That's good to hear. Of course I would have probably bought the book without regard to the reviews, but your comments are encouraging. Oh, and sorry about the non sequitur in my post ... I left a sentence out, but I realize that everybody is familiar with the "popular" aspect of biography so no harm done. tcb > From: ryr <[log in to unmask]> > Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 20:17:12 -0500 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Hitch > > I haven't finished The Singular Mark Twain yet, but the book and its Twain > certainly breathe fire... would that THIS Twain were around today! > Hitchens' facts re what is argued in the book are simply wrong. Maybe > pressure to print his review weeks before publication of the book didn't > give him time to read it or to disguise his personal crusade or his hope to > score attention as the Amis review flap did. He was wistful in a Q&A in > NYMagazine that his anti-Kaplan attempt wasn't getting that kind of > attention. Reading reviews, one must consider the source... . Fortunately > most readers recognize ulterior motives, made the more apparent by > indiscriminate and overthetop fury. Meanwhile I found Carl Rollyson's > review (tho sofar I haven't been able to download it)-- he's someone who > knows what writing biography entails -- interesting in its ideas. > > L. Ackerson > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Thomas Carlton Blake" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 4:36 PM > Subject: Re: CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS ON FRED KAPLAN'S BIOGRAPHY > > >> In _The Perfect Wagnerite_, Bernard Shaw made fun of the biographies of >> Richard Wagner (prior to that of Ashton Ellis) for their shutting out of >> facts about Wagner's participation in the 1848 revolutions. The idea > seems >> to have been that people don't want their heroes to be, or to associate >> with, "revolutionary" figures, and will reject factual biographical >> statements if those don't conform to the readers' preconceptions. >> >> My vote doesn't count, but I agree with Hitchens that a Clemens biography >> should breathe some fire! >> >> tcb >> >>> >>> Christopher Hitchens offered quite a different >>> appraisal of the book in the November 2003 ATLANTIC >>> MONTHLY: >>>