Sunday, August 8, 2010

Oates to the King James Version

On authors in my recommended reading:
The temptation in reading criticism by an author better known for her novels and stories is to inspect it for clues to her own work. And you’ll find them here, in Oates’s attention to the claustrophobia of small towns and families, the warping influences of class and sex, the power and powerlessness of women, the persistent distrust of organized religion and of American mythologizing. --Louisa Thomas

That Harry Angstrom, he’s my favorite character in contemporary fiction. --Bugs Bunny

Article I, section 10 [of the Constitution], for instance, unambiguously forbids the states from passing any “Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” How do we get from there to state moratoria on mortgage payments during an economic downturn? Thanks, as usual, to the hocus-pocus of the Supreme Court. --Andrew C. McCarthy

Nor is it the case that the King James Version’s power is merely a product of florid language. Indeed its translators generally preferred simpler vocabulary and straightforward diction ... .
     And, in any case ... it sounded archaic when it first appeared in 1611. --Barton Swaim

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