I would actually put Updike and Roth on a higher level then the ridiculous gasbag Mailer. Then again, Mailer can't be blamed entirely for his mindboggling-douchery--he appealed to narcissistic wannabe- "tough jews" in positions of influence, and thus his traveling one-man clown show was spun by many as maverick intellectualism.

Replies: @Steve Sailer

Cormac McCarthy is one of the true greats. Reading his books is like watching the movie “Calvary” with Brendan Gleeson, often unbearable, but ultimately rewarding.

I had to look up teeth grills too. They look like you're wearing braces but are marginally more decorative as they're usually made from gold. Does hip hop embrace any form of adornment that isn't pointless and stupid? I've not seen any.

...and what’s a teeth grill anyway?
 

Replies: @petit bourgeois

Here you go

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H67f0b364ef2c4dee91da0190edac0022u/Luxury-Rapper-Iced-Out-Square-CZ-Gold-Teeth-Grillz-Top-Bottom-Grills-For-Men-Women-Punk.jpg_Q90.jpg_.webp

Seventy years ago, in 1995, teeth grills became popular with black so-called "Rap Artists". At that time, blacks who engaged in revolutionary dialogue had to disguise their speech in code. Blacks were not allowed to make music, were, in fact, forbidden to even own a musical instrument. But the black liberation spirit could not be suppressed. Black men devised a language in which they could communicate revolutionary messages and do so in a way that the white man could not understand. To pass muster the new jargon was toneless, devoid of all melody and harmony.

Eventually, the white man realized what was going on, how the black man was doing an end run around his prohibitions. When a "Rapper" was caught in the act, both as punishment and to prevent his ever "rapping" again, all of his teeth were knocked out. Undeterred, the black man devised "the grill" as a substitute, which allowed him to both chew and to resume his revolutionary ways. Of course, when whites were around, the black man would remove the grill and adopt a "Yessur, Massa" tone.

Today, many of those grills, lovingly preserved, can be seen in the Black Liberation Wing of all of the 250 Holocaust Museums in America.