The real theme of J.D. Vance’s and Donald Trump’s memoirs
“Hillbilly Elegy” and “The Art of the Deal” reveal a lot about who the men are—and were
“READING well”, wrote Harold Bloom, a well-read literary critic, is “the most healing of pleasures.” Apparently Bloom did not read many books by political candidates. They combine a salesman’s saccharine pushiness and the suspense of watching a second hand rotate, with prose that has been focus-grouped into a turgid blandness from which nothing resembling pleasure can be wrung. Hillary Clinton made “Hard Choices”; Joe Biden had “Promises to Keep”; Mitt Romney offered “No Apology”.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline ““Hillbilly Elegy” v “The Art of the Deal””
From the July 27th 2024 edition
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