John Hawkins over at Right Wing News has posted an interesting survey: Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The Books That Have Had The Biggest Impact On Their Thinking. I participated and thought I would share with you the books I selected. I sent John the following, admittedly without a great deal of thought and not in any particualr order:
Art versus style?
In the process of praising Virginia Postrel’s new book, The Substance of Style, David Frum raises a very interesting point. Allow me to quote it at length:
It is curious that the moment in which American business has discovered beauty has coincided with a radical rejection of beauty by American artists. I don’t fully hold with Charles Murray’s anxieties about the disappearance of artistic excellence (see below), but nobody can deny that serious artists and musicians have been gripped by what HL Mencken once called a “libido for the ugly†– abandoning the interest in beauty to fakers and hucksters like Thomas Kinkead, the “painter of light†whose mass-produced works are sold at fabulous prices in shopping malls near you . . . But if the idea spreads that there really is no difference – that what say Cezanne did is just a rarified version of what the stylists at Starbucks do – one should not be surprised that potential Cezannes decide to forgo the hardships and risks inherent in the life of the artist and sign up for the certain benefits of working as a stylist. With those who can actually draw or compose a tune or write clever words absconding for work in the style economy, the art world is left empty to be filled up with misfits and weirdos attracted to the life of the artist precisely because of its hardships. We’ve created a world in which those with artistic talents are systematically hired away from artistic vocations – while just about everyone drawn to an artistic vocation lacks basic artistic talents.
I think Frum is on to something here. Could it be that beauty in traditional art has been so devalued that we are forced to look for beauty in other places? Those on the left might like to blame this on the market and on consumerism but it seems to me that the art world rejected beauty as a value seperate from any consumerist drive, in fact quite the contrary, they sought it to prove they were not commercial but political. Ironically the market is trying to bring beauty back.
Postrel responds to Frum’s points somewhat here. What do you think?
Treason by Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter’s Treason is a difficult book to read. Not because the subject is too dense or complex or because it is one we would rather avoid. No, the book is difficult because it is an angry, hyperbolic, disorganized, and disorienting rant – one that goes on for almost three hundred pages.
Coulter’s look at post-World War II American history is a mix of revisionism, satire, and polemics. Her basic premise is that liberals are not misguided but well-intentioned idealists but instead, traitors who hate their country and oppose it at every turn. In attempting to make this rather controversial point she touches on everything from espionage in the Roosevelt (FDR) administration to the attacks on (the current) President Bush; from Alger Hiss and Whitaker Chambers to racial profiling after 9/11. Although she moves in a roughly chronological direction she jumps back and forth between time periods with abandon.
Welcome
Welcome to Collected Miscellany! What exactly is “collected Miscellany” you ask? Well, it is an attempt to give this humble web page a catchy title. As the banner notes above, it is basically a place to collect a variety of literary works. In this case it is also a web page devoted to the power of ideas and of the written word.
I have a love of books. I also have a desire to write and improve my writing. This is the place I will try to express my love of books and ideas and to both nurture and showcase my writing skills. This will not be a place devoted to me or my daily life (for that go here) but rather a place to explore more serious ideas. The subjects will range from conservatism and philosophy to history and literature. As you can see by the tabs above these posts will be organized into news, views, reviews, and interviews. Simple click on the tab and you can see the posts under that category. I hope to bring you well written, interesting, and thought provoking posts in each of those categories. Links to news and developments in the world of books; opinion and thought pieces on a wide range of topics but centered on ideas and books; book reviews in a wide range of categories from fiction to history and philosophy; and interviews with authors, writers, and others engaged in the battle of ideas.
If you are interested in contributing to this endeavor and posting here at Collected Miscellany, please contact me at the email address located in the upper left hand corner of this page.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will make Collected Miscellany a regular stop.
Book Sale!
UPDATE: Sorry the book sale was only through Friday. The books are no longer $5.
Book lovers will want to check out the Special Spence Publishers Book Sale. They have a number of fascinating books on sale for $5! I have already clicked over a purchased some and I suggest you do the same. They have subjects ranging from music and popular culture to feminism and free speech. Check it out . . .
Q&A with Brock Clarke
There is a reason people are paid to write headlines and book titles: when they work they sell. I bring this up because I was sold by just such a device. The book was The Ordinary White Boy by Brock Clarke. I was shopping at a bargain book outlet for some interesting reading material when the title and cover caught my eye. Since I consider my self an “Ordinary White Boy” I was interested to see how the author dealt with the topic. The book proved thouroughly enjoyable. I then realized that the author taught in nearby Cincinnati. Building on my recent success, I decided to attempt an interview. Luckily, Mr. Clarke proved amenable and was gracious enough to answer my questions.
Brock Clarke , a native of upstate New York, received his Ph.D. in English at the University of Rochester. He is currently an assistant professor of Creative Writing at the University of Cincinnati. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in New England Review, Mississippi Review, American Fiction, The Journal, Brooklyn Review, South Carolina Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, Twentieth Century Literature, and Southwestern American Literature. He has received awards from the Sewanee Writers? Conference, Bread Loaf Writers? Conference, and the New York State Writers? Institute. His most recent published work is What We Won’t Do a collection of short stories. The Q&A was conducted via email and is below. Enjoy.