BY TOM TOMORROW
Fountains of Wayne:
And late December
Can drag a man down
You feel it deep in your gut
Short days and afternoons spent puttering around
In a dark house with the windows painted shutRemember New York
Staring outside
As reckless winter made its way
From Staten Island to the Upper West Side
Whiting out our streets along the wayAnd the snow is coming down
On our New England town
And it’s been falling all day long
What else is new
What can I do
But sing this valley winter song
I wrote for you
Clearly, a lot of frustrated lit majors end up cranking out copy at the New York Times. And just as clearly, the Times likes to flatter its readers with a certain sort of superficial literary allusion. Specifically, it appears to be an unwritten rule at the Times that no article about either (a) memory or (b) cookies–or even (c) the sense of smell–can be published without a mention, preferably in the lede paragraph, of Proust and/or his madeleines.
This morning, we have the latest example:
Proust had his madeleines. Douglas Boxer had his Mallomars.
“My mother used to buy them on special occasions, and I used to sneak down to the kitchen and steal them,” said Mr. Boxer…
By itself, this would be unremarkable. But it’s become something of a game around our breakfast table to watch for these things — call it Spot the Pretentious Proust Reference. (And just to be fair, articles specifically about Proust or writers inspired by Proust are disqualified.)
For example…
As with Proust and his madeleines, tourists and natives alike swoon over the mere mention of these perfect almond treats.
As soon as he smelled the mystery smell, Greg Nickson, 45, a freelance cameraman, was transported, like Marcel Proust, to things past, things like the chocolate factory that flooded his childhood neighborhood in Chicago with sweet aromas.
Even if your Michigan happens, lately, to be Fire Island. Proust isn’t the only one who had a madeleine moment. Every summer place engenders its own.
MARCEL PROUST’S mind flooded with enough childhood memories to fill thousands of pages when he dipped his madeleine in tea. Richard Telofski, a commercial photographer, reached his epiphany in a similar, if more prosaic, manner. He found his inspiration at a supermarket, while staring at a display of ice…
The company stocks more than 1,000 essences, and for a price (starting at $125), Brosius will custom-blend your own memory-triggering madeleine. One aging client, who wanted to be reminded of Little League baseball, received a cologne containing essences of dandelion, dirt, grass and leather — for that special top note of baseball mitt. Proust would be proud.
Since I’ve started downloading songs, I’ve found I can browse the past. For Proust, sensation — the taste of a madeleine — prompted remembrance. I am the anti-Proust. I have the memory first, and then I look for the song, buy it and listen to it.
The sense of smell is a powerful thing, able to evoke memories through just a whiff of a familiar odor. After all, it was the smell, as well as the sight and taste, of that petite madeleine soaked in tea that unleashed ”Remembrance of Things Past.”
Honeybees have a little Proust in them, apparently, according to new research from scientists at the Australian National University. They have discovered that just the whiff of a familiar scent from a feeding place can make the bees return to the spot, by bringing out memories of the route.
For the Vietnamese, even those who left the country long ago, pho tends to stir memories, the way a madeleine did for Proust.
WHEN Marcel Proust bit into a little madeleine, it famously triggered a book’s worth of delicate memories. But when it comes to being jolted back in time, foodstuffs aren’t nearly as effective as music. Almost everyone knows hundreds of recordings that are time machines.
The scent hit my hypothalamus. Had Proust cracked a bottle of Wildroot instead of scarfing that madeleine, he would have remembered Ace ”bendable” combs, sitting in Mass next to a fidgeting brother and blowing up Revell PT-109 models in the swamp with firecrackers.
A simple hamburger barely a half-inch thick, slightly charred at the edges and rare inside, embellished with only ketchup and a neat slice of Bermuda onion on a four-inch bun, awakens in me memories as compelling as those aroused by Marcel Proust’s famous madeleine. My hamburger, however, evokes not…
And so on…
Since it’s easy, fun, and the bulk of my mental energies are devoted to other tasks, I’m gonna waste another post bashing Bill O’Reilly for his absurd Christmas crusade. This time, the object of O’Reilly’s rage is the Daily Show, because O’Reilly is too fucking stupid to tell the difference between social commentary and satire. Brad Blog and Media Matters are all over this one, but I wanna start my two cents with a nitpick. Here’s what he said on his radio show :
O’REILLY: [Laughs] There you go. Jon Stewart, “Secular Central.” Oh, I’m sorry, Comedy Central — and I like Stewart, but we know what he’s doing over there.
And here’s what he said on Fox :
O’REILLY: Predictably, the opponents of public displays of Christmas continue to put forth counter-arguments on ‘Secular Central.’ I — I mean, Comedy Central.
A joke so funny you had to tell it twice, huh? Good work you bigoted, half-witted sexual predator — whoops, I meant, Bill.
While it’s funny occasionally, the faux-Freudian slip shtick gets old really, really fast. It’s bad enough that Bill and his staff of writers aren’t clever enough to write two different jokes, but the fact that he told the exact same “slip of the tongue” joke on the same day is simply pathetic. For that, Bill, I award you the Dennis Miller Memorial “I Don’t Want To Get Off On A Rant Here” award for fraudulent spontaneity. You can put it on the mantle next to your Peabody award.
What’s funnier than O’Reilly’s unfortunate attempts at humor, however, is that O’Reilly is targeting Jon Stewart. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Bill, but Jon Stewart is a Jew and Jews don’t celebrate Christmas. When you’ve sunk to the point that you’re attacking non-Christians for not celebrating Christian holidays, your witchhunt has completely jumped the shark. I say you hang this one up and prepare for your next crusade. Here’s a suggestion : Did you know that those anti-American bastards in Canada don’t even celebrate the Fourth of July?! If we can stretch that one between May and July sweeps weeks, then we’re good as gold.
The other day I was talking to my friend Josh about ways to destroy Christmas and he brought up an interesting point. The unending wave of inclusion and good-will that O’Reilly is attacking isn’t the fault of secular progressivism, but good ol’ fashioned capitalism. At some point, retailers noticed that the shameless orgy of consumption we experience between Thanksgiving and New Year’s was only sucking in Christians. Rich Uncle Pennybags figured out that a simple semantic change from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” (which, until recently, was considered a kind thing to say) would broaden the base of consumers to include the 20% or so of Americans that don’t celebrate the pagan celebration that was turned into Jesus’ birthday. It’s not an attempt to diminish Christianity or make the country more inclusive, it’s just an attempt to make more money.
Which reminds me of this speech by Ned Beatty from the movie Network :
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it, is that clear?! You think you have merely stopped a business deal — that is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?
I can imagine a similar exchange happening between the CEO of Wal-Mart and O’Reilly any day now. This isn’t about Christmas or Chanukah, Target or Macy’s, liberal or conservative. It’s about dollars and cents, Mr. O’Reilly. You’re dealing with market forces much bigger than you and your sad, little show. The invisible hand that controls this economy will not stand for a disruption in the bottom line, am I making myself clear?
O’Reilly:
The importance the Christmas controversy is that it has become the centerpiece become the culture war between traditional Americans and secular progressives. Outside of the war on terror, this culture war is the most important thing happening in the country today. At stake, whether the USA will turn into a secular country that mirrors Western Europe, or maintain its emphasis on Judeo-Christian values.
The L.A. Times and much of the media is firmly in the secular corner. “Talking Points” is rooting for the traditionalists. So the battle lines are drawn. Too bad Christmas has to be in the middle of it.
Like the Administration it exists to serve, Fox believes that if you can’t find a reason to have a war, you make one up. And this stuff does seep out into the wider culture. I went to the Christmas tree lighting in the center of my little New England town last week, and in the course of it, the (apparently) crankly old man dressed up as Santa made a point of telling all the boys and girls that “–it’s a Christmas tree — not a holiday tree!”
A reader wrote in with a very simple response to the Christmas Warriors. Leaving the question of different faiths and holiday traditions aside (though you’d think that anyone who gives lip service to Judeo Christian values would understand why nondenominational greetings might be more appropriate in the public square), the majority of people in this country will be celebrating two holidays within the space of a week — Christmas and New Year’s. Contra O’Reilly, et al., “happy holidays” and “season’s greetings” are mostly a shorthand way of conveying best wishes for the holiday cluster. Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible that some percentage of the store clerks who use such expressions actually aren’t trying to covertly undermine the entire Judeo-Christian tradition…
…question answered, so I’m removing the post…thanks to all who responded…