A Hard Doom

John Updike on cover of Time Magazine, April 26, 1968.

I wonder if you enjoy, as I do, some literary statue-toppling from time to time? I recently discovered a compilation of essays about J.D. Salinger, and one of the most gratifying essays skewered Salinger: "Just because you're unique doesn't mean you're good."

A White Bear shoves at the bust of John Updike in the wonderfully-titled "I can only hate Updike one paragraph at a time".

"Why does The New Yorker force me to read John Updike? Everyone is aware that he is a complete tool, right? That his prose has always been flaccid, misogynistic, and cliché, and that he faces an obituary that reads, 'Inventor of self-parody as postmodern technique, inspired the later, insipidly masturbatory works of Paul Auster'? Why did they let him review Alter's new translation of the Books of Moses*? Why do I even care?"

Whooo, there goes Updike's stone nose! With an opening like that, you know you have to read the rest.

Thus Spake Zuska—who recently moved to a new site—explains why she blogs:

"It was Faramir in The Lord of the Rings who described Frodo's task as 'a hard doom and a hopeless errand'. I must confess to feeling that way myself about my own self-imposed task of reporting to you about the pond scum of academia, those who discriminate and harass, the bilious lechers and sexual abusers of the young. And yet it must be done. Because if I don't do it, who will?"

Two more pointers: You can hop over to The Dees Diversion to see if "CBS really does serve a purpose", or visit Rox Populi for "'Path to 9/11' Also Proudly Features Archetypal 'Feminist Bitch' Character".

Image: April 26, 1968 cover of Time magazine