One sentence, in particular, jolted us out of our reverie: "Mosley and his company commander . . . regularly quote lines from the poetry of T.S. Eliot," writes Garrett. "Hard to imagine that happening in downtown Baghdad or Kabul."
How's that again? THE SCRAPBOOK has no doubt that the British Army officer corps of six decades ago had its share of old classicists and aspiring literary men, but by what authority does Garrett assume that appreciation for T.S. Eliot is "hard to imagine . . . in downtown Baghdad or Kabul"? None whatsoever. Which, of course, doesn't stop him from adopting that snide, offhand, dismissive tone about U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that is, we suspect, all too common in America's faculty lounges.
On page 40 of this issue, Mark Bauerlein of Emory reviews Soldier's Heart by Elizabeth Samet, a moving account (by a West Point professor) of the experience of teaching literature-hungry cadets at the U.S. Military Academy. As Bauerlein makes clear, the interest of these future officers in prose, poetry, and drama is authentic, and profound. "Literature, history, and philosophy matter," he writes, "and they do so less to students and teachers in the cozy quads of the college campus, ensconced in libraries and symposia, than they do to bedraggled, bored, and anxious officers sweating it out in the desert."
Or, put another way, THE SCRAPBOOK would bet on the erudition of the American officer corps any day, and would hardly be surprised to hear T.S. Eliot--and Pope, Dickens, or Wallace Stevens--quoted in downtown Baghdad or
Kabul.
Not Another Day
It's been a while since we've come across a review as crushing as Brian Lowry's in Variety. The critic had the pleasure of skewering the televised adaptation of Mitch Albom's For One More Day. And we take pleasure just in reading the opening paragraph:
"'Oprah Winfrey Presents Mitch Albom's For One More Day'--this latest ABC movie blessed by daytime's queen should deliver in the ratings and buttress Albom's reputation as one of our foremost purveyors of cultural baby food. Even sappier than the author's teeth-rotting The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Albom has drifted from Tuesdays With Morrie to One More Day With Mommy, delivering another fuzzy lecture about family and spiritual uplift. A wannabe three-hankie affair, it's mostly enough to make you wish he'd stuck to sportswriting."
They Don't Like Ike
All men's deaths diminish us, even the demise of Ike Turner, the rhythm 'n' blues pioneer and byword for domestic violence, show-biz style. But THE SCRAPBOOK must salute our friends at the New York Post, whose headline of genius ("Ike, 76, beats Tina to death") about this tragic event deserves its place alongside other classics--"Hix Nix Stix Pix," "Ford to City: Drop Dead"--of the journalistic art. By skillfully combining wit, context, information, and editorial comment, some unsung editor on the Post copy desk earns our undying gratitude, and envy.
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