Who are “the touchiest people in Christendom”? That is a question I raise in Impromptus today. It came up because Anthony Daniels has written a critical piece about Ayn Rand in the current New Criterion. And the Randians have responded, in force. Tony told me, in so many words, “This is nothing compared with Virginia Woolf fans. I wrote about her some years ago, and the Woolfians went nuts.” My colleague Ed Craig points out that Daniels’s piece about Woolf, published in the estimable City Journal, is here.
One more word about touchiness — I say this in Impromptus, too. I do a variety of writing: about politics, foreign affairs, music, etc. And I write about the various branches of music: orchestral music, instrumental music, chamber music, opera . . . As with everyone whose writing appears online, I get a lot of mail. (Very few letters via the post office. And these, as you might understand, are largely from the elderly.)
The very worst mail I get? The nastiest? From people interested in the opera, by far. They’re worse than the full-time Bush-haters. Actually, the anti-Israel people are pretty bad too. And the anti-Palin people — shockingly nasty. Still, I think the opera crowd takes the cake.
I mentioned this to Renée Fleming once, in a public interview. She said, “Yes, our people are pretty passionate.” “Passionate” is putting it nicely. In any event, I’m interested, and surprised, to hear about the Virginia Woolf people. Fortunately, I have no opinion on the lady! (Or is that bad, too?)