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I got a book via interlibrary loan on Fort called "Politics of the Imagination: The Life, Work and Ideas of Charles Fort".
Has anyone read this? Is it worth my time?
Has anyone read this? Is it worth my time?
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Portland
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Re: Book on Charles Fort
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 6:36 AMI haven't read it, but maybe I'd like to. I read somewhere that it is a postmodern lit criticism take on Charles Fort, which does not strike me as especially blasphemous, given Fort's relativistic philosophy. If you get through it, please write us a review! -
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Re: Book on Charles Fort
Sun, January 22, 2006 - 1:47 AMWell, I found the book disappointing. There is apparently a straight biography of Fort by someone named Damon Knight. It might be better.
For the most part the book was hard to read and boring. This was largely because of the author's over-use of long quotations from other authors, which made the book a schizoid read. Paraphrase please!
I also lost trust in the author after he claimed Andre Breton coined the term "avant-garde" (simply not true, since the phrase had been in use since the 1860s). If he fibbed about this, how much of the book is bullshit and how much of it is worthwhile? The rambling tone of the book makes me think much of it was bullshit.
Overall, the book doesn't make for a good source or read. Sad. -
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Re: Book on Charles Fort
Sun, January 22, 2006 - 10:04 AMColin Bennett is (was?) a regular contributor to Fortean Times, so I thought he had worthwhile new ideas to offer. What a pity.
Charles Fort hasn't drawn as much attention as he deserves: there aren't many books about him and his works out there. I have read favorable reviews of Damon Knight's biography, but I haven't read it yet, for it has been out of print for a while now and hard to find.
The only secondary literature on Fort I have read is Martin Gardner's impotent rant in his _Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science_. Gardner does not manage to ridicule Fort as easily as the other “crackpots” and Fort's protective shadow extends over the other people and theories discussed in the book, weakening Gardner's mostly fallacious (ad hominem and authoritarian) and odious attempts at debunking. I found that utterly delightful!
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