Well. there was also Philip Wylie: "Generation of Vipers"

He of [link|http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/momism.html| Momism] and [link|http://www.centerforbookculture.org/dalkey/backlist/wylie.html| Generation of Vipers].

Perhaps the most vitriolic attack ever launched on the American way of living--from politicians to professors to businessmen to Mom to sexual mores to religion--Generation of Vipers ranks with the works of De Tocqueville and Emerson in defining the American character and malaise. Wylie's classic, written with devastating wit and a pen as sharp as a barber's razor, wages war on all forms of American hypocrisy. Remarkably, or perhaps not so, what Philip Wylie has to say rings as true today as when he first wrote Vipers in 1942, and no doubt it will continue to offend and outrage both the Left and Right. Harsh, bitter, and filled with venom toward those who have corrupted the America that "could have been," Generation of Vipers will be read with pleasure and indignation a century from now.

"A raging set of lay sermons about the human predicament as examined in terms of 'you--your home and kiddies, mom and the loved ones, old Doc Smith and the preacher, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Star-Spangled Banner--in short, the American scene' plus the still uglier clutter backstage. Wylie's high desire is to save the human race from its own worst enemy--itself."--Time

"Wylie is a good showman, and he cracks his prose over his opinions like a bull whip. His chapters on the common man and the common woman, sex, science, professors, 'mom,' Cinderella and education are tumultuous reading. Each reader will find a place where he will wince, but that will be made up for by the places where he can laugh at his neighbor and read passages aloud to his wife. . . . A helter-skelter book that is as full of things that provoke laughter as it is packed with pages that induce thought. Mr. Wylie wrote the whole thing at the top of his voice."--New York Herald Tribune

"[Wylie] could give H.L. Mencken a run for his money as the most opinionated person of the 20th century. Considering the world hasn't improved much in the last 50 years, much of what he says has great relevance today."--Library Journal

I remember a vivid moment, during my summer gig in Lewiston, Idaho - one of the locals catching my drift and whispering.. "Kid, what you need is.. to read some Philip Wylie.. y'know? {wink-wink}" Ummm I did and -

I believe HST Must have read Wylie. At some stage. But s'OK - his shtik is His.

Ashton

I've actually never read Wylie's longer respectable works (to the extent we may hang this tag on Generation of Vipers), but I took in When Worlds Collide/After Worlds Collide (and can't remember a damned thing apart from the titles) at about age ten, and read around him (i.e., multiple references) less than a decade later when I was a homeless person using a university library as my staging ground for reinsertion into respectable society. Here's another author, prominent in his lifetime, who, like van Loon (or Nevil Shute), has not contrived to survive as a household name very far into the posthumous future.

But of course marlowe will be celebrated a thousand years from now for smiting the wicked dissenters in iwethey.

cordially,

Post #111,360 by Ashton 7/24/03 9:41:26 PM Reply	Well. there was also Philip Wylie: "Generation of Vipers" He of [link\|http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/momism.html\| Momism] and [link\|http://www.centerforbookculture.org/dalkey/backlist/wylie.html\| Generation of Vipers]. Perhaps the most vitriolic attack ever launched on the American way of living--from politicians to professors to businessmen to Mom to sexual mores to religion--Generation of Vipers ranks with the works of De Tocqueville and Emerson in defining the American character and malaise. Wylie's classic, written with devastating wit and a pen as sharp as a barber's razor, wages war on all forms of American hypocrisy. Remarkably, or perhaps not so, what Philip Wylie has to say rings as true today as when he first wrote Vipers in 1942, and no doubt it will continue to offend and outrage both the Left and Right. Harsh, bitter, and filled with venom toward those who have corrupted the America that "could have been," Generation of Vipers will be read with pleasure and indignation a century from now. "A raging set of lay sermons about the human predicament as examined in terms of 'you--your home and kiddies, mom and the loved ones, old Doc Smith and the preacher, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Star-Spangled Banner--in short, the American scene' plus the still uglier clutter backstage. Wylie's high desire is to save the human race from its own worst enemy--itself."--Time "Wylie is a good showman, and he cracks his prose over his opinions like a bull whip. His chapters on the common man and the common woman, sex, science, professors, 'mom,' Cinderella and education are tumultuous reading. Each reader will find a place where he will wince, but that will be made up for by the places where he can laugh at his neighbor and read passages aloud to his wife. . . . A helter-skelter book that is as full of things that provoke laughter as it is packed with pages that induce thought. Mr. Wylie wrote the whole thing at the top of his voice."--New York Herald Tribune "[Wylie] could give H.L. Mencken a run for his money as the most opinionated person of the 20th century. Considering the world hasn't improved much in the last 50 years, much of what he says has great relevance today."--Library Journal I remember a vivid moment, during my summer gig in Lewiston, Idaho - one of the locals catching my drift and whispering.. "Kid, what you need is.. to read some Philip Wylie.. y'know? {wink-wink}" Ummm I did and - I believe HST Must have read Wylie. At some stage. But s'OK - his shtik is His. Ashton
Post #111,377 by rcareaga 7/24/03 11:20:24 PM Reply	Geez, Ashton... I've actually never read Wylie's longer respectable works (to the extent we may hang this tag on Generation of Vipers), but I took in When Worlds Collide/After Worlds Collide (and can't remember a damned thing apart from the titles) at about age ten, and read around him (i.e., multiple references) less than a decade later when I was a homeless person using a university library as my staging ground for reinsertion into respectable society. Here's another author, prominent in his lifetime, who, like van Loon (or Nevil Shute), has not contrived to survive as a household name very far into the posthumous future. But of course marlowe will be celebrated a thousand years from now for smiting the wicked dissenters in iwethey. cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
Post #111,521 by Ashton 7/25/03 7:41:55 PM Reply	100 They come; holdup mirror We ignore. They die. Goto 100

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