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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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 OPINION 
44

Rightwing Pundits Belong on the Fiction Lists

Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin have crafted paranoid masterpieces

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(Newser) – Salon writer Steve Almond has seen the future of literary fiction and it looks like Glenn Beck. Right-wing pundits like Beck and Michelle Malkin have dominated non-fiction bestseller lists since President Obama took office, Almond notes. A close read finds that their works aren't the "psychotic, fact-challenged rants of the mad" they may seem to be, but "carefully crafted metafictions" that belong to a fine literary tradition.

Beck and his ilk have created works "in which the mundane terrors of cultural dislocation are recast as riveting epics of paranoia," Almond writes, creating a counternarrative to reality in which an election loss is actually a sinister coup d'etat. The narrators "Glenn Beck" and "Michelle Malkin," with their multiple neuroses and paranoid worldview, are plainly satirical characters crafted by masters, Almond concludes, and will be much discussed by the literary historians of the future.

Radio host Glenn Beck has been a fixture in nonfiction bestseller lists for much of this year.
Radio host Glenn Beck has been a fixture in nonfiction bestseller lists for much of this year.   (AP Photo/Mike Mergen, file)
Beck is a
Beck is a "wildly imaginative performer," Almond writes," a man who weds the operatic impulses of the demagogue to the grim mutterings of the conspiracy theorist. His tract, accordingly, takes the   (Amazon)
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While liberal scribes earnestly prattle on about the necessity for good policy in the face of global warming and peak oil and blah-blah-blah, the authors of the right have long since abandoned this outdated 'reality-based'model. - Steve Almond

Beck is not a politician. He's an entertainer, in this case a writer indulging in a mischievous satire narrated by his energetic counterpart 'Glenn Beck.' - Steve Almond

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44 comments
VIEWING:
 
Timinator2K
Sep 12, 09 2:06 PM CDT
LEFT WING LIARS NEED VOTED OUT OF OFFICE! Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-30
IN RESPONSE:
freethemall
Sep 12, 09 2:24 PM CDT
Get a grip!
Vote up! Vote down!
+14
IN RESPONSE:
dax
Sep 12, 09 2:49 PM CDT
Timinator2K is probably only getting paid a nickle per post and cannot justify putting out anymore effort than an inarticulate slogan. So many websites and so little time.
Vote up! Vote down!
+16
IN RESPONSE:
Robert_Dada
Sep 12, 09 2:57 PM CDT
Timmy, your lithium is wearing off.
Vote up! Vote down!
+11
IN RESPONSE:
youngblood
Sep 12, 09 3:41 PM CDT
You need to be voted off of this Planet! And oh yeah it's time for your Meds again Tim2k
Vote up! Vote down!
+9

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