Maureen Dowd, New York Times, Oct. 22:
I’ve always liked Judy Miller. I have often wondered what Waugh or Thackeray would have made of the Fourth Estate’s Becky Sharp.
The traits she has that drive many reporters at The Times crazy — her tropism toward powerful men, her frantic intensity and her peculiar mixture of hard work and hauteur — never bothered me. I enjoy operatic types.
Eileen McNamara, Boston Globe, Nov. 6:
I’ve always liked Maureen Dowd. I have often wondered what Dorothy Parker would have made of her 21st-century impersonator.
The traits she has that drive so many feminists crazy — the red hair dye and the fishnet stockings — never bothered me. I enjoy flamboyant types.
Good stuff from McNamara, a columnist not generally known for her sense of humor.
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NYT is written by and for self-absorbed New Yorkers. Globe is written by and for self-absorbed Bostonians. While I appreciate as much as the next guy the novelty of an Eileen Mac piece free of whining, she’s in no danger of being compared to Jonathan Swift.
The fine art of allusion lives!? – Bill R
The allusion continues … It was such an outrageous move, I could only laugh – It was such an outrageous comment that I could only laugh. McNamara praises Dowd too highly comparing her to Parker, one of the great wits of the recent century — her dismisal of Pooh not withstanding — but Parker would have appreciated the comparison of Miller to Becky Sharp, so it’s a fair hyperbolic stretch. Eileen’s send-up is as masterful as Dowd’s dissection (or vivisection?) of Miller.I will agree it doesn’t rise to the level of phaedophagic irony of Swift, but it’s nice to see something of literary merit, even a mere pastiche with allusion, in the broadsheets.– Bill R
Non-existent word alert!
so who plagerized from whom here?or was there a third?