Last of the Mohicans, or Another Derivative Post

In his review of How Fiction Works, Walter Kirn took author James Woods to flight school, giving a sideways proposal that a better title for the book might be Why Readers Nap. Okay, fine. But what interested me when I read this review is why Kirn-- who published a novel on Slate and whose "strange story of an affair with the Dali Lama's ditsy public relations woman" was one of the most interesting, but most out-there, selections at last year's PEN/Faulkner gala (if I remember correctly, it was also one of the funniest)-- was chosen to review Woods' book, especially when the Sunday Book Review seems to attune reviewers and assignments so carefully (i.e. Christopher Dickey's review of Rick Bragg's book about his father).

Well, the NY Times blog Papercuts recently asserted that Kirn's review represents the latest battle in the unending galactic war between the two literary types, Paleface and Redskin, or as a certain professor at George Mason might call them, the Apollonian and the Dionysian. It's amazing to me that this debate continues as fiercely as ever-- doesn't it seem clear that each side will continue to have supporters, that each will experience its heyday (I would argue that currently, the Redskins are ahead) and then fall back for a while, only to surge again in the future?

I guess we'll have to wait for that one mythical writer who will merge both backgrounds, breaking the binary and bringing glory to us all, before the argument ends. (I predict that if male, he'll resemble Daniel Day Lewis, and if female, Madeleine Stowe.) Until then, I suggest we writers continue practicing our tracking skills or our military drills, whichever we may choose, rather than wasting time comparing whose weapon shoots better.