He's a lot of fun by intellectually very shallow when it comes to
politics and economics, which he seemed to think he knew something
about. Very sharp on the KKK and the roots of what we now know
as the G.O.P. I haven't read his books on the American language,
I guess his real intellectual legacy, such as it is.
I don't see much resemblance between the Gene Kelly character
-- in a movie I will watch whenever it plays -- and the guy I read.
Bierce I think is smarter, as well as more attuned to the left.
The real comprehensive critic is Mark Twain, IMO. Was going to
do my senior thesis on him before being interrupted by the
revolution.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
> Sent: 09/17/08 02:01 pm
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Mencken
>
> "There's also the option of being a detached, despairing, ironic critic
> - a kind of left-wing Mencken."
>
> Maybe I am falling into a trap, but I rather liked Menkcen, especially as
> played by Gene Kelly in Inherit the Wind (and what about Spencer Tracy as
> Clarence Darrow?).
>
> There is a more left wing, or at least radical, Mencken, in the marvelous
> Ambrose Bierce, author of the Devil's Dictionary
>
>
>
>
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>