RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #270

Lawrence R. (goldensam@sprintmail.com)
Sun, 26 Apr 1998 13:33:04 -0400 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 15:01:47 +0000
> From: Mario Taboada <matrxtech@sprintmail.com>
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #267
>
> Evidently my silly pun (G. M. Ford = Glenn Maddox Ford) failed
> miserably. I have no idea what G. M. stands for in this author's name. I
> thought a pun on Glenn Ford and Ford Madox Ford might appeal to the
> hardboileds...but would people today recognize either of those names?
>
> The anecdote: the other day I mentioned Bernard Malamud in a group of
> well-read people; most of them had never heard of him and the one who
> recognized the name thought Malamud was a Soviet Jew. What surprised me
> - - and frankly, saddened me - is that Malamud didn't die that long ago
> and was a preeminent figure in American letters.

All of Malamud's short stories were recently released in hardcover The Complete
Stories ~ Malamud, Robert Giroux (Introduction) / Hardcover / Published 1997

> What does this short memory span and burying of the past say about this country
> and its
> people? I have noticed the same phenomenon in the mystery field, where
> many great writers of the past (sometimes, the recent past) lie
> forgotten while mediocrities without skill or originality gain instant
> spots on the best-seller lists. Something's wrong here.

Welcome to Kultcha USA Circa 1998. MTV is where it's at. Books got no lights
and no music and ya can't read 'em inna dark.

Sad indeed.

Dick Tartow

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