Allegory of Profane Music - Caspar David Friedrich

Franklin Freeman escreve hoje sobre Flann O’Brien na First Things: “I will probably reread O’Brien before tackling Ulysses again, and the main reason is because his writing makes me laugh and astounds me with its strangeness. […] Joyce is a greater writer as an artist, but O’Brien is more approachable and a lot more fun”.

Esse “a greater writer as an artist” resume toda uma tendência defensiva da crítica em querer sempre justificar qualquer elogio a algum autor “não muito sério”. Quanto a mim, estou com Hilaire Belloc, que em 1934  provocou a indignação da intelligentsia ao então apontar P.G. Wodehouse como o melhor escritor vivo: “Writing is a craft, like any other: playing the violin, skating, batting at cricket, billiards, wood carving […] ; and mastership in any craft is attainment of the end to which that craft is devoted.  The end of writing is the production of a certain image and a certain emotion. And the means towards that end are the use of words in any particular language; and the complete use of that medium is the choosing of the right words and the putting of them into the right order. It is this which Mr. Wodehouse does better, in the English language, than anyone else alive”.