Thanks for the rediscovery of, especially the first, Bawer article. "Malice toward America is inversely proportional to the amount of time individuals have actually spent there" seems frequently to be matched by romanticization of Europe is inversely proportional to the amount of time an American has actually lived there.
I too had the James Baldwin experience -- never so American as when abroad.
You might however want to examine the Amazon reviews for his books. The fact that his essays are collected from The New Criterion make it unlikely he is a leftist. Library Journal seems to hate him for that reason.
Thanks for the rediscovery of, especially the first, Bawer article. "Malice toward America is inversely proportional to the amount of time individuals have actually spent there" seems frequently to be matched by romanticization of Europe is inversely proportional to the amount of time an American has actually lived there.
ReplyDeleteI too had the James Baldwin experience -- never so American as when abroad.
You might however want to examine the Amazon reviews for his books. The fact that his essays are collected from The New Criterion make it unlikely he is a leftist. Library Journal seems to hate him for that reason.
I'll bet you're correct. Perhaps ex-leftist would have been closer. Even that may be too much.
ReplyDeleteOh wow...that was a great read and very insightful. Thanks AVI!
ReplyDelete