Lillian Hellman
Last night I finished Three by Lillian Hellman - a collection of three autobiographical works (An Unfinished Woman, Pentimento, and Scoundrel Time).
"Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?" (p. 651) Since the McCarthyism she writes of, I know of no other time where this question is more germane than now.
She's more a kindred spirit than I had expected. I knew I'd like her, having been introduced to Pentimento by a Russian literature critic (of whom I'd become quite fond) who'd served in the Spanish Civil War. Women were braver then. No, people were. And if McCarthyism happened now, who on earth would be loyal like they were, knowing they would suffer so?
I find much of myself in her words, which is interesting. How we prefer comfort as we age, that sort of thing.
And this was very interesting to me to read. (264) "'Well,' he [Dashiell Hammett] said, 'when you start out being angry, you're almost always right. But anybody with a small amount of sense learns fast that if they let you go on talking you come around to being wrong. So after you've slammed the door, or taken a plane, or whatever caper you're up to, that fine, upright, liberal little old sense of justice begins to operate and you'll apologize not only for the nonsense part of what you've said but for the true and sensible part as well. It's an easy game -- just a matter of patience.'"
Yes, that's me, too, and I think it's been exploited.
Anyway, great books, highly recommended.
"Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?" (p. 651) Since the McCarthyism she writes of, I know of no other time where this question is more germane than now.
She's more a kindred spirit than I had expected. I knew I'd like her, having been introduced to Pentimento by a Russian literature critic (of whom I'd become quite fond) who'd served in the Spanish Civil War. Women were braver then. No, people were. And if McCarthyism happened now, who on earth would be loyal like they were, knowing they would suffer so?
I find much of myself in her words, which is interesting. How we prefer comfort as we age, that sort of thing.
And this was very interesting to me to read. (264) "'Well,' he [Dashiell Hammett] said, 'when you start out being angry, you're almost always right. But anybody with a small amount of sense learns fast that if they let you go on talking you come around to being wrong. So after you've slammed the door, or taken a plane, or whatever caper you're up to, that fine, upright, liberal little old sense of justice begins to operate and you'll apologize not only for the nonsense part of what you've said but for the true and sensible part as well. It's an easy game -- just a matter of patience.'"
Yes, that's me, too, and I think it's been exploited.
Anyway, great books, highly recommended.
posted by NOLA at 7:43 AM
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