The German Booksellers’ Association have their own Sontag Award. And it’s just gone to Susan Sontag! The Association views Sontag as a lone dissident in an “arrogant super-power.” The writer who described the mass murderers of 9/11 as braver than allied pilots is hailed by the German literary elites as having an “exceptional sense of morality and immorality.” Her main triumph: standing up to the “hegemonic response” to 9/11. 9/11? Who remembers that any more? Surely not the Germans. (Hat-tip: Eamonn.)
LEFTIES AND TYRANTS: “I think Joe Stalin was a guy that was hugely misunderstood. And to this day, I don’t think I have ever seen an adequate job done of telling the story of Joe Stalin, so I guess my answer would have to be Joe Stalin.” – actor, Ed Asner, responding to the question, “If you had the chance to play the biographical story of a historical figure you respected most over your lifetime, who would it be?”
The Dish 