NP but Anniversaries........ "Are you against violence?" "I'm against violence to books"--a moment's dialogue in Anniversaries

[Mark Kohut]

There is a wonderful extended conceit about *The New York Times* in
*Anniversaries.* We know its nickname is the Great Gray Lady and
Gisene/Johnson does two
great pages elaborating the comparison of the *Times* to one of her Aunts,
a generic Aunt even.  There is a predictable formality. Everyone gets to
speak ["Both sides" in journalism] A structuring of a visit, like dinner
conversation, that one can expect every visit. Of course, since the Aunt is
encountered in a public way, as is the Times, superficiality rules, Depth
is too intimate, too intense, but again my summary does little justice to
Johnson's observant beyond-prosaic social realism here. Johnson does find
patterns that persist in the Times and almost everywhere in general (as the
Times is representative of print media coverage). See the links below (Two
are pictures of pages from the novel so they may not be readable to all).

And this comparison holds and is alluded to ongoingly, even much further
along in the book than I am, I learn from the guy below who is also reading
*Anniversaries* and is ahead of me in the reading. (There are TWO twitter
acquaintances (or 'friends' in the new, loose, non-Aristotelian sense) also
reading this work now and posting about and from it. Now three.

A NYT story that fascinates Johnson in September 1967, is the extended, at
least six day interview and story with/about Stalin's daughter, recently in
the US. He hits The Great Gray Lady Aunt hard w soft words but satirically
vicious framing and comment. Laying out ruthlessly how her opinions mean
NOTHING except as she is famous for being the daughter of someone
notoriously, historically famous. Perhaps a brilliant early-enough insight
into being famous for being famous?  Six days of words from and about her.
Once he quotes the Times on what she is wearing and lets us see THAT in the
context of Vietnam deaths and East Germany saying that they will talk with
West Germany again after it gives up its imperialistic ways....He ends this
by quoting Svetlana's final thoughts: "Will the good that is done [in the
world] be remembered?  Good stuff.

A bit earlier in this decade Philip Roth had written of the irreal
juxtaposition of things in America's media, a crazy surrealistic quilt of
events. Johnson locates it evenly, not surrealistically, right in *the
newspaper of record. (*the italicization is a BLEEDING EDGE use and
allusion)


https://twitter.com/levistahl/status/1078642083857121280

https://twitter.com/levistahl/status/1078642083857121280


https://twitter.com/levistahl/status/1078643574605053952