writings. However, I am able to create a new post. I hope.
A second essay dealing with New Jersey corruption will be posted, eventually, if I am able to regain access to my blog posts at some time in the future. I am writing at the Morningside Heights branch of the NYPL. I cannot make use of italics or bold script at these blogs. Harassments and obstructions are continuous as I struggle to write at my blogs. Nevertheless, I will continue to write.
Martin Amis, "Why I Left England," in The New Republic, August 23, 2012, at p. 3. (Will England survive Mr. Amis' departure? Will Britain survive the Olympics as well as the loss of Naughty-Novelist and "Sherlock" to the Hitch's "Watson, Martin Amis? Rest assured, America: There will always be an England. On the other hand, will Brooklyn and America survive the presence of Martin Amis? No one knows. Several leaders of the Labour party have sought political asylum in the Honduran Embassy in London. Mr. Assange's presence has left the Equadorian Embassy too crowded for further guests. The British Foreign Secretary has recoiled from the suggestion that the U.K. may invade a sovereign country's embassy in London when reminded that there are British embassies in many strange parts of the world -- like the United States of America and France.)
Andrew Ferguson, "Gore Vidal's Fan Club: What Exactly Did They Admire About the Man?," in The Weekly Standard, August 13, 2012, at p. 20.
"The most puzzling thing about the career of Gore Vidal, who went toes up last week at 86, was the reverence in which he was held by people who might have known better. He was famous for anouncing 'the death of the novel'" -- Vidal's point concerned the loss of the READER of serious fiction -- "as an art form, and as if to prove the point he kept writing them. No one who survived a reading of 'Kalki' or 'Myron' or 'Creation' or 'Duluth' will recall the experience with anything other than revulsion and self-loathing. It is true that, when sober, he could be good on television, and few talents nowadays are more highly prized. And it's true that, as an essayist, he could sometimes impress the reader with a kind of goofball charm; [Vidal was a "mere dabbler," perhaps?] ... However, when you measure these achievements from a career spanning seven decades, they amount to no more than a handful, soon to turn to dust." ("'Revolutionary Road': A Movie Review" and "'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
In a brief (but not brief enough!) article "ANDREW FERGUSON," allegedly, dips his pen in venom to attack a great writer who is no longer around to defend himself. Are behind-the-back smears a specialty, Andy? (Is this the work of "Manohla Dargis"? Or of "Brooks Barnes," perhaps? "Carlotta Gall?")
It is no longer worth dying, it seems, since wriggling and hideous creatures slither out from beneath their rocks in the media to attack one's reputation. Is it ethical for journalists to cooperate with censorship and cybercrime efforts, Ms. Dargis? Mr. Ferguson? I wonder whether Mr. Ferguson has visited my sites and/or debated me at the behest of Republican friends? ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")
The person who actually wrote this review -- whoever he or she may be -- has opened Mr. Vidal's coffin in order to relieve him- or herself in it. Luckily, it was the wrong coffin. I shudder to think of the fate of Mr. Buckley's remains at the hands of this monster. ("Saying Goodbye to William F. Buckley, Jr.")
What we admire about Gore Vidal -- or William F. Buckley, Jr. for that matter -- is literary skill or even genius in the case of Mr. Vidal. Envy defines the writer of this vicious and offensive attack upon a great novelist whose life-work includes at least two masterpieces, "Myra Breckingridge" and "Lincoln." It takes little courage to attack a deceased polemicist. About the dead one should speak only the truth. ("Dormi Bene, Gore Vidal.")
In addition to these novels, of course, Vidal is generally regarded as the finest American essayist of the twentieth century, possibly the best English-language master of the essay form in our time. This is to say nothing of the most poignant and beautifully-crafted memoir that I have read, "Palimpsest."
I had the good fortune to meet and discuss some things with Mr. Vidal. I cannot claim to have been a friend of his. However, Vidal was certainly a friend of mine. He will remain a presence in my thoughts and writings for as long as I live. ("An Evening With Gore Vidal" and "Abrazo.")
Sadly, not only would this disgusting diatribe not surprise Gore Vidal, but he expected such treatment after his death from lunatic Right-wingers, like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, or their employees. I urge all readers to ponder Vidal's critique of Ayn Rand.
Mr. Ferguson will never write anything to compare with Vidal's prose nor is he capable of reading that prose very well. Vidal suggested, accurately, that serious or literary fiction was losing the general reader to the movies in the late twentieth century. This observation is now a demonstrable statistical fact. Nonetheless, Vidal recommended that we continue to read and write good novels. Some of us plan to do just that -- reading and writing until the last bugle calls, as it were. ("Shakespeare's Black Prince" and "Master and Commander.")
The "Angel of Ravello" also mourned the loss of education among his fellow citizens and the decline of journalism into paid political advertising, as demonstrated by Mr. Ferguson.
There are those who believe that Mitt Romney wrote this essay attacking Gore Vidal. Happily, Mr. Romney has explained that, due to all of the big words in the article, he could not even read it. This may prove Mr. Vidal's point concerning the "average" person's abandonment of the novel to television commercials. Mr. Rubio is fond of sports. Iliana Ros-Leghtinen favors "The Reader's Digest" condensations of abbreviated books. Paul Ryan is a member of the Ayn Rand fan club whose members get together to deny food to the poor on Thanksgiving Day.
I believe the Republican presidential nominee-to-be on this issue. I herewith absolve Mitt Romney of all blame for this excretion by Mr. Ferguson and for the rag in which it appeared.
Mr. Ferguson, please take your medications, regularly, and remove your soiled underpants rather than sharing their contents with your unfortunate readers.
