[lbo-talk] Thanks to the Frey program, I'm going to rich famous and beloved (was, More Dolan on Frey)

[info at pulpculture.org]

At 02:58 PM 2/1/2006, Andy F wrote:
>On 2/1/06, Mark Bennett <mab at straussandasher.com> wrote:
>
> > I realize that Frey's masterworks are not typical LBOster reading
> > material, but has anyone read either of these "memoirs"?  If so, are
> > they really as bad as they sound?  Of course, "no one ever went broke
> > underestimating the intelligence of the American public," but as AMLP
> > and MFL have been described, they sound awful beyond words. A girlfriend
> > named "Lily" who hangs herself?  A clarinet playing African-American
> > judge named Miles?  Please.
>
>No, but it's not too hard to imagine.  Jaw-dropping schlock with
>insipid chicken soup lessons has a feel to it and inspires plenty of
>irate defensiveness to criticism in its fans -- see the Amazon reviews
>of _Mutant Message Down Under_ and _What the Bleep do We Know?_, and
>compare to those emails to Dolan.  Wide polarization between bemused
>critical thinking and just *believing,*  you negative Nellie!

I also saw a lot of overlap with these reviews of great books:
http://blog.pulpculture.org/2006/01/15/worst-book/

e.g., Lord of the Flies, William Golding

"I am obsessed with Survivor, so I thought it would be fun. WRONG!!! It is 
incredibly boring and disgusting. I was very much disturbed when I found 
young children killing each other. I think that anyone with a conscience 
would agree with me."

Also, I thought this letter to Dolan captured exactly what people see in 
the book.

"You can have all the money in the world and all the privileges that go 
with it and still have that pain."

Here's this guy who has money and a good life -- and he's still in pain. 
Just what people want to hear about. And then they want to read about how 
it's all fixed by dint of individual effort. Which is to say, it fits in 
with what our dominant ethos of individualism and appeals to those who 
_are_ hurting but can't put their finger on a reason as to why. Look how 
many people say that this book came them some understanding of what was 
going on in the world!!

One thing I wondered about re: JT Leroy was where people who did studies of 
slave autobiographies, which were often written by whites, thought of it.

I think there's a connection there with Frey too, but haven't had time to 
reread the stuff from Bad Subjecteers who were into 'race crossing' to 
figure it out.

k

Bitch | Lab
http://blog.pulpculture.org