Huff, Russians & Others

RIP NFL legend Sam Huff, 87. All America at West Virginia, his dad and brothers coal miners, he was selected by the Giants in the third round of the 1956 draft, the 30th player taken. His career spanned ‘56-’69, his last four seasons with the Redskins. A lineman in college, he was moved to middle-linebacker. He was first team All-Pro twice, second team four times. He was a member of the Giants 1956 NFL championship team. He was selected to the 1950’s All-Decade Team. He had 30 interceptions, recovered 17 fumbles, and scored five TDs on defense. He was the first NFL player featured on the cover of Time magazine, 11/30/’59. He shot to fame as the subject of a 1960 CBS television special, The Violent World of Sam Huff, an episode of the anthology series The Twentieth Century hosted by Walter Cronkite. After his playing days, he was successful in business and horse breeding, and also worked the broadcasts booth of WVU, the Giants and the ‘Skins until retiring in 2012. He is a member of the National High School Hall of Fame, the WVU HOF and the NFL HOF. Awesome, sir.

Dostoevsky has been my biggest literary influence. I’ve enjoyed the work of many of the 18th century Russian masters, and have been fascinated by accounts of life under the abominable Soviet system. So when a novel about post-communist Moscow came my way, I dove into it eagerly. Homo Zapiens by Victor Pelevin is the story of a young man moving from job to job in the advertising field. I thought it was going to be about go-getters taking advantage of economic freedom. Instead it is a bizarre cynical farce that never moves past the ridiculous ad ideas of the characters. Those would never play in western markets, and I doubt they would in eastern. Along the way there are segues into hallucinogens and heavy drinking. Murders occur. The narrative suggests that most of Boris Yeltsin’s appearances were digital. In fact, it seems to say much of life has gone that way. A society previously numbed by totalitarianism now seems numbed by visual bombardment. The title refers to the zapping done with a remote control, of which I am certainly guilty. Maybe something is lost in translation, or the work is for minds keener than mine, such as those among the 54 who have rated it at Amazon, where the consensus is 4.3 on a scale of five. Pelevin, 58, has been prolific. His Wiki profile lists 20 novels, four short story collections and seven essays, which are either collections or individual pieces, I’m not sure which. Here’s the author:

Speaking of Russian lit, here’s a new book:

Interesting headline from newsmax.com: “Robot Orders at Record Numbers Amid Labor Shortages.” If/when people try to return to the work force, will they complain about being shunned for a machine?

My thanks to Mr. Conspiracy, aka Steve, who purchased the second copy of Clapton, an autbio by the guitar god, sold in as many days; and to the gentleman who bought a thick book in Russian; and to the mom who treated her daughters to A Person of Interest, a novel by Susan Choi, and Journey into the Whirlwind: The Critically Acclaimed Memoir of Stalin’s Reign of Terror
by Eugenia Semenovna Ginzburg; and to the gentleman who settled his tab.

My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE

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