Friday, July 30, 2010

What Saul Bellow Thought About the Fourth Estate

‎"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about the journalists; we can only hope that they will die off as the deerflies do towards the end of August."

-Saul Bellow, in a 1984 letter to Philip Roth, after a "crooked little slut" at People interviewed him and "turned my opinions inside out, cut out the praises and made it all sound like a disavowal, denunciation, and excommunication" of Roth. The journalist is now a director at NYU. (Via The New Yorker)

Note to self: Strive never to choose quotes from an interview that will make any of my sources feel how the author of Mr. Sammler's Planet felt while writing this letter.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

stumbled onto your site somewhat circuitously from Forbes. I'm in federal law enforcement (not stalking). Enjoy your writing style and issues you are raising

Kashmir Hill said...

this is my very seldomly updated personal blog, read mainly by my mother. how'd you wind up over here?

regardless, thanks for reading me, wherever it is.

Unknown said...

Really just like Alice and the rabbit hole, I guess. Started reading on privacy issues and read your most recent Forbes piece. Probably a link regarding privacy issues (ironic, huh?) and the law.

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