Comments on: A Sense of the Passed

By: jholbo

jholbo — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 02:29:00 +0000

That’s very funny! Now I suppose I’m going to have to go back and read the silly Culture Industry thing to satisfy my curiousity. (I sort of like Victor Mature, I must admit.)

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 18:44:35 +0000

The Culture Industry essay references both. Victor Mature was once denied membership in a country club on account of being an actor. “They obviously,” he responded, “haven’t seen my movies.”

By: jholbo

jholbo — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 18:28:35 +0000

The only Victor Mature blogging I have ever done is here. I believe you are right that Trilling never fully broaches the topic. But since my post is about how our sense of New York's fairly recent past is inaccurate, I believe that counts as a connection. But perhaps you knew that already, Lawrence, and are baiting me into some cunning trap I'm not seeing. Mickey Rooney? Mickey Rooney? Loved him as Puck in Max Reinhardt's Midsummer Night's Dream. Don't know what my best pal Lionel thought. Bet he liked it. Does Adorno talk about Mature and Rooney? Good heavens.

By: Lawrence L. White

Lawrence L. White — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 17:40:27 +0000

If your buddy Trilling is so hep, how come I can’t find a single witty crack at Victor Mature’s expense in any of his writings? Or any reference to Mickey Rooney? I must confess, though, I find The Stars Down to Earth tedious.

By: jholbo

jholbo — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 15:05:12 +0000

I’m with John about the bathroom story. I’m at most half half convinced. There’s actually another similar story in the book. Some friend of Broyard who couldn’t go to the bathroom while his girlfriend was in the house. So she made a point of going ‘to buy cigarettes’ every day at a certain time so he could do his business. And one day he gets mad and says something like: ‘can’t you make up a different story? Every day. Cigarettes. Cigarettes.’ Not sure whether the repetition makes it more or less plausible. Oh, and I should add a sort of footnote to the whole post – something I realize is rather unclear. I write that his conservatism peeks through occasionally, as though that were obviously a bad thing. But obviously there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with conservatives writing their memoirs. The part that’s weird is that you get the sense – just here and there – that the author believes something completely different than what he’s saying; but you aren’t quite sure what. This is what makes Gates’ Gatsby comparison so apt. (Is it actually Gates, or does he quote someone else making that comparison? Now I’m not sure.) Anyway, you get the distinct sense that Broyard is not at all who he seems to be; that he is playing a role. But you aren’t sure what. I felt this way about the book before I knew about the man’s peculiar ‘Human Stain’ personal history. Obviously that’s a big part of the key. Anyway, there is an odd schizophrenia to it. But it’s more like the schizophrenia of a Hollywood movie whose plot is generating issues, but does not wish to offend.

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 13:54:03 +0000

Oh, as for the bathroom story: 1. I’m not convinced. 2. If this happened, and Broyard was unable to leave the apartment for 15 minutes to let his guests use the bathroom, then he’s a schmuck. But the beating story already confirms this.

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 02:41:25 +0000

That Trilling text is lovely.

By: Henry

Henry — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 23:25:12 +0000

Serge Gainsbourg was the 1969 man as I recall- he made a strong case (in three verses and a chorus) that it should be considered an ‘annee erotique.’

By: Tom Runnacles

Tom Runnacles — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 21:44:12 +0000

Brief reflection indicates that you were indeed just being obliquely smutty. Oh, I feel such a fool.

By: Tom Runnacles

Tom Runnacles — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 21:19:53 +0000

For the record, Larkin’s claim was: ‘Sexual intercourse began in 1963 (which was rather late for me) between the “Lady Chatterly” trial and the Beatles’ first LP.’ Consider this a part of the CT fact-checking service, unless by supplying the year 1969 you were just being deliberately smutty. Tut tut.

By: nnyhav

nnyhav — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 21:18:23 +0000

the usual epigrammatic comments Dunno about chun, but I feel I've been desulted. even lower Limbo!

By: ogged

ogged — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 21:11:58 +0000

I haven’t read any of your post John, because it’s so damn long, but blogging standards are low, and blog commenting standards even lower, so what the hell: you have no idea what you’re talking about.

By: bob mcmanus

bob mcmanus — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 20:26:42 +0000

Mr. Holbo can be long and dense sometimes, making the usual epigrammatic comments seen desultory. Excluding the usual praise and gratitude, of course. A bunch of stuff there. I feel like a better knowledge of post-modernism would enable a more interesting comment about the “text” or something. Can we get more out of “Philoctetes” than Sophocle’s audience did, precisely because religion has been replaced by spirituality in the appreciation? …. Being a baby-boomer, I often feel like Yglesias is foreign and alien, I lack an understanding of his context. My late sixties sexual experiences, while not comparing to Broyard’s, were probably more fun than Matt’s. … Manners, context, implications, things not said. I hope Mrs Holbo is well.

By: nnyhav

nnyhav — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 17:53:26 +0000

Is it no longer good form to commence each paragraph of an extended quotation with an appropriate black mark after the white space? Or do we now see the suppression inherent in the system?

By: chun the unavoidable

chun the unavoidable — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 17:46:52 +0000

Adorno was/is a necessary tonic to the bovine and nativist appreciation school of cultural studies.