From "Mary Trump once stood up to her uncle Donald. Now her book describes a ‘nightmare’ of family dysfunction" (WaPo).
The Compson family, eh? Here's the rundown of the supposedly Trump-like clan:
Jason Compson III – father of the Compson family, a lawyer who attended the University of the South: a pessimist and alcoholic, with cynical opinions that torment his son, Quentin. He also narrates several chapters of Absalom, Absalom!.Which one is Trump? Obviously, none, but WaPo is likening these characters to the Trump family, as if Mary Trump's book is a literary work like something by William Faulkner. There's even a long quote from the professor in that long-ago college seminar. He remembers here — 40 years later — as "smart and accomplished." She wrote "absolutely stunning papers, long, deep and elegant."
Caroline Bascomb Compson – wife of Jason Compson III: a self-absorbed neurotic who has never shown affection for any of her children except Jason, whom she seems to like only because he takes after her side of the family. In her old age she has become an abusive hypochondriac.
Quentin Compson III – the oldest Compson child: passionate and neurotic, he commits suicide as the tragic culmination of the damaging influence of his father's pessimistic philosophy and his inability to cope with his sister's sexual promiscuity....
Candace "Caddy" Compson – the second Compson child, strong-willed yet caring. Benjy's only real caregiver and Quentin's best friend. According to Faulkner, the true hero of the novel. Caddy never develops a voice; rather, her brothers' emotions towards her provide the development of her character.
Jason Compson IV – the bitter, openly racist third child who is troubled by monetary debt and sexual frustration. He works at a farming goods store owned by a man named Earl and becomes head of the household in 1912. Has been embezzling Miss Quentin's support payments for years.
Benjamin (nicknamed Benjy, born Maury) Compson – the mentally disabled fourth child, who is a constant source of shame and grief for his family...
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30 comments:
Oh, give me a fucking break!
The same people who idolized & kept the Kennedy clan in power all those years are now bewailing "dysfunction" in a political family.
These people are so clueless they've moved into what Canon Law classes as "invincible ignorance".
Mary Trump hates Donald Trump because of an inheritance battle. And because she probably inherited some of her father's emotional instability. Every family has successes and failures. Mary's branch a family were failures. Its like that in many families. TR was the successful son, his brother Eliot was alcoholic wild man who died at early age. Similarly, FDR half-brother was wastrel and a loser.
There's a big TDS market and Mary wants to cash in.
Will it change any votes? No.
Quentin Compson killed himself while attending Harvard. Attending Harvard was what his mother wanted him to do. And his father. He killed himself to get back at them. Not because his sister fucked Dalton Ames
The Sound and the Fury, huh?
More like signifying nothing.
As Tolstoy said:
"Happy families are all alike, every unhappy niece is unhappy in her own way“.
I am Laslo.
Wrong family...Snopes...Flem, Ike, Wall Street, I.O., Wesley, Lump
So did Trump's father get his mother pregnant, then move to the east coast, only for it later to come out he was already married? And then while on the East Coast, he married another woman and only saw the child one other time in his life?
Did Trump's mother then take him to Asia, marry another man, have that man adopt him, only to then send him back to his grandparents to raise him?
That kind of disfunction?
A racist who opened up palm beach to blacks and latinos, ok then
I thought they were talking about Kennedys.
Not enough dead ex-lovers though.
What Begley said at 7:53pm...
MayBee... with a solid right cross for the knockout!
So dysfunctional families are bad now? Isn't that racist?
Anyway, one look at the Trump kids exposes the BS.
And if progs really want to push, let's get Hunter B. back in the conversation.
What about the other guy, Biden?
He got anything going on?
Analyzing family relationships.
Nothing whatever about mythic prose-poetry, about sentences that wind like hill county backroads, or meander like a kudzu-shadowed hatchie . . .
Narr
And I don't even much like Faulkner
Um- almost everyone who has taken a Faulkner seminar has compared their family to the Compsons. That's an indication of why Faulkner is so great. It's not why Trump is bad and should be replaced by Biden.
Every family has successes and failures. Mary's branch a family were failures.
And she mat be as broke as Rick Wilson and looking for a payday as hard as he is.
I'm half or so Scottish. Father was a piper and taught me the basics on the chanter when I was wee (unfortunately I have no music in me). There is nothing like a Scottish female scorned, or who believes she has been scorned. I think Mr.Shakespeare wrote about this. It never ends well.
Donald was the youngest of 4 children, 2girls and 2 boys of which he was the younger brother to a first born son. That entitled son threw his birthday right away. The youngest child learned a lesson from that. Blaming him for Fred Jr’s tragic self destruction is totally wrong. Fred Sr was the hard case father. Queens raised tough men. Some just tougher than others.
Trump was not the youngest.
He was the 4th of 5 kids. He has a younger brother. So 3 boys and 2 girls.
Democracy Dies in Darkness!
As a genre, the anti-Trump books probably sell better than YA titles. It's certainly a more lucrative branch of literature than Southern Gothic....I haven't actually ready any of these books. This one sounds more promising than the others, especially the Bolton book. There might be some superior gossip in Mary's book. Bolton's sounds like an extended harumph..... The book critics should give an award every year for the best anti-Trump title. There's so many it's hard to tell the wheat from the chaff. Maybe one or two have merit....I don't think the Trump saga is anything like Faulkner or still less like Shakespeare. Harold Robbins thou should be alive today to celebrate this man. There's something pulpy and exciting about Trump's exploits and misadventures.
Well there were character in paul erdmans novels which were the financial equivalent of harold robbins who trump reminds me off.
Trump has all these acknowledged family members, children and other relatives. What the publishing world really needs is someone who is not an acknowledged member of the family to come in and show us what a beast this man really is, like a mistress the Post and other hard urban gossip columnists failed to turn up, or even better a child unacknowledged from a mistress unacknowledged, or even a known paramour. Actually any book by anybody close to this weirdo that would confirm what we all know about him and also dangle some awful things we only suspect would be embraced, so what the fuck?
Two possibilities. Desperation or Absolute Power. I'm guessing the latter. They can say anything and you must believe. The crazier the better. That's true power. Note the end of comedy. Things aren't as funny because funny is dangerous. My next door neighbor who is generally a smart nice guy who used to be an operations EVP in a big company wants Trump and everyone who worked for Trump (and possibly everyone who voted for Trump) to go to jail. He literally said the number of baddies who needed to be taught a lesson was probably no more than 25% of the country. The knives are out. People are acting crazy. I'm pretty confident it is just temporary crazy brought on by Covid and the media and general boredom and ennui but I do get nervous.
MayBee said...
So did Trump's father get his mother pregnant, then move to the east coast, only for it later to come out he was already married? And then while on the East Coast, he married another woman and only saw the child one other time in his life?
Did Trump's mother then take him to Asia, marry another man, have that man adopt him, only to then send him back to his grandparents to raise him?
That kind of disfunction?
don't forget the drug usage!
Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow [cocaine] when you could afford it. Not smack, though
Laslo Spatula said...As Tolstoy said:
"Happy families are all alike, every unhappy niece is unhappy in her own way“.
I love that line, even though it’s been justly criticized as meaningless fluff. I don’t think I’ve seen what, to me, is the biggest problem—dysfunction is so common, how could Tolstoy have met enough happy families to make such a claim? The Trump’s are like the Comptons because they are a dysfunctional family of immigrants? That’s most of America.
Re MayBee’s comment: Obama is a Democrat, which means his family’s dysfunction was a growth opportunity (or he’s a victim, depending on the needs of the narrative). Trump is (currently) a Republican, which means his family’s dysfunction is his dysfunction.
Bravo, Laslo! Brilliant.
Narr
Dysfunction, thy name is family
William;
You wrote “the anti-Trump books probably sell better than YA titles.”
My first thought was “well of course. Who reads anything by a now dead 1960’s NY Giant quarterback!?”
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