tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post690328900140819056..comments2022-10-07T19:17:35.929-04:00Comments on Reading Richard Rohmer: Canada's Mac FlecknoeBrian Busbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-43289255493855618522014-11-16T22:30:39.810-05:002014-11-16T22:30:39.810-05:00Wow. 20 years. And he wrote Ultimatum ten years ...Wow. 20 years. And he wrote Ultimatum ten years before Best Seller, and that was 30 years after the war. More than half of the history of Canada fits into Richard Rohmer's lifetime.Chris Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17925214622987881225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-60707641789263137482014-11-16T16:04:52.647-05:002014-11-16T16:04:52.647-05:00Would that I could quote from Generally Speaking, ...Would that I could quote from <i>Generally Speaking</i>, but I've returned it to our local library (which in turn returned it to the distant library from whence it came). That said, I'm pretty confident Rohmer says something about needing to be published in the States to make decent money (the six figures coming from General falling short). He also more than implies that his own writing no longer pays… which begs the much quoted question: "why bother writing it?"<br /><br /><i>Generally Speaking</i> and <i>How to Write a Be$t $eller</i> were published twenty years apart. Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-10284905646479940292014-11-16T15:07:22.413-05:002014-11-16T15:07:22.413-05:00There's some serial killer movie where the kil...There's some serial killer movie where the killer drives the cops crazy by establishing a pattern and then completely breaking it. That's what it's like to read a bunch of Rohmer novels, then How to Write a Be$t $eller, then Generally Speaking, and then Poems. First you start getting a sense of Rohmer from the fiction: A quiet man who likes war, banking, oil, government-by-white-guy, a good conference and a nice expense account meal. Then you read Be$t $eller, and you get the other stereotype entirely: The rich hack author who wants to tell you a few things about his movie deals, and cracking the US market, and how fancy writing is for longhairs. And who spends all day -- every day -- planning his next book tour and his next argument about cover art. Then you get to Generally Speaking, and he hardly mentions the books at all. 30 years of novels and nonfiction are less important than the afternoon he showed the Queen a car. Then there's the poems. Where a frothing ego bastard hates everyone, especially critics. Because they like money. And he's all about art, disarmament and women's liberation. It's a weird one, all right.Chris Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17925214622987881225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-36429480664595174382014-11-14T17:17:08.697-05:002014-11-14T17:17:08.697-05:00Agreed. That said, I just can't accept Richard...Agreed. That said, I just can't accept Richard Rohmer as a man who would write poetry under a persona. To be honest, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around him being a poet.<br />Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-38163754533167791622014-11-14T17:09:41.196-05:002014-11-14T17:09:41.196-05:00I'd prefer to take it that way - that Arthur H...I'd prefer to take it that way - that Arthur Henry Ward Jr. is a character - than believe they're real.Stanley Whytehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15579745111959535696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8987400789130903662.post-29655665890311631592014-11-14T16:52:09.245-05:002014-11-14T16:52:09.245-05:00What intrigues me most is that the Rohmer of Gener...What intrigues me most is that the Rohmer of <i>Generally Speaking</i> is so at odds with the man who wrote <i>Poems</i>. The former seems a goodnatured, fairly modest fellow, whose greatest grumble comes from not being recognized for a monument he worked on with Conrad Black and Galen Weston. The poet behind <i>Poems</i>, reminds me of the damaged souls who walk the streets raging semi-coherently about… oh, let's say, smokers, television and armageddon. He is simply not a man who could've achieved anything even remotely close to anything - not one - that Richard Rohmer has done.<br /><br />So, I ask: Is Arthur Henry Ward a character?<br /><br />If so, <i>Poems</i> is Richard Rohmer's greatest work. <br />Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.com