[Milton-L] Fw: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath

[Horace Jeffery Hodges]

"Permit me to remind the two you of your generosity if you're ever on the unemployment line -- which will be because people like McGrath have done you the favor of perpetuating the negative mythologies spawned by the Restoration and fed by Johnson, et al. a century later."

Well, I've been in the unemployment line many times and expect to find myself there again in a year or two, but I suspect this is due to my own ineptitude rather than the Restoration and its long-term aftereffects.

Or -- to put myself in a positive light -- perhaps my failed career is due more to my singular gift for offending people.

Jeffery Hodges

--- On Fri, 9/26/08, Carol Barton <cbartonphd1 at verizon.net> wrote:
From: Carol Barton <cbartonphd1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Fw: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Date: Friday, September 26, 2008, 5:42 PM



 
 

Please enlighten me, Feisel and Horace Jeffery--when did Milton 
ever make drudges of his *wives*--or for that matter, of his daughters? By what 
authority does McGrath claim that "His first wife found him so sullen and 
gloomy that she left him for three years"? When did he ever turn Katharine 
Woodcock or Elizabeth Minshull Milton, "his second and third wives . . 
. into drudges and amanuenses"? I'm sure Gordon Campbell would appreciate 
knowing about this, too--poor misinformed Parker apparently didn't. And I'm so 
glad McGrath found such authority and reliability in his esteemed source, 
Mr. Lindall, who can "channel" Milton's thoughts, has published his works 
in such respected venues as _Heavy Metal_, and is (by his own 
acclimation, of course) among the 'top five best-known illustrators of 
Milton in the world,' and part of the great tradition that includes William 
Blake, Henry Fuseli, Gustave Doré and even (though his Milton work was inferior) 
Salvador Dalí." 
 
If you had spent the last ten years as I have, 
fighting to have Milton honored in the place of his birth with the City to which 
he was so devoted, and had only just succeeded--you might feel a little less 
charitable toward McGrath.
 
Permit me to remind the two you of 
your generosity if you're ever on the unemployment line--which will be 
because people like McGrath have done you the favor of perpetuating the negative 
mythologies spawned by the Restoration and fed by Johnson, et al. a century 
later.
 
I, for one, expect more from the _New York 
Times_--and I have had several exchanges with McGrath's editor this afternoon, 
telling him so.
 
Best to all,
 
Carol Barton_______________________________________________
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