27 september 2006
TIDBIT from today's bus-book:
"Dreiser, with his unusual sensitivity, had been deeply wounded, first by Mencken's digs at The "Genius" in his Prefaces essay--digs which were, as Edmund Wilson later pointed out, skillfully designed to spike the enemy's guns by admitting Dreiser's technical faults--and then by Mencken's attempts to dissuade him from following through with "The Hand of the Potter," the drama of a sexually depraved young man, on the ground that it would bring the censors down on his head with new fury. And Dreiser's numbness under attack, his retirement into a world of ouija boards, Russian records, and candlelight, became irritating. When Dreiser wrote that he had already framed his last words--"Shakespeare, I come!"--and asked Mencken what his would be, Mencken replied acidly, "I regret that I have but one rectum to leave to my country."
--Disturber of the Peace: H. L. Mencken, William Manchester
Posted by ypsidixit at 27 september 2006 08:44
Comments
Overheard on the #4 yesterday: "I'm on the BUS. You could WAIT for me, I'm almost there! You could WAIT for me, I'm almost there! You could WAIT for me, I'm almost there! You could WAIT for me, I'm almost there! OH, have you already LEFT? Oh. OH you could read my book, I think you'd like it. I LOVE you! What's mine is YOURS and what's YOURS is MINE, reMEMber? I LOVE you! Will you be back SOON? I LOVE you!"
Posted by: Cell Yell at 28 september 2006 12:41
Amazingly, I think I know exactly who this is, and have seen him on the 4 too.
Posted by: Laura at 28 september 2006 12:43
LOL, but it was a young woman! Maybe she was talking ...to HIM.
Posted by: Cell Yell at 28 september 2006 14:44
Heh. Perhaps it's because all cell conversations are kinda like this.
The conversation I enjoyed overhearing last evening on the way home:
"I'm on the bus. It's near Arborland. Can you pick me up at the Golfside Kmart? That way you won't have to come to Arborland. No, the Kmart. At the Kmart. Golfside Kmart. Can you pick me up at the Kmart? So you don't have to come to Arborland. No, I'm at Arborland now. Can you pick me up at the Kmart at Washtenaw and Golfside? I'm heading there now. That way you won't have to come to Arborland. Yeah, the Kmart. At the Kmart. THE KMART! OK, see you there."
Lordy.
Posted by: Laura at 28 september 2006 14:48