The Literate Citizen » Literature

A rational assessment of Ayn Rand

Mary Grabar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:41:50 +0000

Cathy Young presents one of the most reasonable assessments of Ayn Rand as her birthday passes. Atlas Shrugs has some great passages, some great jabs at the left. But parts of it are very disturbing, and Cathy points them out. (Oh, and the sex scenes just parody themselves.) It seems that many of Ayn Rand’s devotees are young males…maybe that says something, maybe it’s a reaction to the forced collectivism in our schools. Maybe young males like the objectivism after all the “maternalist thinking” forced on them in schools. Those are my personal observations from teaching and reading. Tobias Wolff has a great send-up in his autobiographical novel Old School.

Here’s Cathy’s article http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/02/09/a_rand_revival_100227.html

Obama Kiddie Propaganda

Mary Grabar — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:26:29 +0000

Kiddie Propaganda

Nearly 50 children’s books published so far. No, nothing about Chicago-style cronyism. Nothing to compare the corruption to the original founders’ vision or Constitutional principles. How many schools carry these books?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/2009/12/a_bounty_of_obama_kid_lit.html

Morehouse English prof just doesn’t get it

Mary Grabar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:19:42 +0000

Morehouse English professor Stephane Dunn, writing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, implores Morehouse men to pull up their pants and dress appropriately when they attend her class. I say ‘hurray’ to Morehouse for its new dress code and to Professor Dunn for speaking up.

Because she is a “sister,” Dunn is allowed to command her students to “’pull those pants up, Mr. So-and-So,’” without being hauled before the P.C. panel and subjected to an inquisition. I doubt I would be called back to teach as an adjunct should one of my students complain about such a command. I would be charged with not only bad “customer service,” but racial insensitivity. (Of course, I would also like to be able to tell all students to yank out their piercings, sit up straight, etc.)

So I was expecting that this professor, who envisions herself before a classroom of conservatively dressed gentlemen scholars, would be teaching the Great Works. I would expect her scholarship to focus perhaps on the author that W.E.B. Du Bois was so enchanted by—William Shakespeare. I thought she would be upholding the canon that is so rapidly being eliminated and replaced by popular culture. (My colleague Mark Bauerlein in Minding the Campus reports on the disappearance of positions for those who specialize in great authors like Shakespeare–or John Milton, as I did for my master’s thesis.)

So, what would the well-dressed Morehouse man read in “Sister” Professor Dunn’s class? Well, if her book is any indication, it would be on the theme of “Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Films.” Professors tend to write on the subjects they teach. Does anybody see a disconnect?

“9/11 as Avant-Garde Art?”

Mary Grabar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:09:30 +0000

What does my colleague, professor of performance studies at New York University, conclude? Writing in the ever-so-prestigious journal for members of the Modern Language Association, Richard Schechner concludes, “I cannot settle in my own mind the question of whether 9/11 in itself is art or can be more fully understood under the rubric of art” (PMLA October 2009). These ruminations come after assessments of other like-minded critics and spending 9/11/01 on his patio about a mile away watching people jumping from the burning towers.

He analyzes the coverage as “made-for-television drama series,” as he contextualizes the event into the tradition of avant-garde art.

He notes,

“By mainstream American standards, the 9/11 attack was evil. . . . However, from the perspective of performance studies, the attack on the World Trade Center was a performance: planned, rehearsed, staged, and intended both to wound the United States materially and to affect and infect the imagination. The destruction of two iconic buildings, and the murder of so many people in one fell swoop, was intended to deliver a very specific message about the boldness of the jihad and the vulnerability of the United States.

A performance, surely, but art? I believe that the attack can be understood as the actualization of key ideas and impulses driving the avant-garde. Thierry de Duve writes. . . . “

Well, you get the picture. The “perspective of performance studies” is evil too. As for me, I’ll keep my ”mainstream American standards,” Professor Schechner.

This sounds like a good book

Mary Grabar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:00:35 +0000

Very pertinent these days, considering what’s going with Fox News and efforts from the White House to control journalism. Read the review here

Jonathan Yardley – Behind the Iron Curtain – washingtonpost.com

Be Wary of Librarians

Mary Grabar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:55:32 +0000

Doesn’t sound like a book I’d recommend. This retired librarian of 32 years recommends this. Too much blood-letting and betrayal have led to cynicism. One of the comments in this post about goths displays a more profound understanding of the type of attitude such reading (and viewing) encourages. As I’ve written before, librarians have joined teachers in the destruction of our culture and values.