The Misanthrope’s Corner

WE have an emergency. I compiled a sheaf of notes and file-named them Terror3.NR, but faced with the prospect of turning them into a column, I suddenly found that I couldn’t go on. Writing three columns in a row about Sept. 11 is like listening to the Three Tenors. It’s two tenors too many, or as George Eliot put it: “much of a much-ness.”

So, you’re going to have to take potluck because I invented a new approach to the essay: I decided to open the newspaper at random and write about the first thing I saw that wasn’t about terrorism.

About the Author

Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

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WE have an emergency. I compiled a sheaf of notes and file-named them Terror3.NR, but faced with the prospect of turning them into a column, I suddenly found that I couldn’t go on. Writing three columns in a row about Sept. 11 is like listening to the Three Tenors. It’s two tenors too many, or as George Eliot put it: “much of a much-ness.”

So, you’re going to have to take potluck because I invented a new approach to the essay: I decided to open the newspaper at random and write about the first thing I saw that wasn’t about terrorism.