Comments on: The Booth Tarkington Appreciation Society

By: Booth Tarkington: The Final Word » The Tarkington Appreciation Society?

Booth Tarkington: The Final Word » The Tarkington Appreciation Society? — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:53:54 +0000

[...] Writing at the Front Porch Republic, John Willson this week semi-seriously proposed the formation of The Booth Tarkington Appreciation Society. His extensive remarks were in part a reaction to Thomas Mallon’s “snotty” piece in the Atlantic Monthly five years ago, which dissed Tarkington mightily. I commented on Mallon’s article on this site as well. [...]

By: Rob G

Rob G — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:05:36 +0000

Count me in. ‘Penrod’ is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read (up there with Wodehouse and the best of Dickens, IMO — I’ve read it 3x) and I absolutely loved “The Turmoil” when I read it earlier this year. “The Magnificent Ambersons” is next on my list and I have no doubt I’ll thoroughly enjoy it. Thanks to Jeremy Beer and his article in The University Bookman for prompting me to try the Tarkington beyond Penrod.

Since we’re praising undervalued writers, allow me to make a pitch for the Southern novelist Madison Jones. More straightforward than Faulkner (but with a similar tragic sense) and not comic like O’Connor or Percy, but with some parallel concerns, I’d recommend for starers his first novel, The Innocent, and his third, A Buried Land.

By: Hudson

Hudson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:59:32 +0000

I’m too old to sign up for the forthcoming TBTAS newsletter. My inbox is overcrowded, as is. I don’t even remember if I read BT in my youth or not. I might have. I have certainly roasted my fair share of Americana chestnuts. Of course, I remember Frost and the Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly rejected the younger Frost with the chilly remark: “We do not like your excellent verse!” Howz that for a put down! Later, when Frost was knocking down the Pulitzers, they invited him to submit a poem, and he showed up in their editorial offices and rummaged through his coat pocket for a piece of paper. I think he would have been happier to have killed them. I know something about being rejected by The Atlantic, myself. Sometimes they publish a good poem, often a good intention.

I have recently corresponded with Frost’s New England heir, Richard Wilbur, now age 88. He still pounds out his letters on a manual typewriter and seems to have no truck with the Web. Wilbur is the more variously talented of the two men, being also an essayist, playwright and translator. Recently, the New Yorker printed a slew of his poems, and also one by Wendell Berry. Old Mr. Monocle seems to be going gaga over verse these days.

By: polistra

polistra — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:50:56 +0000

I’ll be happy if/when Clarence Budington Kelland makes a comeback. In his time he was bigger than Steinbeck, covering pretty much the same geographical and philosophical territory.

After ‘Grapes of Wrath’ made Steinbeck the darling of Commies everywhere, Kelland faded fast. Now his books are all out of print and his name is nearly unknown. (Admittedly a loose derivative of ‘Mr Deeds’ did reach the movies recently.)

By: Bill Kauffman

Bill Kauffman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:48:51 +0000

Save me a booth in the corner, John! (Though I’m a Thomas Mallon fan, too. Try Henry and Clara or Two Moons.)

By: D.W. Sabin

D.W. Sabin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:38:56 +0000

Oh Heaven Forfend…. No! not a “snob”. How cutting to be called a “snob” by a swell.

I know when I’ve been called a “snob”, it distresses me to the point that I have to …ehhh, uhh….I seem to have forgotten what I do when being called a “snob” but golly it shur duz hirt.

After all, the Atlantic is such a down to earth and straight forward institution of reglarguyedness that they recently published a list entitled “Brave Thinkers” under which umbrella are the names Arthur Schulzberger Jr. of the August N.Y. Times and Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame. I only wish the Times was as comprehensively arch, analytical, independent and critical in their coverage of contemporary life as Parker and Stone.

By: Greg Wright

Greg Wright — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:23:21 +0000

Hi, John. Nice piece, and thanks for the nod. One of these days I need to add a forum to boothtarkington.com, and actually start writing some essays there instead of just posting news, which is, of course, worthy enough.

Perhaps BT.com could become home to TBTAS.

You are so right that Mallon’s view of Tark is narrow. My summation of the Atlantic piece was: “Mallon and the censors find in Tarkington what they wish to… not because it’s not there, which it is, but because they’re not trying hard enough to find what else is there.”

My extended comments are part of this post:

boothtarkington.com/tarkington/index.php/2009/scandalous-penrod/

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:33:14 +0000

John, you are to be congratulated. This piece places the FPR on the leading edge of lit crit, and I’m looking forward to your “serious” talk on Tarkington.
BTW, in the mid-1950′s I read every Booth Tarkington book at the East Liverpool, Ohio Carnegie Library. I was absolutely devoted to Penrod Schofield and trust me, that was not considered a cool thing.