February 12, 2004
A good appreciation of Anne Carson
As culture editor of Slate, Meghan O'Rourke occasionally uses current stories and trends to wander around in the library: last year's journalistic forgery scandals were put to use in an appreciation of Joseph Mitchell; Courtney Love's trials and tribulations led to a piece on Edna St. Vincent Millay and Emily Dickinson; and, more obviously, she used The Hours to get back to a discussion of Virginia Woolf. Often I don't like following her to the archives, so to speak, because the original pretense is weak. (Or, worse yet, the lessons learned are not terribly applicable to the situation she's looking at.) This week she posted an appreciation of Canadian poet and author Anne Carson that I feel really hits its mark. A reference to Carson in "The L Word" sends O'Rourke off into a quick overview of Carson's career and a taut analysis of her main themes. She stays focused: "The L Word" to Carson and back in 1500 words. It is recommend reading.