Christopher Hitchens Slams David Mamet's New Book

nytimes.com:

This is an extraordinarily irritating book, written by one of those people who smugly believe that, having lost their faith, they must ipso facto have found their reason. In order to be persuaded by it, you would have to be open to propositions like this:

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[peter ricci]

07:05 PM on 06/21/2011

I love reading Christopher Hitchens, his writing style is sharp and his grasp of the english language deeper than I can even imagine.

I always keep his book, 'Letters to a Young Contrarian' handy, as it often inspires me to write and to challenge my own motives every time I think I know the answer.

[mathme]

09:39 PM on 06/26/2011

"The BP gulf oil leak . . . was bad. The leak of thousands of classified military documents by Julian Assange on WikiLeaks was good. Why?” This is merely lame, fails to compare like with like, appears unintentionally to be unsure why the gulf leak was “bad” and attempts an irony where none exists."

Speaking of his mastery of the English Language-- this passage is a great example of his very skillful wielding. He strips down, evaluates, and crushes Mamet's statement so efficiently and effectively that it's easy to miss exactly how much is going on in that sentence.

[americancolonyinhell]

02:35 PM on 06/21/2011

Although I often find his presence off-putting, glad to see Hitchens alive and kicking.

[americancolonyinhell]

02:33 PM on 06/21/2011

Wonderful excoriation of late-middle age conservative conversion.

[Kiz boy]

09:59 AM on 06/21/2011

Ha. Searing as usual Hitch. What's both ironic and tragic is that Mamet has become one of the antagonists in his own melodrama; at least the early good stuff. The American Buffalo has become the American Bore.

[John Dav Redux]

11:57 PM on 06/20/2011

Mamet didn't become a conservative. Conservatives have principles, and real ones realize that Sarah Palin is a joke. He became a hack, or has been one all along.

[RedDogBear]

08:41 PM on 06/20/2011

This article almost makes up for all those love letters to Bush and the Iraq war that Hitchens published during his years of temporary insanity.

[JShankel]

08:48 PM on 06/20/2011

Um, not so much.  Hitch was never the neocon caricature people assumed.  "Supported the war in Iraq" does not mean "respects Sarah Palin as a major intellectual force."

Hitch voted Obama and disagreed with much Bushery.  He's just an interventionalist (and now, well, so is Obama.)

[John Dav Redux]

11:53 PM on 06/20/2011

1) You don't have to "respect Sarah Palin as a major intellectual force" to be a neocon. The major qualification is being a hawk, and he meets that qualification.

2) Continuing a war that someone else has started doesn't make you an interventionist.

[tallky]

08:24 AM on 06/21/2011

with an unparallelled worldview steeped in debate (who can keep up?) and I wish, always for more of Christopher while wishing him WELL! He keeps us sharp.

[jayquintana]

08:23 PM on 06/20/2011

Mamet, while good, was always over-rated as a play write and movie maker. I suspect that'll no longer be the case anymore.

Glengarry Glen Ross, film and play, is an unquestioned masterpiece, though.

[JShankel]

08:46 PM on 06/20/2011

He didn't direct the movie.

[John Dav Redux]

11:54 PM on 06/20/2011

Anyone who refers to Mamet as a "play write" doesn't really deserve to be commenting on this story.

[jayquintana]

12:54 AM on 06/21/2011

A little nitpicky, no?

Just wish conservatives were 1/1000 as critical of Palin as they are of progressives posting on message boards.

[JShankel]

07:58 PM on 06/20/2011

Mamet is one of my favorite writers of male characters.  His tough guy patter and rhythm are unparallelled.

That said, he's always been a dingbat.  He has a completely stultifying view of filmmaking that robs his wonderful words of any impact whatsoever.  Watch, for example, Oleanna or Homicide or House of Games or even the Spanish Prisoner (all very well written) and notice how cold, stark and unrealistic the performances are.  Mamet does that on purpose.  By him, an actor is no more than a vessel that delivers the text.  It's only in Heist (when he's working with an all star cast of actual film actors who are not about to hear that they can't emote or interpret the character) do we see anything approximates an interesting performance.  Unfortunately it's a performance of text that's not as high quality as the his other films.

Now watch American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross, both of which he wrote, neither of which he directed.  Notice how the performances jump off the screen.  Notice how you're actually interested in the outcome of the story.  Notice how the people seem like human beings who might exist in the world and not like something you might find in the Hall of Presidents.

So, it's no surprise that Mamet now prefers American conservatism: because if there's one group of people in this world who can stick to a script and deliver talking points with a blank-eyed, uncritical stare, it's conservatives.

[RedDogBear]

08:39 PM on 06/20/2011

Great comment. I noticed the striking difference between for example Glengarry Glen Ross and Homicide but never paid close enough attention to realize the ones he directed vs. the ones he just wrote.

[3fingerbrown]

03:53 PM on 06/20/2011

I clicked onto this story all ready to fulminate about how headline writers these days will always write so-and-so "SLAMS" or "BASHES" so-and-so, when in reality the two parties simply had an honest disagreement. But, make no mistake: Old Hitch really does give Mamet's book a thorough slamming. In fact, BITCHSLAPPING might be more like it.

[Dr Korey]

07:09 PM on 06/20/2011

When its from Hitchens it's Hitchslapped.

[entropychic]

03:45 PM on 06/20/2011

how very sad. david mamet used to be a genius in my eyes. wrote some amazing eloquent works with extremely good dialogue and characters.

sarah palin a worker? uh, don't think so. as soon as she was offered a nieman marcus wardrobe she not only jumped at the chance but shuttled her kids and husband in for fittings as well. michelle obama in h & m will blow sarah away every time.

go christopher!