But insofar as people who are interested in literature make themselves come across as horribly unpleasant people whom one would never want to meet or speak to, and whose primary interest in books is as an adjunct to the vicious hatred of human beings, then I think it’s natural that lots of people won’t develop an interest in literature.
— Matthew Yglesias, whom I would characterize as tilting at windmills were that not an elitist, misanthropic literary reference.
Matthew is very young.
Anyway, I’m just delighted to learn that the Harry Potter books have been translated into Klingon.
Fuck off, Matthew, and stuff some Proust up your ass!
How’s that?
Sounds like somebody got a B in freshman English.
Hey you guys. Quit hating humanity.
Perhaps Matthew cannot abide that literature so memorably captures unpleasant realities:
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.
But he should note Garrison Keillor’s observation:
“People who don’t read are trapped in a mine shaft, even if they think the sun is shining.”
/sigh/
Would it do any good to point out to him that literary critics have, in fact, published about Harry Potter? Lots of them?
Probably not, eh?
It may be a somewhat petty and irrelevant thing to bring up in this context, but Matthew Yglesias also wrote a post a while back praising Bush for trying to gut the Endangered Species act, because- I quote- “Who cares? Species die, shit happens, get over it.”
Ever since then, I have been somewhat mystified as to why there seem to be so many intelligent people who view Matthew Yglesias as a Serious, Thoughtful Person Who Should Be Taken Seriously.
He’s right about this one, though. I mean, the truth of his theory is clearly displayed by the fact that I often find myself feeling more misanthropic after reading. The fact that it’s always the news and certain political blogs that create this effect rather than novels is, of course, a minor and irrelevant detail.
(Long time lurker, first time poster. Hi.)
welcome, louis wain cat!
And my, that is a breathtakingly stupid post you link to.
The following may be your entire point, but just in case it’s not, let me say that “he’s young” has been used to excuse MY’s all-too-common forays into total privileged bullshit and wankery for something like four years now. Four years is a long time to be writing for a living and still be completely full of shit on a regular basis.
Wait, I’ve been blogging for about four years (off and on). Scratch that last sentence.
First folk singing, now literature. Was this guy raised in Brave New World, where it was necessary to condition people against distractions from consuming? Oh, right, and down with endangered species, as per the nature-aversive conditioning in the same society.
What does the guy do for fun? Right, I know,
Orgy Porgy, Ford and fun.
In Re the Endangered Species Act post.
The shortsighed view he has is breathtaking, especially considering what he obviously thinks is his “giant killer” line—The he’s only going to get behind things that affect people
He also once wrote a post, many years ago, in which he stated that women are just not very funny.
It actually made me stop reading him for a while thereby proving that I, and all those of my sex, have no sense of humor.
Heck he did not even make me giggle or flip my hair once as I read it. So who is the not so funny one in the scenario, really?
Perhaps one of his sockpuppets is BizarroSuperman?
If he doesn’t learn at least SOME lit references, he is never going to understand JG Ballard.
His loss. When his ego starts to disintegrate under the pressure-cooker of brand-name capitalism and serotonin-inhibited modern life, he won’t have a clue what to do then.
Matthew is very young.
Wow, that phrase takes me back to my daily kos days.
Robust ability uncoupled with judgment or experience-always fun to watch.
then I think it’s natural that lots of people
That’s the money phrase right there.