The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 7 of 19)

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Your piece on the Saw movies at Spectator.org was outstanding (you're one of my can't miss essayists there), but I wish you'd contrasted the approach taken by Saw's protagonist to that of G.K. Chesterton's Innocent Smith, the protagonist of his novel Manalive.

p>Smith, like the Jigsaw killer, is dismayed that people take life and health for granted, but his solution is far different than the Jigsaw killer's lunatic tinkertoy constructions. In classic Chestertonian paradox, Smith commits "crimes" that are not actually criminal to waken slumbering humanity to the joys all around it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manalive , but read the book if you have the opportunity. (Wikipedia has links to e-texts and print versions). br> -- Mark Soper /p> p> HILLARY'S SOFT SPOT br> Re: Liz Mair's Big Girls Don't Cry : /p>

This "piling-on" episode has to do with something bigger than just the Oct. 30 debate. Someone, somewhere hit a nerve, or found a soft spot in her armor.

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