Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James

Abstract

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and Arts Clive James. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 2007. This is a browse about book, written by a gifted stylist who is very widely read and who has a clear sense of what (or whom) should be considered important. Consider, for example, elegy to F. Scott Fitzgerald, which makes expected comparison with Ernest Hemingway (a writer not considered important enough to deserve entry of own in this book, by way), a writer whose style could be and was imitated, unlike Fitzgerald's, which was, quite simply, too exquisite and too unreachable for imitation or parody. An unexpected comparison found in this entry is made with Booth Tarkington, certainly a secondary talent to Fitzgerald, but one who, like Fitzgerald, was fascinated by wealthy and reckless, and, like Fitzgerald, certainly caught spirit of times. By no means are entries in this confined to celebrity writers as famous as Fitzgerald, however. At another extreme is Alfred Polgar, in Vienna in 1873, and destined to become the unsurpassable exemplar of German prose in modern times, even though he never, strictly speaking, wrote a book (561), but how many Americans would be aware of stylistic achievements? And, by no means are all of figures in this carpet writers. Filmmaker Federico Fellini is here, for example, as is enigmatic Chris (born 1921 as Christian Francois Bouche-Villeneuve), whom James considers best mind of nouvelle vague. (James dismisses Jean-Luc Godard as an obvious featherbrain politically and compliments Truffaut for having good sense to avoid overt political statements.) The Marker entry quickly moves to a consideration of nature of documentary filmmaking, praising Marker's work at expense of more famous (though far more facile) Michael Moore. The is a constant delight because of its surprises, as Terry Gilliam bumps up against Edward Gibbon, Miles Davis against Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929, born in Novgorod and buried in Venice). Decadent poet and dramatist Jean Cocteau against G. K. Chesterton, also a poet and writer, but of entirely dierent stripe. You'll find Chaplin here (but not Keaton), Marcel Proust (but not Joyce), Alfred Einstein, musicologist (!), not his physicist cousin, Albert. There is a certain Germanic predisposition throughout selections, as is announced by book's Overture, devoted to Vienna. Here one finds admitted nostalgia for Old Vienna cafe society, a world in which You didn't complete your education and then start your career. Your education was your career, and it was never completed (1). …