Men of Letters

I have to say that as an English teach, I’m in agreement with some of the phrases abused on this list.  But seriously, could Oxford not find anyting better to document?!

A champion of many great literary masters who got his start at National Review despite being a liberal, John Leonard has passed on. He was 69, and died of lung cancer. The New York Times has an obituary, which you can read here.

Omnivoracious, a great reviews blog done in conjunction with Amazon.com, covers the best titles of 2008. To my pleasant surprise, it looks like ‘Liberal Fascism’, Jonah Goldberg’s masterpiece, was the top choice among customers. Even my mother picked up, and quite enjoyed, the book! The other titles are equally as impressive.

See more on the list here.

Very sad news.  The author of Jurassic Park and writer for the TV show ER has passed away from cancer at the age of 66.

John Keay of the Times of London writes on Dr. Joseph Needham, a one-time apologist for Chinese Communism who also wrote on the amazing advances on inventions China discovered well before the West thought of them. The book reviewed, The Man Who Loved China, was written by Simon Winchester.

You may also want to East Windup Chronicle, who also do a nice review.

This article, from the rather liberal American Prospect, is definitely worth a read. Mark Grief gives an excellent review of a biography of controversial philosopher Richard Rorty. It’s one of the most comprehensive reviews I’ve read in some time, and I do implore you to read it for yourself if you enjoy philosophy or biographies.

Jessica Crispin reviews a book on the life of the James family called the House of Wits.

Don Osborn of the AfricanLanguages Mailing List announces that black South African writer Es’kia Mphahlele has passed away, and linked to two obituaries:

Literary world left poorer with Mphahlele’s passing - From The Sowetan.

Between The Lines - From Sunday World.

The greatest living American social critic and oral historian has passed away at the age of 96 today.  Terkel’s loss will be tremendous to historians, even if he was probably a rabid Communist sympathizer.

The article was written in August, but as a fan of Alexandre Dumas and his many works, I thought it prudent to link it for those who may have missed this article on France’s literary giant.