Re: Italy Will

Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Fri, 23 Apr 1999 11:45:50 -0400

On Thu, Apr 22, 1999 at 06:28:38PM -0400, Paul Kennedy wrote:

> Who gives a shit?

Now that, as compressed as can be, is how to approach literature.
Forget about lists of who you "should" and "shouldn't" like.  If you
like it, you like it.

I confess that I never read Tom Robbins (not from malice, but from
neglect), but a friend recently gave me a copy of JITTERBUG PERFUME,
so it's on my stack of books to read.

A lot of people completely like or love Mark Helprin's work, until they
find out that he's also a rather outspoken right-wing voice, and
because of that they dismiss his credibility.  It's amusing to see this
happen when the sequence is "read Winter's Tale and loved it"/"learned 
of author's political leanings"/"devise reason to reverse earlier
praise of author."

I say, if you like it, that's good enough.  To whom are you supposed to
justify your likes and dislikes, anyhow?

Welcome back, Paul; we've missed you!

--tim