Chekhov's Mistress
Pen World Voices Festival Highlights from Green Thoughts Writers on the Environment
Pen World Voices Festival Highlights from Green Thoughts Writers on the Environment on Vimeo
Highlights from the first event of the Pen World Voices Festival of International Literature on April 24th, 2007. This event is “Green Thoughts: Writers on the Environment” with readings by Jonathan Franzen, Billy Collins, Salmun Rushdie, and others. Not all participants in the event are on the video.
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I regret this type of session. And writers who simply trumpet the carbon emissions line should know better. Their lefty bias may come back and bite them on the tail. Climate change is a transient and ephemeral phenomenon.
We remember D’Annunzio more for his fascist leanings than for his writings, and it’s a shame. And Marquez’ dalliance with Castro does his rep no favours. Celine and Nazism is another example of where a writer has hitched his cart to the wrong horse. Who knows? Nabokov’s scathing criticism of Communism may embarrass future fans. In fifty years we will most probably cringe when faced with this type of session where the politics overpowers the art.
– Dean (04/30 at 06:00 AM)
Dean. I regret your stance. I think you’re making too much of it. To equate concern for the environment with necessarily being “a lefty” and particularly with an extreme stance such as âfascismâ is an intellectually thoughtless position lacking any subtlety. Furthermore, your assertion that “Climate change is a transient and ephemeral phenomenon” is an opinion and nothing more. No matter how much you think you know (although based on your comments I can only assume that you probably don’t), it is impossible to say with complete certainty. It is equally thoughtless to condemn others wholesale for having an opposite opinion. Donât do what everyone loathes about bloggers and be so quick to make an inflammatory comment about something when you donât have all the information in front of you. You have no way of knowing these peopleâs stances - their readings reflected diverse opinions on many aspects of the environment and was, on balance, about humans confronting their environment rather than the polemics that you read into it with your knee-jerk reaction.
– Bud Parr (04/30 at 09:12 AM)
Bud: from my experience the New York PEN conference is always highly politicised. Writers, like journalists, are almost all left-leaning. It comes with being educated and informed, and is historically prominent.
As for what I know about climate change: you’d be surprised. Your assumption that because I’m a sceptic I’m automatically ignorant is extremely silly. It does you no credit.
The fact that their readings reflected “diverse opinions on many aspects of the environment” is unfortunately of minor importance. A layman (or woman) observing the event would immediately leap to the same conclusion I did. I’m not a layman but I am interested in the processes of the media, in which PEN World Voices is involved. You may not like it, but it’s true.
There is insufficient oxygen in the climate debate for subtleties such as those you seek to celebrate, to survive long.
– Dean (05/01 at 01:52 AM)
It wasn’t your skepticism that led me to believe you didn’t know anything about climate change, it was the entire tenor of your comments. Besides, skepticism isn’t so declarative. You’re being kind to yourself by using that word.
And what does being a woman have to do with understanding the event? Or did you think you’d throw in a dash of sexism to round things out with your untenable position and incredible leaps of logic?
– Bud Parr (05/01 at 08:08 AM)
Your peevish irritation proves that I am correct. There is no space for reasoned debate in the climate lobby’s attitude.
As to sexism: you are putting up a straw man, which is what partisan commentators do when they have nothing else to attack. It is also what George W. Bush did when he lied about WMDs in Iraq.
‘Untenable’ is not a word that you can use, in the absence of any knowledge of my reasons for scepticism. Before you shoot, you need to have a target to aim at, I would have thought.
As I said before: you’re just being silly.
– Dean (05/01 at 11:09 PM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: April 25, 2007
- Filed Under:
Reading Railroad: Events
- Comments:5
- Links to this Post: Technorati
