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

[Jameela Lares]

I'm not sure what is reasonable about repeating dyspeptic opinion and rumor instead of doing one's homework.  The column is a lazy reading, or worse.  It sounds as though the author remembered a few old rumors, googled them, and jotted down the results.  What may be particularly galling is the sense that the author--like many a freshman--thought what he remember/knew was all there was to say.  But we're not talking about a freshman here, but an author is writing for a major world newspaper.  We really don't need someone misinforming a large readership.

Much better was Jonathan Rosen's article on Milton back in the June 2 New Yorker.  One had a sense that he had read several books and article, or at done the due diligence of skimming them.  He had a real sense of the current issues and debates.  His journalism was responsible.

Jameela



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>From Horace Jeffery Hodges <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com>
Sent Fri 9/26/2008 4:11 PM
To John Milton Discussion List <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Subject Re: [Milton-L] Fw: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath


    I think that Feisel is right -- we ought not take this article's 'misinformation' so seriously. McGrath's is not an unreasonable reading of Milton, albeit based on partial evidence. I agree that he doesn't do Milton justice, and I don't think that Milton had a 'Turkish' contempt for women, but a man as polemical as Milton might easily be disliked and misunderstood -- though I suspect that McGrath was aiming for ironic humor, not dark defamation, in his description of our favorite poet.

Perhaps we should use this teachable moment to present other views on Milton. That seems, in part, what the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center intends with its exhibition -- and McGrath, in his ironic bemusement at some of the artworks, conveys that intention well enough.

Jeffery Hodges

P.S. Disney's Thumper? Did I miss something?





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