Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere"Hitchens provides rich evidence that his own sallies as a political journalist are nourished by an erudite familiarity with a broad sweep of novelists, essayists and poets. In these pages Oscar Wilde's profound radicalism is uncovered; George Orwell's role as a fulcrum between left and right is carefully appraised; the languid irony and cosmopolitanism of Gore Vidal are celebrated; and a discussion of the fatwah issued against Salman Rushdie prompts a meditation on the West's misunderstood encounter with Islam. Along the way, a refined and knowledgeable palate samples offerings from, amongst others, P. G. Wodehouse, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Christopher Isherwood, Anthony Powell, Saul Bellow, Alan Bloom, Philip Larkin and Patrick O'Brian, and dethrones the overrated, conspicuous among them such figures as Tom Wolfe and Isaiah Berlin."--BOOK JACKET. |
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Page 45
... Wodehouse to Bill Townend , saying : ' Can you imagine giving lunch to celebrate the publication of a book ? With the other authors , mostly fairies , twittering all over the place , screaming ' Oh , Lionel ! ' This may make George ...
... Wodehouse to Bill Townend , saying : ' Can you imagine giving lunch to celebrate the publication of a book ? With the other authors , mostly fairies , twittering all over the place , screaming ' Oh , Lionel ! ' This may make George ...
Page 46
... Wodehouse idolatry . None of the above hits are real chart - busters except perhaps ' gruntled ' . ( ' He spoke with a certain what - is - it in his voice and I could see that , if not actually disgruntled , he was far from being ...
... Wodehouse idolatry . None of the above hits are real chart - busters except perhaps ' gruntled ' . ( ' He spoke with a certain what - is - it in his voice and I could see that , if not actually disgruntled , he was far from being ...
Page 47
... Wodehouse accepted the decision with good grace and clothed it in humour , writing of the rupee - in which Ernest's pension was paid - jumping up and down and throwing fits . ' Watch the rupee ' was , he claimed , the cry in the Wodehouse ...
... Wodehouse accepted the decision with good grace and clothed it in humour , writing of the rupee - in which Ernest's pension was paid - jumping up and down and throwing fits . ' Watch the rupee ' was , he claimed , the cry in the Wodehouse ...
Contents
Oscar Wildes Socialism | 9 |
George Orwell and Raymond Williams | 26 |
Oh Lionel | 44 |
Copyright | |
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Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere Christopher Hitchens No preview available - 2014 |
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actually admiration American Andy Warhol Anthony Powell asked Aubrey Auden become Bellow Berlin British called character Clancy Conan Doyle course culture Dahl described Eliot England English essay Evelyn Waugh fact fascism father fiction Gatsby George Orwell going Gore Vidal homosexual human Ignatieff intellectual Iranian Irish Isaiah Berlin Isherwood Jack Jack Aubrey Jewish Jews John Kipling knew Larkin later letter liberal literary living look Maturin Mencken mind moral never Nordau Norman Podhoretz novel O'Brien once Orwell's Oscar Wilde P. G. Wodehouse perhaps Philip Larkin phrase Podhoretz poem poet poetry political Powell Powell's President published Ravelstein remember Review of Books Roald Dahl Rushdie seems sexual social sort story T. S. Eliot tell things thought Vidal Washington Waugh Widmerpool Wilde Wilde's Williams Wodehouse word writing written wrote York young