‘What boots it,’ indeed

These boots are made for earning.

In the August 2019 issue of The Atlantic, Michael LaPointe muses at some length on “The Unbearable Smugness of Walking,” as performed by the literati.

Following his examination of two recent books arguing for “walking’s invigorating literary power” and capacity for resistance to “the desire of those in power that we should participate in growing the GDP … as well as the corporate desire that we should consume as much as possible and rest whenever we aren’t doing so,” LaPointe wonders whether, for the writer, walking to work is really nothing more than another day at the office, albeit a larger, airier one.

And he poses the question: “What would it mean, for once, simply to walk and say nothing about it?”

What it would mean, Michael old sock, is that you would not get paid.

“Ah, fill the Cup:—what boots it to repeat
How Time is slipping underneath our Feet. …

Tags: The Atlantic, walking, Writing

This entry was posted on July 17, 2019 at 6:13 am and is filed under Arts & letters, Casual snark, High-falutin' literary matters, Smashing the State, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “‘What boots it,’ indeed”

SAO’ Says:
July 17, 2019 at 6:48 am | Reply
And our poor lad Michael was paid for this?

“ … the Romantic conception of walking as the essential literary act persisted.”

Essential? I always thought whiskey was the essential literary act.

Dude doesn’t have math on his side. Easily 99.99% of all walks fail to produce a published work.
carl duellman Says:
July 17, 2019 at 7:37 am | Reply
i found $5 once on a walk.
Pat O'Brien Says:
July 17, 2019 at 9:13 am | Reply
That is top drawer bullshit. How does he get paid for that?
Patrick O'Grady Says:
July 17, 2019 at 11:56 am | Reply
Hurben Says:
July 17, 2019 at 2:05 pm | Reply
My favourite musician has crossed over.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-07-16-the-dance-ends-for-johnny-clegg-sas-beloved-musical-storyteller/
- Pat O'Brien Says:
  July 17, 2019 at 2:19 pm | Reply
  NPR had a piece on him yesterday. More music for me to discover! The Zulu dancing is something special. Reminded me a bit of the Maori Haka.
  
  https://www.npr.org/2019/07/16/738065415/johnny-clegg-a-uniting-voice-against-apartheid-dies-at-66
- Patrick O'Grady Says:
  July 17, 2019 at 6:14 pm | Reply
  The WaPo has a piece on him as well. He seems a most interesting person. I know the name, and I’m certain I’ve heard his music at some point (I’m a lifelong NPR guy, f’godsake), but for sure I’m going to give him a belated listen.
- B Lester Says:
  July 17, 2019 at 6:44 pm | Reply
  I knew some of his work. I love the beats. I also knew he was a Brit, but I didn’t know he had a PhD. The cause made him more like Bob Marley for me.