"Men won’t succeed in literature that they may get into society, but will get into society that they may succeed in literature." – Jasper Milvain, the social-climbing journalist in George Gissing‘s New Grub Street, his classic about the London literary world more than a century ago. Question: Substitute “Web,” “Facebook” or “Twitter” for “society,” and […]
Read MoreParty crashing in Real Life and ‘The Solomon Scandals’
I’m amused by all this talk about uninvited White House guests: the polo-playing vintner and his blonde, sari-clad wife who crashed the State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. Party crashing and social climbing are old traditions in D.C., a city where the celebrated can be so empty headed that there isn’t always […]
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