Beachcombing:
Will Power
June 2011/Third Week
¶ We’ve never seen the play, but the film of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, with Jeremy Irons, Patricia Hodge, and Ben Kingsley, is one of our favorite hard-to-watch films. A revival in London with a cast that includes Kristin Scott Thomas occasions Joan Bakewell, the original of Emma, to write about her affair with Pinter (not for the first time). Bakewell makes the affair sound much, much jollier than the one represented in the play. (Telegraph; via Arts Journal) ¶ Francine Prose rightly desponds that her ten-plus year-old essay, “Scene of a Woman’s Ink,” weren’t still as timely as V S Naipaul’s petulant outburst has made it. (Harper’s) ¶ Ruth Fowler gives The Tiger’s Wife the stinko review that our Editor so dreaded having to write that he didn’t read the book. There are many things that 25 year-olds can do as well or better than anyone else, but writing great fiction just isn’t one of them. (HuffPost; via HTMLGiant) ¶ Laura Miller writes wisely about the problem of bad people who make good art — “bad eggs like Naipaul aside” (!). (Salon; via 3 Quarks Daily)
Part of the sadly underrated process of growing up is realizing that people, the world and life are no less beautiful and amazing for being imperfect.
¶ With Syrian refugees pouring over its southern border, Turkey has been obliged to re-think its friendly relations with Syria’s Assad régime. At The National Interest, Henri Barkey grasps the impact of this reorientation on Turkey’s delicate relations with the West. (via Real Clear World)
The US recognizes that Turkey has important cards to play because of proximity and recent history, and Ankara also understands that the problem is far too big to handle alone.
¶ If you want to know why nothing outrages us more than a sleek rentier urging poor people to take “personal responsibility” for their plight, read Jamie Holmes’s report at The New Republic. Willpower is a depletable resource that rentiers rarely need to expend urgently. With the poor, diligence and self-denial are demanded at every turn. (via Brainiac) ¶ Greg Beato writes drolly about the decline of RTEs — ready-to-eat cereals — which is taking place without any help from government action. “Fruit Loops are now the morning newspaper of breakfast food.” (The Smart Set) ¶ And light rail to Rockaway will make it perfect: the Interior Department plans to convert Floyd Bennett Field into a campground. Wouldn’t it be nice if, in addition to being the first in the city, it was also the first without a parking lot? (GOOD)
Have a Look: ¶ A collection of photographs of surrealist objects @ MondoBlogo. (We love the last one.) ¶ Bad Day at BlAscot. (Mail; via The Awl)
Noted: ¶ Where Mexico’s handguns come from (no surprise). (Foreign Policy; via The Morning News) ¶ In a breathtakingly unsurprising development, Salman Rushdie takes to writing for the small screen. (An option denied to Odets, Fitzgerald, Parker?). (Telegraph; via Arts Journal) ¶ Cord Jefferson wonders if he may be that rarest of journalist — the kind that makes things happen. Probably not, if you ask us, but he was certainly riding a trend about Facebook departures. (GOOD)