Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
I'm glad that so many members shared the literary giants on "our side" in response to Peter's recent post. But now we have this to contend with since Twain's "unexpurgated autobiography" is nearing publication.
The delight that shines through in this article is not surprising (it is the Times, after all) but re-labeling Twain as a "prophet," and linking his ideas to current circumstances is a bit rich, even for them:
Whether anguishing over American military interventions abroad or delivering jabs at Wall Street tycoons, this Twain is strikingly contemporary ... the uncensored autobiography makes it clear that those feelings ran very deep and includes remarks that, if made today in the context of Iraq or Afghanistan, would probably lead the right wing to question the patriotism of this most American of American writers.
- Comment (7)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
Don't all the cynical curmudgeonly smart-a**es of this world, even if smart, naturally tend towards liberalism? They are already halfway there.
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
It gets worse. Yesterday I saw a sticker on a post on Main St. in Seal Beach that said, "Faith is believing in what you know ain't so" or some folksy thing like that attributed to Twain. Underneath that is said something like freedomfromreligion dot org, and I just rolled my eyes. Oh, my favorite author thinks I'm an idiot? Great, thanks guys, let me join your club, you got me with that one.
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
Ursula, thanks for the heads up. I wouldn't put too much stock in the Times' spin on Twain's autobiography however. The NYT is to objective journalism what Pravda was to human freedom. Yes, Twain could be acerbic, as evidenced by his Letters From The Earth, for example. To his credit, in my humble opinion, he didn't suffer hypocrites from anywhere on the political spectrum. I just have this idea that if a large scale attack on the American mainland had taken place during his lifetime, he would have made mincmeant of anyone who declined to take the war to the enemy.
May '10
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
"Yesterday I saw a sticker on a post on Main St. in Seal Beach that said, "Faith is believing in what you know ain't so" or some folksy thing like that attributed to Twain. Underneath that is said something like freedomfromreligion dot org, and I just rolled my eyes."
Hey, awesome! Another anti-religion group that doesn't know the difference between faith and knowledge.
May '10
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
Huck's trip down the river taught us that humanity is not, at heart, good or perfectible, which refutes the most basic tenet of utopian liberalism. All the rest is details.
May '10
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
I too have dabbled in the heresy of "Twain as Prophet". After all, he wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court nearly 70 years before Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged and defined the philosophy of Objectivism. Surely, at the very least, John Galt is a distant cousin to "The Boss". Does this mean Twain is "mine"? (our pseudonym's notwithstanding)
If the above is so much poppycock, so (I think) is the idea that any great art or artist are anything but in the eye of the beholder. Especiallyamong artist who's greatest talents were in the field of fiction.
May '10
Re: Hey, Peter? Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs has now given Twain to the Liberals
Twain is a natural hero to the left. After all, the left aspires to do what he did so artfully: to make an opinion on an issue part of the culture, or beyond being able to be resisted by any naysayer. What Mark Twain did in Huck Finn catapulted him beyond story writer and into the role of a manipulator of cultural/societal issues. No one can argue that Huck Finn accomplished much for a great cause and necessarily converted many minds. He so beautifully showed the insanity of the views of many towards all dark skinned people, but the method sits well among leftists: don't try to take the message to them directly...mask it, sugar-coat it, call it by another name, until they accept it as a matter of fact. It isn't socialized health-care, it's a single-payer option. These aren't illegal aliens, they are undocumented workers.