Tag Archives: literary oddities

Russell Baker on Progress

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.”

Russell Baker

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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The Algonquin Wits: George S. Kaufman on Manipulating Markets

Posted on January 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

“While entertaining musician-wit Oscar Levant at this new Bucks County home, George Kaufman offered his friend an engaging business proposition (based on Levant’s reputation as a noxious influence): ‘We’ll both walk through the main thoroughfares of Bucks County and I’ll have blueprints in my hand and this will lead people to think that you are going to build and settle down here. The local inhabitants will become panic-stricken and real estate will go down. Then we’ll buy, you won’t build, and we’ll clean up.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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9 Personalities of the Enneagram

Posted on January 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Perfectionist * Giver * Achiever * Tragic/Romantic * Observer * Contradictor * Enthusiast * Leader * Mediator

The nine-sided enneagram was popularized by the Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff (1866-1949) as a way of both analyzing and then reforming character—for the final goal is to achieve a balance of all these aspects. It is also associated with the Kabbalah, while the attributes are close to those of the ideal god-loving Muslim, who is both reformer, helper, achiever, individualist, investigator, loyalist, enthusiast, challenger, and peacemaker.

Gurdjieff’s enneagram was developed by the psychologists Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo to create a personal character map, which you can do easily enough for yourself. By marking your characteristics (on, say, a scale of 1 to 10) you can chart your particular strengths and weaknesses, and then see how these compared to those drawn for you by your friends or a counselor.

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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Jonathan Swift on Expectation and Disappointment

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”

Jonathan Swift

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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The Devil’s Dictionary: Justice

Posted on January 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Justice, n. A commodity which in a more or less adulterated condition the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes and personal service.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

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An Omnibus of Rotten Reviews: Philip Roth

Posted on January 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Portnoy’s Complaint (1971)

This looks and sounds like a Jewish novel. It isn’t. Or, if it is, it is not a good one, a true one…it is finally a definitive something or other. I regret that it is not a definitive something.

America

The best that can be said of Roth’s accomplishment is that Mama Portnoy is a caricature drawn by a master cartoonist, but she’s not more than that…the main trouble with the Jewish family theme is that it has been overwritten.

The Nation

Our Gang (1971)

Nixon’s rough treatment at Roth’s hands may very well invite more sympathy for him than anything since the Checkers speech.

Saturday Review

The Great American Novel (1973)

Roth has, unfortunately, got into such a shouting match with his readers that some of us are going to have to start shouting back.

Encounter

My Life as a Man (1974)

…a totally solipsistic novel, which may well make it a perfect expression of the times.

Commentary“

Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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5 Freedoms of Psychoanalysis

Posted on December 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Unimportant * Irrelevant * Nonsensical * Embarrassing * Distressing

Patients undergoing Freudian psychoanalysis must be free to say whatever comes into their head, however unimportant, irrelevant, nonsensical, embarrassing, or distressing it might seem to be, and yet be sure of receiving the same level of intent listening from their analyst.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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Rotten Reviews: A Tom Wolfe Omnibus

Posted on December 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The Kandy-Kolored, Tangerine-Flake, Streamlined Baby (1965)

One want to say to Mr. Wolfe; you’re so clever, you can write so well, tell us something interesting.

Saturday Review

The Painted Word (1975)

There is plenty of hot air in this particular balloon, but I don’t see it going anywhere.

John Russell, New York Times Book Review

Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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The Devil’s Dictionary: Grammar

Posted on December 19, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Grammar, n. A system of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet of the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distinction.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

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The Algonquin Wits: Heywood Broun on Tough Guys

Posted on December 18, 2019 | Leave a comment

“On a voyage across the Pacific, Broun and his fellow passengers one day decided to provide themselves with an evening of entertainment. Heywood was asked to box three rounds with a man whose stature closely matched his own 240-pound frame. Before accepting the offer, Heywood engaged the other fellow in a chat, presumably to discover what he was up against. In the course of their talk, the man said to Heywood, ‘I’m going to ask you a question which I have wanted to ask someone ever since I got on this ship. What is this “demitasse” they have on the bill of fare?’ Heywood later sought out the chairman of the entertainment committee and announced, “I’ve changed my mind about boxing with that chap. Any man who doesn’t know what a “demitasse” is must be a tough guy.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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