Taking On the Liblits! Wolfe and Crichton Strike!

self | 1/2/05 | LS

[LS]

Last week I posted a thread on Tom WOlfe's new book, "I Am Charlotte Simmons," about life on an Ivy League campus in 2005. There were some great comments (including my favorite, which I don't agree with, that "71-year-old men should not write about 21-year-old girls"). I thought Wolfe captured the tensions of a culturally conservative young woman who found herself totally adrift in a sea of immorality and lunacy pretty well.

The other night, Wolfe was on C-SPAN's "Booknotes" with Brian Lamb. The calls were remarkably level-headed. One caller asked Wolfe about conservatism in his books. He didn't say he had conservative messages, but that everyone assumed that because he poked fun at liberals, which is verboten. But overall he pretty much admitted to being a conservative. He said that at a dinner party, all the Liblits were beside themselves just before the election asking, "What can we do about Bush?" After it went around the table and they looked at Woolfe, he said, "Well, if all else fails you can vote for him." According to Wolfe, "They looked at me like I had admitted to being a child molestor."

At any rate, he had a great comment about "Charlotte Simmons," who is him (which is why I think the 71-year-old man comment doesn't fit): he said "I am Charlotte Simmons. It is a book about a girl who thinks she wants a life of the mind, but in reality she wants to be a star." Does that not sum up the "celebrity culture" that Rush has detailed?

He further went on to detail how, for the first time in his memory, living "legend" authors like John Updike, Norman Mailer, and John Irving publically have attacked Wolfe for his previous hit, "A Man In Full," mainly (in his view) because it sold 1.4 million and they are envious. He refers to them as the "three stooges." Good characterization. He wants to create a "Hippocratic Oath" for writers, with the central principle being, "First, ENTERTAIN." Good advice.

Now I'm reading Michael Crichton's "State of Fear," another book sure to send the Liblits into paroxisms of denial and hate. Crichton's is the first novel I've ever seen with scholarly footnotes! He actually has the scientific papers noted in the book, and he KNOWS THIS STUFF. Forget for a moment the plot, or whether he has a hit as "entertainment." This is going to be a hugely important book because it is the first to really break from the environmental whacko mindset among the Liblits. Moreover, according to Crichton, the studies often have as their conclusions things that are not supported at all in the EVIDENCE! If he is correct, either the scholars themselves, or the journal editors in the abstracts and conclusions actually "massage" the conclusions to a pro-warming message when in fact, overwhelmingly, the science does not come CLOSE to supporting such nonsense.

These authors/books are important. They show a fissure---if a small one---in the monolithic entertainment/literature lobby of the libs, and these men will take some hits. Fortunately for them, they wer prominent enough and wealthy enough that no one can silence them.

Now let's see if Crichton will take on illegal immigration next!

[FreedomPoster]

>>the book IS important for its relentless skewering of global warming.

He was on 20/20 with Stossel doing exactly that, and of course promoting the book, and it was great. Hit the Crichton keyword, there's my thread about the 20/20 show there, as well as several other good threads on Crichton and "global warming".

[joebuck]

"Similarly, Crichton's fiction relies on carefully researched scientific facts. Crichton, who trained as a doctor at Harvard Med, has sometimes anticipated scientific developments that were contrary to expert opinion."

Interestingly enough, I saw Crichton interviewed about this book and he said he started out with the idea of writing a global warming "doomsday" book. However, when researching the science on global warming he discovered there really wasn't any, and what's more the studies that were out there had been misrepresented greatly. This changed his project 180 degrees and he decided to write a book on politics masquerading as science.

[arasina]

Right now I'm reading "Air Frame" by Crichton.

Great book; fascinating read. I love reading Crichton's novels because they are so well researched in addition to having characters with enough depth to make the facts interesting. That's the same reason I enjoyed James Michener's books. (One of my all-time favorites is by him: "The Source".)

Looks like I'm now going to have to investigate the works of Wolfe!

[bd476]

A quick start, quick read and very funny book written by Tom Wolfe is Radical Chic & Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers.

[Carolinamom]

I read the readers' reviews of Wolfe's I Am Charlote Simmons on Amazon. They were either all praise or all condemnations....no middle ground. 'Guess I'll have to read it and decide for myself....which I usually do anyway.

[SuziQ]

After it went around the table and they looked at Woolfe, he said, "Well, if all else fails you can vote for him." According to Wolfe, "They looked at me like I had admitted to being a child molestor."

ROTFL!! I just love eccentric Southrn gentlemen!

[SuziQ]

I wonder if this Crichton book will be made into a major motion picture?

I'd like to see Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six" made into a movie, but only if they don't booger it up like they have the previous Clancy books, made into movies! It would be a great action film!

[SuziQ]

Try Wolfe's From Bauhuas to Our House

I haven't read any Tom Wolfe except "Radical Chic and MauMauing the Flak Catchers". I just loved it, and don't know why I never picked up any more of his books! I will have to rectify that situation in the New Year, right after I finish "Satanic Verses" and "A Matter of Character".

[gaspar]

Three Stooges indeed! Unlike the fatally neurotic Mailer, the fussy oldmaidenly Updike, and the prissy qua preppy John Irving, TW is perfectly comfortable in his skin. He is a wonderful interview because he is wonderfully honest. May he live another 70 years.

[Rockingham]

Crichton's path is similar to that of Dutch statistician Bjorn Lomborg. Beginning as a conventional environmentalist, he started looking closely at the evidence using his skills in science and mathematics. To Lomborg's surprise, he found that the science showed that environment was improving but that the success was being downplayed or denied altogether for political and financial reasons. His book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist," was viciously condemned and an effort was made to get him fired or sanctioned. Lomborg won that fight, but his travails have no doubt helped to enforce discipline in the often thuggish and faith driven environmental movement. Crichton no doubt read Lomborg and used some of his work.

[alnick]

To Lomborg's surprise, he found that the science showed that environment was improving but that the success was being downplayed or denied altogether for political...reasons.

Hmmm, reminds me of the war in Iraq.

[Ozone34]

Also "The Painted Word"; similar sendup of modern art!

[Rummyfan]

He further went on to detail how, for the first time in his memory, living "legend" authors like John Updike, Norman Mailer, and John Irving publically have attacked Wolfe for his previous hit, "A Man In Full," mainly (in his view) because it sold 1.4 million and they are envious. He refers to them as the "three stooges." Good characterization. He wants to create a "Hippocratic Oath" for writers, with the central principle being, "First, ENTERTAIN." Good advice.

Now I'm reading Michael Crichton's "State of Fear," another book sure to send the Liblits into paroxisms of denial and hate. Crichton's is the first novel I've ever seen with scholarly footnotes! He actually has the scientific papers noted in the book, and he KNOWS THIS STUFF. Forget for a moment the plot, or whether he has a hit as "entertainment." This is going to be a hugely important book because it is the first to really break from the environmental whacko mindset among the Liblits. Moreover, according to Crichton, the studies often have as their conclusions things that are not supported at all in the EVIDENCE! If he is correct, either the scholars themselves, or the journal editors in the abstracts and conclusions actually "massage" the conclusions to a pro-warming message when in fact, overwhelmingly, the science does not come CLOSE to supporting such nonsense.

Wolfe covers the criticism of Updike, Mailer, and Irving in a portion of his previously released HOOKING UP. He hilariously and savagely takes them down.

And you're right about STATE OF FEAR...... just finished it yesterday and it was an excellent read as well as an analytical and thorough debunking of the global warming cabal in particular and the Culture of Fear in general. I particularly agreed with his assessment of the new PLM complex (Politico - Legal - Media).

[Rummyfan]

Actually it would translate to the screen very well, but I bet the PC police would simply drop all the inconvenient data Crichton presents and have the bad guys be white South Africams or Russian reactionaries!

Mel Gibson would be great as John Kenner...... failing that, Keanu Reeves (sarcasm!).

[mainepatsfan]

Can anyone remember the last major motion picture made where the bad guys were on the left?

[mathluv]

The interview was the full hour normally assigned to Special Report.

[RobFromGa]

State of Fear is great so far...

[monkapotamus]

Now I'm reading Michael Crichton's "State of Fear," another book sure to send the Liblits into paroxisms of denial and hate. Crichton's is the first novel I've ever seen with scholarly footnotes! He actually has the scientific papers noted in the book, and he KNOWS THIS STUFF. Forget for a moment the plot, or whether he has a hit as "entertainment." This is going to be a hugely important book because it is the first to really break from the environmental whacko mindset among the Liblits.

Got this for my father for Christmas, after I saw it ranked #1. I was also highly entertained by the mental breakdowns by liberals occurring in the 'reviews' section at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0066214130/qid=1104687479/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-8677135-3382555?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[barkeep]

As to novels with footnotes, check out the "Flashman" series by George Fraser. A rare combination of hilarious, instructive, and true to the known history of several turning point events his title character, an anabashed skirt-chasing, cowardly bounder, manages to fall into and then extricate himself from. The most fun I have ever had learning.

[CasearianDaoist]

Yes, great stuff. Just too much. He lives on the upper east side. I am surprised that no one has tried to shot him.