It is now an archive for my newspaper and magazine pieces. My blog can now be read at: www.spectator.co.uk/stephenpollard
Politics, economics and culture from the master. Unmissable.
Melanie Phillips home page
Melanie Phillips' peerless blog. Read, and learn.
Daniel Finkelstein's Times Comment Central
A daily must-read.
Tim Worstall
Lots of interesting nibbles - and a ruthless swatter of economic gibberish.
Harry's Place
Must-read left of centre blog from writers who understand the threat to the West.
Clive Davis
Always interesting selection of culture and politics, from an Anglo-American bent.
Samizdata
Libertarian blog, packed every day.
Norm's blog
The thoroughly sensible thoughts of renowned left-wing academic Norman Geras, Professor of Government at Manchester. And cricket, too.
Public Interest
Peter Briffa's inimitable take on The Yazzmonster and other assorted demons.
Reform
The public sector reform group; their website is an invaluable source of data and ideas.
Centre for the New Europe
The leading European public policy think tank.
Developed by:
| December | 30 |
| 2006 |
Clive Davis has posted my contribution to his 'Old' books of the year feature, here:
I've just re-read John Kennedy Toole’s "A Confederacy of Dunces". I'm not a great fan of fiction, so the fact that I must have read it at least twenty times probably says as much about me as it does about the book. It is, by quite a long way, the greatest novel of the twentieth century (a judgement based on the most profound of all criteria – near total ignorance of the relevant material).I won’t reveal the "plot"; if you haven’t read it, drop everything and do so NOW. The gist can be gained from the derivation of the title, which is Swift’s epigraph that: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Toole is a Dostoevsky for the modern age. His book explains politics, democracy, welfare, family, education, society and life. It is, to use a much-overused word, truly a work of genius.
MessageSpace
From a review of the book at Amazon.co.uk:
"So, the author committed suicide because no-one would publish it? Really, you don't say? If I'd have been around, I would have shot him and saved him the bother. God in Heaven, I was ready to commit suicide within 50 pages! There is not an ounce of skill in this; no rhyme nor reason. What is the point of this book? It starts nowhere, it goes nowhere, it ends nowhere. The lead character, Ignatius J Reilly, is as unlikeable and unbelievable as he is fat. Other characters just drift in and out like ... I don't know what. I am lost for words to describe how turgid this waste of paper is."
http://tinyurl.com/y5qc6z
An inspired choice for "Old Book of the Year". Well worth reading and re-reading. Amazon.com is not the best place for literary criticism, though there is obviously no shortage of uninformed opinion.
"Amazon.com is not the best place for literary criticism, though there is obviously no shortage of uninformed opinion."
1) It's from Amazon.co.uk and not Amazon.com. If you don't know the difference between the two, your judgement about anything to do with Amazon is highly suspect.
2) I don't give a toss about its merits. I found it funny and that's why I posted it.
3) What makes your opinion better than anyone else's ("Well worth reading and re-reading" hardly makes you an H.L. Mencken or Harold Bloom)? If you had posted your thoughts on Amazon.com would you have been compelled to admit ipso facto that they were of little worth? How can we trust Pollard's opinion when he has admitted here that he dislikes fiction and elsewhere that he reads very little? Amazon.com has positive reviews of this novel up the wazoo. Should I now cancel my order for this novel because I cannot trust the many very detailed reviews by people with a high level of literacy and a deep interest in fiction?
Providing you employ a certain amount of discrimination, you will find that the reviews at Amazon in pretty much all areas are an invaluable resource. In any event, as far as book reviews go, far better Tom from Tennessee or Alice from Australia than some anal-retentive hack with a large knapsack full of prejudices and turgid prose at the Guardian or Times (New York or London).
I'm really becoming quite intrigued by the way Joshua pops up immediately Stephen posts. Yet we don't see him commenting on any other blog.
Confederacy of Dunces is an evaluation tool. I must communicate on a different level with those who do not appreciate John Kennedy Toole. They have different life experiences, don't have the same sense of irony, and in general laugh at other things. This is not a judgement, just an obseervation. For those who love him, the meeting is deeply satisfying.
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