To take this blog in a slightly esoteric direction (would I ever do that?), Jonathan Franzen's trip to the White House today prompted a friend to point out a bit of a blindspot in Franzen's new book, Freedom. I thought the book was as good as everyone says it is, but that its rare weak spots came when it was doctrinaire in its liberalism. His caricatured Irving Kristol character took some deserved flack. My friend emails that he was struck by the real-life echo in another scene, a political rant by one of the main characters, a little-known rocker named Richard Katz who has, in middle age, suddenly been embraced by the pop culture and is being interviewed by a young fan. The long interview in which former Velvet Underground Drummer Mo Tucker explained her appearance at Tea Party events was, my friend writes, "a carbon copy of a scene w/ the musician Richard Katz in Freedom."
Read the full Politico post here. Check out this set of articles on the topic. See also: Freedom
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