Good Bye - Art Buchwald

vmur · Feb 1, 2007

He was one of the best known satirists of the 20th century. I once read where he jokes about his own death. He says, "Dying is not hard, paying for Medicare is".

His column used to appear in the Hindu next to the crossword on Saturdays ( I think, correct me if I am wrong), and I learnt my bit about American politics only from his writings.

For more details about the great humorist, please read
Art Buchwald, 81, Columnist and Humorist Who Delighted in the Absurd - New York Times

vidyasarada · Feb 2, 2007

Hi
When I was much younger, my siblings and I always grabbed The Indian Express or Deccan Herald and left The Hindu to the oldies. You see, we had that typically teen opinion that the Hindu was a bore, an old fogey, totally devoid of fun. But after finishing with the others, we always came back to snatch that one page from the staid old Hindu. For Art Buchwald. The yankee Wodehouse.

His inimitable frothiness, the sly jabs at pompous BigNames, the self deprecating wit and the talent to see the ridiculous in the most sombre of situations made him such a lovable coloumnist. In fact most of what I knew of American politics of that time came from Buchwald , hence my greenhorn conclusion that USofA was one big land of jokers !
Its not everyday that we come across people who can say: " I never thought dying was such fun !"

VS

vmur · Feb 3, 2007

You said it Vidya.

To me Art was the voice of the common man ( not just the common American ) who found the labyrinthine policies of the Washington bureaucracy to be utterly absurd at times.

While the writers who can criticise the establishment in verbose terms are legion, Art had a way of driving home his point with humor and brevity.

As he said once " I'm neither Democratic nor Republican - I'm just against whoever is in power" - he performed the all essential role of the critic who guards against excesses of those who fancy themselves to rule the land.