Salam Pax Was My Interpreter

So says New York Times Magazine correspondent Peter Maass, in an essay at Slate.com. The punchline? Maass didn?t know it at the time, and only found out after returning home. Plenty of funny details in the column, including that the talented Mr. Pax is a fan of Philip K. Dick, The New Yorker, Oasis, and Pulp Fiction.

Comments

[Billy Oblivion]

"...along with many other weaponized people who might..."

Weaponized People.

I love that phrase.

I want a t-shirt that says "weaponized person".

[Steve]

It was in the Times! It must be made up!

[RS]

Don't want to offend but why is it that Pax is always described as so "gifted," "talented" etc. Unique and interesting his blog certainly is...and it made fascinating reading directly preceding the war. But if you take a step back to think about his writing and thinking in comparison with other bloggers or writers in general, you realize it doesn't add up to much.
I admire that woman golfer and that Jamaican bobsled team, but not 'cause I think they are the best at what they do. Pax has been an incredible witness to history and I've enjoyed reading him but he's no "luminiere." He was there and he had the balls to maintain a blog. And I'm thankful, but I doubt If I would want to read his book.

Note: I played golf once twenty years ago and have only sled on tire tubes. I have no apparent talents and have never been described as gifted. But I appreciate being exposed to talented and gifted thinkers and writers.

[RS]

"lumiere"

[Matt Welch]

I was actually having fun with "The Talented Mr. Ripley," but yeah, I think he's quite talented. It's not so easy to write well in a second language, for starters, and it's especially hard to be compelling and somehow worldly when you live in a totalitarian regime, regardless of your personal circumstances. But aside from the context, his writing drew me in on its own strength, which is more than I can say for 98% of professional native English-speaking writers.

[Anonymous]

http://a.wholelottanothing.org/archives.blah/007035

http://andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2003_06_01_dish_archive.html#200374343

[RS]

He doesn't seem overwhelmingly limited by writing in English and writing in a second, third...language is not so rare or extraordinary. His ability to express himself in English only minimally affects the expression of his thought-process, personality, etc.
I wish there were some other way to say it, but hewas in the right place at the right time. Does that make you talented or gifted, skillful, what have you?