Los chicos, que son el diablo... To be sure, we are not discussing the 1972 edition with John Hollander's great "The Golem", but the 1999 Viking travesty edited by Alexander Coleman, of whom it may be suspected that he has been made a stooge, the publishing world being what it is, whatever that may be.
"Phasellus Ille"
This papier-maché, which you see, my friends,
Saith 'twas the worthiest of editors.
Its mind was made up in "the seventies,"
Nor hath it ever since changed that concoction.
It works to represent that school of thought
Which brought the hair-cloth chair to such perfection,
Nor will the horrid threats of Bernard Shaw
Shake up the stagnant pool of its convictions;
Nay, should the deathless voice of all the world
Speak once again for its sole stimulation,
'Twould not move it one jot from left to right.
Come Beauty barefoot from the Cyclades,
She'd find a model for St. Anthony
In this thing's sure decorum and behaviour.
E.P.
[This message has been edited by Christopher Mulrooney (edited February 20, 2001).]
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