Stuff elsewhere

by Henry Farrell on August 1, 2008

Norm Geras has put up a “profile”:http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2008/08/the-normblog-profile-254-henry-farrell.html of me – if you’re interested, click over. The bit I’d recommend really has nothing to do with me, except that I was there when it was uttered – my favorite take on a proverb. It came from an Australian friend whom I’ve fallen out of touch with, Mac Darrow. Off the cuff, he glossed _in vino veritas_ as

Many a true word

Is slurred

which I’ve always thought was a translation tinged with genius.

Also, two very good appreciations of writers. First, Julian Barnes has a “lovely piece”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/26/fiction on Penelope Fitzgerald both as a person and as a novelist. I fell in love with _The Blue Flower_, less for the portrait of Novalis than for the quiet tragedy of Karoline Just, and read everything else by her that I could get my hands on. As an aside, while she may seem as far from genre as a writer could be, her pastiche of an M.R. James short story in _The Gate of Angels_ is uncanny and brilliant. Second, Kathy G. has a great discussion of “Tom Geoghegan”:http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog/2008/07/tom-geoghegan-m.html. His _Which Side Are You On?_ (“Powells”:http://www.powells.com/s?kw=Geoghegan%20Which%20Side%20are%20you%20On&PID=29956, “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWhich-Side-Are-You-Revised%2Fdp%2F1565848861%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1217606748%26sr%3D8-1&tag=henryfarrell-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325 ) is a wonderfully written contrary class of a book about the union movement. As Kathy says:

bq. a lot of people just don’t get his charmingly idiosyncratic writing. He writes about politics, and about policy, but God knows his books and essays don’t read like formal scholarly papers or dry think tank reports — they’re far more fluid, inventive, and playful than writing about policy has any right to be. But the problem is, political types often don’t appreciate the literary qualities of his writing, and the literary types don’t get the politics.

I suspect that’s right – his books don’t have arguments so much as they _are_ arguments – going backwards and forwards between different points of view, looking at different aspects of the issue, proposing viewpoints and counter-viewpoints. For those who haven’t read him, he’s really wonderful; one of the best and most original political writers alive.

{ 10 comments }

1

David 08.01.08 at 4:15 pm

Good to see that you are reading Power and Plenty. I am reading it at the moment as well (at about page 250) and really recommend it. If anyone is interested, here is Dani Rodrik on the book:

http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2007/11/a-happy-day.html

2

"Q" the Enchanter 08.01.08 at 4:44 pm

“The bit I’d recommend really has nothing to do with me….”

Careful — apparently this kind of remark can make you sound presumptuous and arrogant these days.

3

David 08.01.08 at 5:36 pm

True Q. For example. One might say, how arrogant Henry is to say: “The bit I’d recommend really has…to do with me….”

4

Maria 08.01.08 at 7:46 pm

Oh thank goodnesss, the Ego Police are out in force today! What ever would we do without them?

5

badger 08.01.08 at 11:10 pm

the jackbooted scoundrels !

Really Henry, what a delightful–may I say very delightful–glimpse of your fascinating and elusive personality you have offered us–“the man behind the science” if you will

6

Hoover 08.02.08 at 7:38 am

CLR James is a hero? How do you reconcile yourself with his racism?

7

Peter Glavodevedhzhe 08.02.08 at 2:27 pm

I wouldn’t have guessed you liked Randall Jarrell (or call him an “intellectual hero”) . I’m a fan too. I’m just curious, but how did you come across him?

8

Martin Wisse 08.02.08 at 7:52 pm

Considering Geras also profiled Malkin, I would’ve kept this quiet.

9

Doug Sharp 08.02.08 at 7:54 pm

Paul Park is one of my favorite authors. I was lucky enough to have both Paul and John Crowley as teachers in 2002 at the Clarion West writing workshop. I haven’t picked up The Hidden World yet but look forward to it. My favorite of his books is The Gospel of Corax – a wonderfully adventurous retelling of J. Christ’s lost years. A lot of writers have played that game but Park rose to the challenge and wrote a book both respectful and iconoclastic while being intensely dramatic.

P.G. Wodehouse is a god. Whenever I need to forget my woes I reread one of his Jeeves and Berty books. What a stylist!

10

Henry 08.02.08 at 8:22 pm

Badger; I will accept that compliment in the spirit in which it was offered

Hoover – you’re on crack.

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