An autobiography is only to be trusted when...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
I had this photo, but I had no supporting quote, no supporting anything, until I discovered these words just now in Dwight Garner's New York Times review of Christopher Hitchen's new book, Hitch-22.
The photo (this dog, so done up, so seemingly gentlemanly), the words (so possibly true, so cautionary): they seemed an inevitable pairing:
“An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful,” George Orwell, one of Mr. Hitchens’s literary touchstones, wrote. “A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.” Read more...
The photo (this dog, so done up, so seemingly gentlemanly), the words (so possibly true, so cautionary): they seemed an inevitable pairing:
“An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful,” George Orwell, one of Mr. Hitchens’s literary touchstones, wrote. “A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.” Read more...
