I'm not sure how I missed this when it appeared in the Times, but Rick Marin attempted to examine (in part) the effects of Viagra upon literature. Now that so many septuagenarians are potent, books like Kingsley Amis's Jake's Thing, with impotent protagonists, appear dated. But to my immense astonishment, no serious paper or article seems to exist on this timely subject. If older men are to be permitted their older protagonists sleeping around with younger women, then the time has come to call upon novelists relying upon Viagra as a gimmick (and, yes, that includes you, Philip Roth!). Or better yet, ladies, why not counter with more Jane Juska-style tomes?
Posted by DrMabuse at July 13, 2004 10:48 AMRead Donald Hall's post-Jane Kenyon poems (e.g., the one about the girl who can put her legs behind her head) and tell me he ain't on the juice...
Posted by: Jimmy Beck at July 13, 2004 11:06 AM