Comments on: A Conservative Journey Through Literary America — Part 2: A Conversation With Michael Blowhard

By: Ray Butler

Ray Butler — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:13:57 +0000

Mr. Blowhard fails to do anything other than construct Straw Men. Who, exactly, are the "literary elites" and what's so terrible about them? Which prizes do you object to? How, exactly, did you detect the alleged liberalism of an entire class of art without citing even a single example of same?

By: Ray Butlers

Ray Butlers — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:43:08 +0000

You sound like a total coward. Stand and fight or go whine on the internet.

By: Ray Butler

Ray Butler — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:42:19 +0000

Totally paranoid and speculative. Maybe you suck. Did you ever think of that?

By: Individualist

Individualist — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:52:59 +0000

I am curious how do you think new technologies like kindle will affect writers and the literary scene in general. Kindle is for those who don't know an electronic device with a screen that works equally well in all light where electronic books can be downloaded. The device will have its own format with certain safeguards agaisnt copying which in my opinion may become problematic at best.

Essentially this medium may very well become the prefered medium fpr publishing with paper and binder being "old fashioned". This may be several years down the road but in IT terms several years can equate to a few months.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:34:23 +0000

Mr. Blowhard makes a point that I've known for some time. If conservatives want to impact the culture through fiction, then they should write genre. I can name numerous conservative / libertarian authors working in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller genres. And these books are actually getting read, instead of sitting on bookstore shelves until they can shipped over the to the remainder market.

Who are some of the authors I'm thinking of? Gene Wolfe, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, Tim Powers, Orson Scott Card, James P. Blaylock, Andrew Klavan, Frank Herbert, S. M. Stirling, Robert Heinlein, Neal Stephenson, Robert Ferrigno, Vince Flynn. I'm sure there are many more that tend more toward the libertarian thought.

If conservatives want to impact readers, they would be well served to not think high-brow, literary fiction. It is as wrong headed as thinking that the only way conservatives can impact the culture is through politics. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Thrillers are what people are going to pick up at the Costco, Barnes & Noble or Borders.

By: RKBailey

RKBailey — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:07:20 +0000

Great interview. As an amateur photographer in the Seattle area, I have made a lot of friends/contacts via different photography groups and find that I am greatly out numbered as a conservative. I've learned a lot from many of these people, but when spending time with them the talk occasionally leads to politics and then the hate filled rants start spewing. I bite my tongue… Hard, because I know if I say anything, I will be ostracized. Aside from their political views, I really like most of these people, but I can't help but think they wouldn't be so tolerant of me (or my views) if I were to come out of my conservative closet.

By: Reader

Reader — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:02:36 +0000

Excellent.

By: RandyChandler

RandyChandler — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:23:18 +0000

–In other words, where “serious writing” goes, elitism, snobbery, radicalism, and academicism came to prevail.

A sad fact of life, Mr. Blowhard. And yet, how many literary masterpieces have a Marxist spirit sustaining them?

Letfwing professors certainly warp many a mind but the best writers manage to produce the stories they were meant to write in spite of them. An author won't find his/her true voice in the mouth of a professor. It comes from within, and some of the best stories come from a mysterious place where politics cannot go.

By: LawhawkSF

LawhawkSF — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:57:59 +0000

I didn't really dislike the book, it just wasn't what I expected. But even Wolfe's less stellar performances are head and shoulders above most of the junk that's being passed off as literature today. And if Bonfire got you hooked on Wolfe, that's even better.

By: Gordon_Winslow

Gordon_Winslow — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:35:01 +0000

I'm younger than you so its the first of his works I read, but Bonfire of the Vanities is what made me love Tom Wolfe. The movie stripped its soul and its spirit. Boo.