I admire both of these books, but apparently in my admiration I can be viewed as an oddity, at least by New York Post columnist John Podhoretz., who has written about the Ferguson book. In a column of tortured praise for it, Podhoretz notes that "writers don't really root for each other. Usually they root against each other." Well, many of us writers have long been in awe of Podhoretz's essential smallness. Here he reveals himself as so cemented in it that he psychologically projects smallness on the rest of us. Acknowledging that Ferguson has written a fine book, Podhoretz confides, "The dark secret is that I would have been happy to think Land of Lincoln wasn't very good." It takes a person of colossal narcissism to make such an admission in public, but I thank him for it. The ass has given me another good day.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator, a contributing editor to the New York Sun, and an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Mysterious. (agav, read JP's article for yourself, the praise is not at all tortured.) There does seem to be some basis for these charges. According to what appears to be a left wing conspiracy website, Rightweb, "In New York Magazine, Hannah Rosin described Podhoretz as a difficult boss who has "inherited his father's literary narcissism, but without the ideological vigor" (New York, January 5, 1998).
However, it is odd to here this criticism coming from a prominent conservative who as recently as June 19, 2006, had this to say: "John Podhoretz is also a seasoned journalist and editor. When he lived in Washington he edited a style page for the Washington Times that gave the Washington Post's style page a run for its money. He could do so because he has a formidable knowledge of politics, political history, and popular culture. " I wonder what happened since.
3 comments:
What is that guy's problem?! The review is a humorous way of lavishing praise on Ferguson without sounding over the top. There is no way that one would conclude that JPod is narcissistic from that review. Quite the contrary, it seems to be a bit of self-satire. Who is this R. Emmet Tyrell Jr. (a name like that conjures up images of pomposity and puffery, not to say a bit of narcissism)? Tyrell's review is not actually a review at all, but seems a way to namedrop his own significance and attack JPod. I say anonymous can yet maintain his eponym with pride.
Emmett Tyrrell
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R. (Robert) Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. (born 1943) is the founder of the American Spectator magazine, an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, and a contributing editor of the New York Sun. Though "R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr." is his byline, he is known socially as Bob Tyrrell.
Due to his frequent use words like "flapdoodle", "hoosegow", and "fantastico", along with his faux-awarding of the "J. Gordon Coogler Award for Worst Book of the Year", Tyrrell's writing style has been compared to that of H. L. Mencken, not always favorably. In particular, political writer Hendrik Hertzberg wrote a scathingly satirical essay, published in The New Republic, which took Tyrrell to task for what is widely perceived as his overly florid prose, in which he described him as "Chicken McMenken," and characterized his writing style as "verbal dandyism." [1]
Tyrrell has borne the title of "editor in chief" of the Spectator since its founding in 1967, though for decades his long-time associate from Indiana University, Wladyslaw Pleszczynski, has done much of the work of putting out a monthly magazine, and more recently, its daily counterpart on the Internet. Pleszczynski has worked at The American Spectator in an official capacity since 1980, serving in several important posts, including Managing Editor from 1980-1995 and Executive Editor from 1995-2004. Currently, he is the Editorial Director of The American Spectator.
In 2000-amid a budget shortfall, internecine criticism and feuds, resignations, and widespread criticism, both among conservative and non-conservative commentators, of the editorial and financial practices of the magazine-The American Spectator was sold to venture capitalist, conservative author, and hi-tech guru George Gilder, who proceeded to reorganize the entire magazine along the lines of a "new economy," computer and corporate-oriented enterprise, which entailed firing almost all of the remaining staff.
In 2003, after the Internet "bubble" had burst and Gilder had encountered a series of financial and legal difficulties-including an inability to successfully market his version of TAS-he resold the magazine to R. Emmett Tyrrell and the American Alternative Foundation, the original 501(c)(3) organization under which the magazine was incorporated.
After initially bringing The American Spectator back in an exclusively online form-which was dubbed "The American Prowler," a reference to the magazine's famous and long-running section exploring D.C. politics-Tyrrell decided to republish the magazine in print form, this time as an oversized glossy, but otherwise much the same as its original incarnation, including the retention of many of the same contributors, such as Ben Stein.
new york magazine is a far, far, far left tabloid that beleves israel should not exist and is much raunchier, trashier, and more left-wing than the staples of the left... if they don't like somebody, it's a good thing...
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