Mark Steyn: Beyond Transgression - You can’t make a Hamlet without breaking a few chicks?

National Review Online ^ | October 03, 2009 | Mark Steyn

[Gritty]

Steyn bump!

[afraidfortherepublic]

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Steyn is regarded in 100 years much as we see Mark Twain today.

Not a nice wish. The real Mark Twain had a child seduction issues of his own, much like Polanski.

[Titus-Maximus]

“in Roman Polanksi years” will live on!

Great Line.

[Interesting Times]

Not a nice wish. The real Mark Twain had a child seduction issues of his own, much like Polanski.

I meant as a literary figure and observer of his times, of course.

[gigster]

Bravo!

[afraidfortherepublic]

I meant as a literary figure and observer of his times, of course.

Of course, I knew what you meant. It was an inappropriate comparison to draw, considering Clemons' latter years. His daughter, who lived next door (I think), had to ride herd on him and his visitors. Of course I never read that about him until I was much older. I did enjoy his writing as a child. I'm glad that I did not know the dirty details then.

The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was always one of my favorites because I had lived in Calaveras County as a 4 year old.

[barbarianbabs]

Hollywood types are so scummy. Half didn’t graduate high school...the other half are felons. That being said Mark is hot.

[Interesting Times]

The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was always one of my favorites because I had lived in Calaveras County as a 4 year old.

I think that's the first of his short stories I ever read.

[steel_resolve]

That’s an interesting comparison. I agree.

[BibChr]

Dang, he’s good.

[supremedoctrine]

Oscar Wilde was a truly great artist and a homosexual at a time it was impossible to be a homosexual. Gay to the end, I think his last words were, on his deathbed:
“ Either those drapes go, or I do”.

[supremedoctrine]

I know a LOT about Mark Twain, and don’t know of any “child seduction issues” that were conceivably
comparable to Polanski’s. Would you elaborate? That was the comparison you made, while the poster you replied to
made the comparison of Steyn and Twain, which is a pretty good one.

[sinanju]

Hmmmm... You need to break out your old copy and look through it with a closer eye. In “Huckleberry Finn” as Jim and Huck are making their way lazily down the river—between adventures—our friend and humble narrator drops a line saying our heroes spend most of their time naked. Immediately after, Twain gives us a homoerotic passage where Huck describes himself lazily drifting off to sleep in a warm rain...

Well, it sho’ nuff’ made ME nervous.

[happygrl]

Yet all truly great art is made in the tension between freedom and constraint. In demanding that an artist be placed above the laws of man, Harvey Weinstein & Co. are also putting him beyond the possibility of art. Which may explain the present state of the movie industry.

Yes it does.

As others have pointed out, and I only reiterate, Hollywood's greatest era was under the "constraints" of the Hayes Code, from 1930 -68.

[happygrl]

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Steyn is regarded in 100 years much as we see Mark Twain today.

Astute observation!

[WashingtonSource]

A Steyn-is-a-genius bump

[happygrl]

That being said Mark is hot.

Mark is hot Bump!

[Mamzelle]

Hawhaw—has Steyn written one of his delightfully stinging pieces on the O-Stooges Excellent Copenhagen Adventure?

[RoadTest]

Yay, MARK!

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Steyn is regarded in 100 years much as we see Mark Twain today."

Oh, he's way better than Twain. Twain was regrettably inconsistent in quality. Most of his stuff is beyond boring, even rather bad, often unreadable. Steyn, by comparison, is almost always superb, entertaining, insightful, clever. With a few exceptions, Twain ranked way down the Steynian scale.