June 23, 2003

susan watch, etc.

As always, I'm late to the party, but I just learned from Jim Henley that the New Criterion now has a blog. He thinks it's "just wrong." Maybe. But if so, it's wrong in a pretty engaging way. Anyway, wrong is my favorite flavor. At any rate, they're not about to let Susan Sontag get away with anything.

Or how about these examples of "how not to submit your material to the New Criterion":

"At any rate, I hope that this poem will "meet (your) current needs." (But fuck it, I know better. And whom am I kidding here? I doubt if you will even read this letter let alone respond to it. Look here, let us, both you and I, face facts; this is all a charade, a sometimes polite but nevertheless, an eternal pro forma fandango of a closed, 'good ol' boys' network of barely second and third-rate manques poets; dilettantes and minimalists at best, and at worst, well I really cannot say. So why even bother, one might reasonably ask. Perhaps I do this solely with the intention, ambition and aforethought of simply annoying you--that is to say, if you even read this missive of mine--which perhaps might be the most I can truly hope for."

...

"I look forward to trampling the flowers on your grave."

Well done, fellows.

Posted by Dr. Frank at June 23, 2003 04:55 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Heh. As perverse as it sounds, it might have made me more likely to accept his submission. But I'm weird that way.

Posted by: Dean Esmay at June 25, 2003 08:34 AM