Camille Paglia: Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken But I Deserve A Break Today

The writer at Salon and I have exactly the same thoughts about Camille: "I didn’t always agree with Paglia, but I enjoyed her as a challenging provocateur."

My introduction to Camille Paglia was her incredible Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. By the time I read this book, I had started my reading program, which began sometime in 2002. I was just starting to understand literature; Camille opened doors that I never knew existed. I assume there are a gazillion books that would have done the same, and it was just a matter of happenstance that I stumbled across Camille's book. I go back to it periodically and wish I could break my addiction to the Bakken and spend more time reading. Ah, perhaps in another life.

It's hard to pigeon-hole Camille. She is an art critic, and a movie critic (she provided the commentary for Basic Instinct; her commentary was mediocre, certainly not coming even close to Roger Ebert's Casablanca commentary, perhaps the best commentary ever, but of course, he had good material with which to deal).

Camille is a political provocateur, much like Hunter S Thompson (RIP). Her views on sexuality are probably just a bit too far to the end of the continuum beyond which I have problems. Although a registered and avowed Democrat, her views on sexuality are probably closer to those of Steve Forbes and William F. Buckley, though I certainly don't have any links to confirm those thoughts. Think capitalism and the dots begin to connect.

The interview at the linked Salon article begins with her most recent book, Glittering Images, which is another remarkable book. It is one I will share with the granddaughters when we get to studying art at a "deeper" level. The book is a must for anyone "new" to art: 100 pieces of art. One photo on each page with one page of description. Six of ten people found my review over at Amazon.com helpful. Smile. If Sexual Personae is her "Tale of Two Cities," Glittering Images is the "Reader's Digest" version, which requires about as much attention span as most millennials have; so it should do relatively well.

But the interview quickly moves to politics and her thoughts on Hillary and Benghazi and all the rest are right on, and that's obviously why Drudge linked this article.

On a lighter note, the interview ends with this, some of her fond memories:

I still gaze back fondly at Swanson’s fried-chicken entree. The twinkly green peas! The moist apple fritter!

I can't remember what I was watching the other night, but it was probably one of the special features on the "curb your enthusiasm" DVD's in which these fried-chicken TV dinners were also mentioned. I forget the exact year, but there was a period I went through a Swanson's fried-chicken dinner phase. I also remember two years when my diet pretty much consisted of tuna fish sandwiches (with dill pickles and Kraft salad dressing) on inexpensive (and non-nutritious) white bread and Campbell's bean and bacon soup.