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Jeet Heer @HeerJeet
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Some thoughts on the death of VS Naipaul. newrepublic.com/minutes/150623…
One thing I could've said more about is how the caste-pride of Naipaul's family morphed easily into Naipaul's desire to be a pseudo-English-aristocrat: Sir Vida, as he became after the Queen knighted him.
Naipaul's gloom, rage & violence always had a strong element of self-hatred.
The literary society Naipaul struggled to join was rancid. "That clever little n***** Naipaul has won another literary prize," Evelyn Waugh complained in early 1960s. "Oh for a black face." Naipaul would turn around and apply the same language to black writers.
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There's a really important conversation going on in economics about gender bias in the field. This is an illuminating thread reporting on a panel discussion about the topic.
In terms of the gender/economics debate, I wonder if the question might not be illuminated by some intellectual history. The field has been shaped to a significant degree by figures who defined themselves in opposition to social movements (like feminism).
I'd love, for example, to see a gender analysis of the work of F.A. Hayek, who once argued that John Stuart Mill became a socialist because he has henpecked by the feminist Harriet Taylor
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1. I think it's time to do another thread on this history of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
2. The founder of the Ethics and Public Policy Center was Ernest Lefever who was rejected for a Reagan administration nomination in 1981 because of testimony of 2 of his brothers, one who said he was incompetent, the other who said he was a racist.
3. From 1996 to 2001, the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center was Elliott Abrams, who had perviously been convicted for lying to Congress during the Iran/Contra scandal.
Read 5 tweets
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1. Are critics allowed to change their minds? Do such changes undermine their authority? My colleague @Jo_Livingstone & I take up this question in an extended conversation.
2. Among the topics discussed: Harlan Ellison, Anthony Powell, F.R. Leavis, Queenie Leavis, Susan Sontag, Leni Riefenstahl, Sidney Hook's suppression of his early work, @nicholsonbaker8 & more!
3. Looking back on it, one thing I wish I had raised is the cost of not changing your mind. Pauline Kael, one of the best critics who ever lived, illustrates the point, she adamantly refused to rewatch movies, which limited her response to more complex work.
Read 6 tweets

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