Comments on: A Conservative Journey Through Literary America – Part 5: A Conversation With John Derbyshire

By: Mike_Kriskey

Mike_Kriskey — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:19:05 +0000

Late to the discussion, but Andrew Klavan's books would be an example of "genre" fiction. Thrillers, mysteries, science fiction and fantasy (I'll leave aside romance) are all genre fiction, and a much friendlier home to conservatives.

By: The Quantum Conservative » Blog Archive » Round Up

The Quantum Conservative » Blog Archive » Round Up — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:11:38 +0000

[...] by Matt Patterson: A Conservative Journey Through Literary America, Parts Five and [...]

By: Bruce Gatenby

Bruce Gatenby — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:27:18 +0000

After my writing took a conservative turn, taking the piss out of liberal academia, my agent dropped me after 23 publishers turned down my novel, The Kingdom of Absurdities. I published it on Amazon's Create Space; has sold okay, so definitely an option for conservative novelists.

By: A Conservative Journey Through Literary America - Part 5: A Conversation With John Derbyshire < It’s all about the trends

Sun, 31 May 2009 20:30:57 +0000

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By: Bubba

Bubba — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:57:04 +0000

Gun Owner, John Derbyshire is a man who not only thinks that the serious theological disagreements among various religions somehow disproves all theological claims as relativistic, he discusses these disagreements by invoking the phrase, "invisible Sky Father." Derb isn't just anti-Catholic, he's anti-Christian, and over the last couple years he has made his bigotry pretty hard to deny.

By: Red State Gun Owner

Red State Gun Owner — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:47:53 +0000

i too find the Derb a bit too contrarian for the sake of being contrarian sometimes. however, i think you're mistaking his anti-catholicism for anti-christianity. i get the impression that the Derb is fond of the trapping and ceremonies of the Anglican church, and as such, feels them important culturally. it's only when discussing notable catholics, catholicism, or Irish catholics seeking a unified Ireland that his bigotry shows. another problem with the Derb is that he can be quite close-minded about some subjects, such as intelligent design. i think he has his mind set on what the definition of intelligent design "is", has decided that it's wrong, and now refuses to hear or respect any of its supporters. i'm not personally too knowledgeable about the arguments in favor of intelligent design, but its advocates deserve the right to be heard.

By: BPT

BPT — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:29:55 +0000

Good point. Right or left, he is a great writer, period. But since he openly switched sides, the left couldn’t hack it.

By: BPT

BPT — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:28:31 +0000

There are plenty of great conservative writers outside of think tanks. After Ann Coulter wrote her first book (a NYT-bestseller) one major publisher spiked her second.

Lucky for Ann: she found another publisher. It became a Number 1 NYT-bestseller.

The left-wing publishing industry has a history of spiking right-wing books, of course, because they are anti-free speech. I wonder how many other books have been spiked.

By: Bubba

Bubba — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:26:10 +0000

I wouldn't let any one NRO writer keep you from the Corner: you're missing a lot of good stuff there, and the fact is, Derb doesn't comment much anymore.

I'm not a whole-hearted fan of John Derbyshire, either. He's definitely capable of good writing, but he's also capable of a petulant and frankly irrational bigotry against Christianity, a hatred that almost certainly precludes him from being a political conservative. (WFB in a 1970 essay on conservatism: "Can you be a conservative and despise God and feel contempt for those who believe in Him? I would say no.")

What he writes about the art and literature he likes, can be quite moving, even if I don't agree with him about Nabakov and wish that Bob Dylan was more of a songwriter than a singer-songwriter. When he writes about the Christian writings of C.S. Lewis, he positively foams at the mouth. I sometimes find his writing to be quite witty — especially the one line, "The ducks are trying to kill you." — but more often than not, I read NRO despite Derb, not because of him.

By: Tennwriter

Tennwriter — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:25:27 +0000

I'd rather hear from someone else than Mr. Derbyshire. Perhaps thats why the NYT liked him.