The Devil counts the be verb amongst his many manifestations.

Why possess we, writing in English, the habit of so effortlessly and frequently relying upon the be verb? I recognize that, at times, “is”, “are”, or any other variant, its simplicity highlighting the nuances at hand, far better serves the author than any action verb could; however, more often than not (or so I believe), [...]

Ahem, I am a manly fan of it.

Jan Freeman, in the Boston Globe:
If semicolons are masculine enough for Melville and Irving, why should they unsettle Barthelme and Vonnegut? Are today’s male writers just more insecure than yesterday’s about the manliness of their vocation?
Man-up or put down the pen; the semi-colon is beautiful, elegant sign of nuance and complexity.

On the coat-tails of the lament of the death of pub culture, the W.S.J. reminds us of further cultural debasement.

It may be hard to imagine — given our current obsessions with television shows, movies, instant-messaging, Facebook and blogs — but literature was once at the center of American cultural life. In the middle of the 20th century, novels and poems, of varying quality and aspiration, were widely read and widely talked about. And literary [...]

The moral relativism of the e-book reader

That’s a strange title for a post, isn’t it? More important, I allow, it’s mis-leading. How-ever, this line I scribbled on a sheet of paper after I engaged, during the mid-class break, this evening, in a not-yet-(and, probably, perpetually un-)settled debate on technology, progress, autonomy, and, as I accused my class-mate, Charles, of, ultimately, advocating, [...]

More on Mailer: War, Concentration, Technology, and Christianity

This passage, too, from The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, the Novel as History has rather deeply affected me over the years, as has the post discussed here. This passage touches further on the deleterious effects of concentration (of technology and the corporation, specifically), and offers what i believe to be a [...]

The peculiar — and important — conservatism of Norman Mailer

From the 2 December 2002 issue of The American Conservative, “I Am Not For World Empire” (I include only the introduction; read the interview for your-self: It’s well worth the time.):
A conversation with Norman Mailer about Iraq, Israel, the perils of technology and why he is a Left-Conservative.
On a crystalline day in October, Taki, Kara [...]

Damn the Internet! Damn it, I say!

Nicholas Carr, in the current Atlantic Monthly writes the follow in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?“.
Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s [...]

Could someone please lobotomize Sean Hannity?

On his website (One simply must love the inspiring, patriotic poses of Hannity across the top!), “conservative” pundit Sean Hannity has posted his Top 10 Items for Victory, victory, one assumes, not for conservatism, the Republic, or liberty, but for the G.O.P.
Perhaps, most telling of why Hannity needs, for the greater good, to be lobotmized [...]

Gonna read ’til my eyes bleed

Or so I hope. Presently, I find myself, quite happily, at home in Indiana, where, at the moment, we enjoy absolutely beautiful weather. Sooner, rather than later, I intend to make use of down-time here to read. Travels to Chicago and to Texas and attempts to visit with as many people here as possible over [...]

Terse writing bores me.

Life happens not in the uninspired black-and-white banality of concise writing, featuring only a few absolute phrases, but in the vivid, fanciful colors of intensely descriptive composition. We should be so lucky as to live as simply as Subject, verb, occasional object, period! That we carry on day-to-day otherwise is patently obvious: Our lives are [...]