Thursday, April 04, 2013

R.B. Cunninghame Graham

R.B. Cunninghame Graham was the first MP ever to be suspended from the House of Commons for swearing. He had uttered the word "damn." I use it a lot myself. Be was famous for his the "radical" politics and infamous for his ravels and adventures. He was also a damn fire writer. I recently read Rodeo, a collection of his works. He was a friend of Joseph Conrad, and nearly as good.


I like him best when he is either gothic and morbid or rambling in sociopolitical commentary. His works there reminds me oddly of David Milch.
"Your nine day's wonder is a sort of five-legged calf, or a two-headed nightingale, and of the nature of a calculating boy-a seven month's prodigy, born out of time to his own undoing  and a mere wonderment for gaping dullards who dislocate their jaws in ecstasy of admiration and then start out to seek more idols to adore."