Posts by David Benjamin
The appeal of the ambiguous
Among the most important characters in television history is Tony Soprano, a murderous adulterer who was, nevertheless, likable. His guilt and insecurities inspired empathy in his audience and instilled in them a sense of moral ambiguity rare in popular entertainment. This installment of Write Away ponders the writer’s imperative to create bad guys who are……
Read MoreAbominable masterpiece
by David Benjamin “The Negro race has had enough trouble, more than enough of its share of injustice, oppression, tragedy, suffering and sorrow. And because of the social progress which Negroes achieved in the face of these handicaps, it is best that The Birth of a Nation in its present form be withheld from public…
Read MoreThe wail of the weakling
by David Benjamin “In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed…” —William Ernest Henley, “Invictus” MADISON, Wis. — Jeez Louise, whatever became of the strong, silent type? For all my life, and yours, the first commandment of…
Read MoreWhere do you get your ideas?
Where do you get your ideas? Everybody has ideas, both mundane and fantastic. They run constantly through our heads. When I was sixteen, I remember leafing through ahigh-school yearbook whose editors had captioned, with exceptional wit, every photo in the gallery of seniors. One thumbnail, beneath a boy with a smirk of mock worldliness, has……
Read MoreA hot time in the old town
by David Benjamin “Hot town, summer in the city? Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty…” —John Sebastian MADISON, Wis. — You don’t have to guess what city John Sebastian was thinking about when he — along with Steve Boone and his brother Mark — wrote “ … All around, people looking half-dead, Walking on…
Read MoreThe sacredly profane
by David Benjamin Before publishing my novel, Jailbait, first in a crime series featuring smalltown police chief Jim Otis, I had top consider the impact of the title. The term, “jailbait,” has a long American history asa mild vulgarity not spoken in polite company. However, because the title is appropriate to my story, I kept……
Read MoreWhat they don’t see is what they get
by David Benjamin “… laws are being shoved through Congress that specifically restrict certain firearms, armor, ammo and the like. The Obama administration made it clear that their agenda was to disarm patriots, just like Hitler, Stalin, [Pol] Pot and Mao did. We are headed for disaster…” —Lisa Haven, The Millennium Report (dated Feb. 2018)…
Read MoreVariation on a theme from Aristophanes
by David Benjamin “… Without sex what will happen to our great State? Democracy will end if we can’t copulate.… ” —Aristophanes, Lysistrata MADISON, Wis.— It’s a dubious distinction to occupy a province in which, by the decree of white Judges Sam and Amy, John and Brett, along with America’s foremost Self-Hating Negro, abortion has…
Read MoreKid stuff?
Write Away — #13 Among the commonest—and most perplexing—comments I encounter when talking to readers at a book talk is: “I never read fiction.” I understand that reading nonfiction, about history, political science, economics, etc., carries an “educational” cachet, casting upon the reader a glow of seriousness. By contrast, then, fiction is somehow frivolous, a……
Read MoreWhaddya gonna do?
by David Benjamin “… I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by the gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that…
Read More