Friday, October 07, 2005
Foxy lady
In Newsday, Kerry Fried reviews Jane Shilling's The Fox in the Cupboard, which she calls a "provocative, moving, and hugely funny memoir" of (believe it or not) fox-hunting. Surely the fox might view it differently. But Charlie, as he is called by the hunters, does get his due:Over the centuries, Charlie hasn't had brilliant press: Think Aesop. Then again, neither have his nemeses, who are mocked as braying, bloodthirsty anachronisms vying for the Darwin award. Forget the fox's welfare--confronted by hunting's traditions and heavenly accessories (those hacking jackets, those horses!), the outsider feels, er, left out. No wonder some of us reach for Wilde's put-down of the entire enterprise: "The Unspeakable in pursuit of the Uneatable."You can read the whole thing here. In the meantime, Kerry confessed this morning to having had her "first John Roberts dream." She and the Chief Justice were at a picnic, where he was expressing some doubts about his low-key performance on the bench. When she has her first Harriet Miers dream, HOM visitors will be the first to know.
