“Modern Age is pleased to offer some relief that nonetheless has a measure of relevance. We asked some twenty of our friends and contributors to weigh in on the best choice for president—but not the best choice on the ballot this November. Instead, we asked them to choose the best character from all of creative literature for the role.” An interesting exercise. The answers they got were a nice range of amusing to head-scratching, but that is part of the fun. George Bailey from It’s A … [Read more...] about Jeeves for President
P. G. Wodehouse
Shop Local
One of the curiosities of any Age is the things that people assume are New. A generation arises and discovers phenomena that surely nobody before had ever seen. Those with a bit of knowledge of history know that there really is nothing new under the sun, but the shocked indignation or rejoicing at discovery about things which were ever thus continues apace. Consider the complaints about Wal-Mart and Home Depot and Amazon destroying all the family businesses in your favorite town. Shop Local … [Read more...] about Shop Local
The Worst Wodehouse Novel
P. G. Wodehouse is one of the greatest writers of all time. He has over 100 books to his credit. There are endless web pages devoted to telling you which are the best Wodehouse books. But, what is the worst Wodehouse book? My current candidate for that (dis)honor: Not George Washington. One of Wodehouse’s early books (1907), co-authored with Herbert Westbrook, it is an autobiographically informed fictional account of a struggling writer seeking to make his way in … [Read more...] about The Worst Wodehouse Novel
Fiction Posing as Nonfiction
“Writing enters into us when it gives us information about ourselves we’re in need of at the time we’re reading.” Reality Hunger, by David Shields. I liked the book for reasons that have nothing to do with the author’s main thesis, but that isn’t the sort of thing that would bother Shields in the least since part of his thesis is that I probably shouldn’t agree with his primary thesis. The quotation at the outset is from his book, though he would frown on the fact that I put it in … [Read more...] about Fiction Posing as Nonfiction