The Ghost Writer
Directed by Roman Polanski
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Williams
2010
British Prime Minister Adam Lang
Modern political memoirs are a genre of hackwork that are meant to be seen and not heard. They are doorstops, the literary equivalent of first editions with uncut pages, something to leave prominently located yet unread. Issued for “historical” interest in immense quantities, they invariably end up remaindered, as a group of publishers discuss in an early, excellent scene in Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer”. In fact, the statesman’s contentless, lying memoirs and the standard multimillion dollar advance fee are an accepted way of enriching a politician in his after-life. Memoirs are retirement plans and corporate thank-yous. That anyone would undertake to print a written document by George W. Bush (“Decision Points” is upon us) or Sarah Palin (“Going Rogue”), two figures so deeply hostile to language, is the proof in the pudding. I myself have read a swath of books on Bill and Hillary Clinton, but wouldn’t dream of reading their memoirs, as there is surely nothing more there than a combination of elision and falsity. The political memoir should be approached as something no more than a long-winded alibi.