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Post by chookmustard on Nov 16, 2012 21:37:13 GMT 10
From back when he was an innocent fresh writer. On losing family members and gaining some.... That last bit was a relief, seeing it was already strain enough trying to fit into what seemed at times a vaguely alien land, one that wasn’t quite home to me—or my parents, either, with their accents and old-world memories, their different manners and too-new friends. - Andrew Bolt 16/11/00 blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_grandmothers_i_so_gratefully_gained/This bit caught my eye. He obviously feels some disconnect with the land at some point? Trying on some pop psychology maybe this explains his contrarianism a little? We buried Nan Morrell last week, and once more I have no grandparents.
But I do now have a deep bond to this country, its history and its culture, and a sense of belonging for which I am intensely grateful. Even better, my children have roots that dig deep in this soil.
I thank my two Nans for this—for helping to make me and mine feel at home. What better work can a grandparent do? A bit sickly sweet, he won't ever be a good writer, but he can convey his meaning well. It is interesting that the words he uses such as roots, history, culture, bond, deep soil, are ones that Indigenous peoples use to describe their connection to country. Yet he has an issue with some that claim such connection due to heritage they identify with? |
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Post by chookmustard on Nov 16, 2012 23:02:53 GMT 10
'On the problem of favorite books' may 2006 blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/on_the_problem_of_favourite_books/I've read 6 of the authors Andrew lists in this blog post of his. I'm not saying he is elitist though. Le Carre’ (only the saner pre-Pilgerish period ) this reference I don't get Boris Akunin Mikhail Sholokov Knut Hamsun Pamuk Dan Brown, hey I read some Dan Brown too! Agatha Christie P.D. James Ian Fleming, I've read 1 Bond book Jorge Luis Borges Conrad, had to do this one for school, The Heart of Darkness Austen, I've read some Jane Austen too Wodehouse, Wolfe, Orwell, Pamuk, Bennett Waugh Trollope Dickens, I found Dickens very wordy, characters are fun though. Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies, Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Solzhenitsyn Gulag Archipelago, Montaigne’s Essays Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , awesome! I read this one too Andrew! |
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Post by angra on Nov 17, 2012 6:05:28 GMT 10
Chookmustard - Le Carre began to write increasingly cynically about the US's influence on the world from the '80's onwards which Bolt dismisses as "Pilgerism" (a snort of disgust about John Pilger) . You can see this most in A Tailor of Panama and A Most Wanted Man. Le Carre started getting panned by US reviewers and 'The Right' because of this - which is the view Bolt is parroting.
Sad that Bolt can't even read a work of fiction which challenges his world view, and has to condemn the author.
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Post by chookmustard on Nov 17, 2012 7:07:17 GMT 10
Thanks angra!
Would you say there is an element of truth to the direction Le Carre took? And is it elitist ?
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Post by angra on Nov 17, 2012 7:19:16 GMT 10
Chookmustard, in 2003 Le Carre published an article in The Times called "The United States Has Gone Mad". It gives a pretty good account of what he felt about the US under Bush. This quote just about sums it up... "To be a member of the team you must also believe in Absolute Good and Absolute Evil, and Bush, with a lot of help from his friends, family and God, is there to tell us which is which. What Bush won't tell us is the truth about why we're going to war. What is at stake is not an Axis of Evil, but oil, money and people's lives. If Saddam didn't have the oil, he could torture his citizens to his heart's content. Other leaders do it every day - think Saudi Arabia, think Pakistan, think Turkey, think Syria, think Egypt. " It's worth reading, and is available here - www.commondreams.org/views03/0115-01.htm |
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Post by angra on Nov 17, 2012 7:28:06 GMT 10
And if you think that maybe Le Carre was exaggerating when he said it was all about the oil, check this... www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/12/2011122813134071641.html"Dr Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum, an international oil consultant and economist who has spent nearly 50 years in the oil business in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, agrees that western oil companies have "obtained concessions in Iraq's major [oil] fields", despite "there being a lack of transparency and clarity of vision regarding the legal issues". Dr Zalloum added that he believes western oil companies have successfully acquired the lions' share of Iraq's oil, "but they gave a little piece of the cake for China and some of the other countries and companies to keep them silent". In a speech at Fort Bragg in the wake of the US military withdrawal, US President Barack Obama said the US was leaving behind "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people". Of this prospect, Dr Zalloum was blunt. "The last thing the US cares about in the Middle East is democracy. It is about oil, full stop."" |
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Post by angra on Nov 17, 2012 7:42:05 GMT 10
I thoroughly recommend Le Carre's "A Most Wanted Man".
A 21st century Smiley in Germany uncovers a terrorist plot which involves the manipulation of a completely innocent young Chechen man. The Smiley character gradually gets close to the man in question and is about to turn him using the old-fashioned methods of friendship, confidence and persuasion, when the whole operation is shafted by the CIA who send in a kidnap squad and whisk the innocent young guy away for rendition and torture.
You can why it riled the Cousins.
It's about to be turned into a film: Australian screenwriter Andrew Bovell is adapting the novel for a German production.
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Post by chookmustard on Nov 17, 2012 8:43:00 GMT 10
Thanks angra, I will check the links out.
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Post by angra on Nov 17, 2012 9:39:01 GMT 10
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zoot
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by zoot on Nov 17, 2012 21:14:49 GMT 10
And let us not forget "The Constant Gardener", Le Carre's tilt at the pharmaceutical industry. The film is almost as good as the book.
I can heartily recommend anything by Le Carre, he is one of the most elegant writers around.
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Post by chookmustard on Nov 18, 2012 20:15:04 GMT 10
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