I asked yesterday why so many novelists are so often so stupid. The answer, I suppose, is that we should expect no more from novelists than we do from plumbers. (Though I apologise to plumbers for comparing them with novelists).
Helpfully, however, Francine Prose pops-up in the Guardian (where else?) to validate most of what I wrote about the protest, of which Ms Prose is part, against awarding the staff of Charlie Hebdo an award for their courage in defending free speech under, literally, fire.
You can tell that Ms Prose is a simpering ninny straightaway because she frets that Charlie Hebdo is an ‘inappropriate’ recipient of such an award. Inappropriate! Nevermind the facts, madam, judge the appropriateness. These days, you must understand, something may be right and inappropriate and therefore, on account of the offence caused, right things may actually be wrong things.
Charitably, Ms Prose says Charlie Hebdo has the right to publish whatever it wants. However, “that is not the same as feeling that Charlie Hebdo deserves an award.
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