BEYOND A “SHADOW” OF A DOUBT

Shifting into Spenglerian gear, noted academician and former politician Herbert London decried postmodern culture at a book party Wednesday for “Lengthened Shadows: America and Its Institutions in the Twenty-first Century” (Encounter Books), a collection of essays by conservative critics and commentators.

Taking the current state of mass entertainment to task, he contrasted the loyal, virtuous, and upstanding mother in “Leave It to Beaver” with the adulterous, self-indulgent narcissists of “Desperate Housewives.”

“Pornography and lascivious glaring are ubiquitous,” he lamented. On a happier note, he praised the journal the New Criterion, as “the primary beachhead for cultural restoration,” fostering “an oasis strategy” in the galloping cultural desertification of modern America.

Roger Kimball, one of the contributors to “Lengthened Shadows,” praised the soon-to-retire Mr. London as “a one-man opposition party at New York University.” He also lauded Mr. London’s “contrarian impulses” and congratulated him for his work in combating “forces of moral barbarism and intellectual mendacity.”

The publisher of Encounter Books, Peter Collier, described the essays in “Lengthened Shadows” as “mental x-rays of institutions.” The book’s title is drawn from Emerson’s statement that institutions are but the lengthened shadows of individuals. The former 1960s radical and latter-day conservative penitent attributed his fascination with such critics of American institutions to his “fatal attraction to smart people writing bravely.”

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KING IN HIS “CASTLE”

192 Books in Chelsea hosted an event devoted to A.J. Liebling, presented by a former book review editor of the New York Times, Charles McGrath. On Tuesday evening, attendees celebrated the recent reissue of collections of Liebling, as well as the publication of “Just Enough Liebling” (Northpoint Press), which features an introduction by David Remnick.

Liebling wrote of low-life, boxing, the press, war, and food. Mr. McGrath recounted an amusing anecdote in reference to the last subject.

A writer from The New Yorker, Joseph Mitchell, once told Mr. Mc-Grath a story of how he and Liebling dined together at the Coach House in Greenwich Village. Oysters, specially aged mutton chops, and several bottles of burgundy were consumed. Liebling tottered out and started to walk home. Although Mitchell felt he had never eaten so much, Liebling said, “You know, I’m hungry,” and entered White Castle and ordered a sack of burgers.

“You know with Joe, it was quantity as much as quality,” Mitchell said.

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THE BEAT GOES ON

Jazz sounded the keynote at the MacDowell Colony’s 2004 Winter Gala earlier this week.

The evening’s master of ceremonies and MacDowell’s chairman, Robert MacNeil, compared the 97-year-old artists’ colony to jazz, which is “a musical conversation, a partly planned, partly spontaneous dialogue among musicians. A medley of famed artists entertained the crowd, including pianist and composer Fred Hersch and singer and composer Lenora Zenzalai Helm.

Mr. MacNeil introduced Ken Burns, the gala’s honorary chairman and award-winning documentarian who made a 19-hour film about jazz for PBS. In his remarks, Mr. MacNeil quoted Stephen Ambrose, the late American historian, who once said, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.”

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ANIMAL FARM

The Museum Shop at the New-York Historical Society offers cards that feature cartoons from The New Yorker. Two have animal themes. One depicts a bear and bull lying in bed together. “Sure,” the bear casually says to the bull, “it may be great for us, but it’s hell on the markets.” The second illustration shows a cow with a bell around its neck. He is sitting in a doctor’s office on a table having a physical examination. The physician says to the cow, “The ringing in your ears – I think I can help.”

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MY DINNER WITH NOAM

Seven Stories Press has published a magazine edited by Wallace Shawn called “Final Edition.” Its first issue declares that it is its last issue. The magazine includes an interview Mr. Shawn conducted with Noam Chomsky…Philosopher Michael Devitt, who teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center, has a forthcoming book called “Ignorance of Language” (Oxford University Press), which challenges Mr. Chomsky’s philosophical views of language.

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SCHOLARS REMEMBERED

A professor at New York University, Thomas Nagel, and a profressor at Columbia University, Akeel Bilgrami, are among those discussing the life and work of Donald Davidson at a memorial session of the Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Pasadena, Calif., on March 25. Stanford University professor Richard Rorty is also scheduled to speak…Two days later at the same conference, Harvard University professor Martha Nussbaum is among those speaking at a special memorial session on renowned British ethicist Bernard Williams…Noted scholar of Russia, Martin Edward Malia, who taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1958 until his retirement in 1991, will be remembered at a memorial on Saturday in Berkeley.

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BOOKS AND BLOGGERS

Melville House Publishing hosted a panel of bloggers at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. Panelists included Maud Newton of MaudNewton.com and Ron Hogan ofBeatrice.com.

As the program ran over the allotted time, panelists spoke about how blogging can consume one’s life. The audience laughed when Valerie Merians of Melville House rose to ask her husband Dennis Loy Johnson, who was moderating the panel: “Speaking of blogging taking up your whole life, are you ready to go home yet, honey?”

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CONCRETE CONUNDRUM

A graduate student from Canada’s McMaster University, Justin Armstrong, is researching “issues of public space, artistic resistance and the production of meaning in urban spaces” for his master’s thesis. He moderated a panel on street art titled “Street Seen: Documenting Street Art” at the Small Press Book Fair.

Panelists included Vinnie Ray, photographer Alice Arnold, and members of the Wooster Collective.

The discussion turned to how street artists – who may be breaking the law in putting their work on someone else’s property – often get upset when their work is taken and appropriated by advertising.

I spoke afterward with a few people in the audience. Montague Chadbourne said the artist “abandons” his work by putting it on someone else’s wall. Richard Kostelanetz said an artist might no longer own the object but that is different from the right to reproduce it.

Any lawyers wish to weigh in?

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KNICK-KNACKS Columbia University hosts an all-day symposium on Friday in celebration of the 700th anniversary of the birth of Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374)…New York Times reporter Murray Schumach will be remembered Monday at 10 a.m. at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism…Conservative writer Charles Krauthammer has some filial competition. His son, Daniel, a Harvard student, penned his first opinion piece last month at the Crimson…Zbigniew Brzezinski donated an autographed book for the first silent auction hosted by the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America…Pete Peterson was among those Harold Evans interviewed at the 21 Club at a luncheon sponsored by the Week magazine. Mr. Peterson said a friend asked if his book “Running on Empty” (Farrar Straus & Giroux) was his autobiography. No, the book’s subtitle is, “How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It”