In an article from our next issue, Phoebe Connelly explores the meaning of the recent surge of Bush-related fiction:
Stone's film is part of a late rush by authors, filmmakers, and other artists to reckon with George W. Bush before he exits office. It's a new chapter in our representations of the president who has tormented America for eight long years -- we've moved beyond the one-dimensional screeds and the off-handed jokes in favor of certain elegiac fictionalization. It's not that we're no longer mocking Dubya or suddenly ignoring his terrible faults but rather that we're more interested in companionable insight. Is it possible that now, in the waning days of the Bush presidency, we just want to sit down with the man, have a few beers, and see what makes him tick?
And Rich Byrne ponders the meaning of the revelation that Milan Kundera may have informed on a western spy:
But in a rare interview with Czech journalists after the secret police report turned up, Kundera made a fervent denial -- of sorts -- about the affair.
I say "of sorts" because Kundera's response, as translated into English, is very artfully phrased. Indeed, it requires some careful parsing. Kundera told Czech journalists: "I'm completely shocked by something I didn't expect, something I didn't know about as recently as yesterday, something that never happened. I didn't know that person at all."
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—The Editors
