The Laphroaig is unawarded

Thanks, however, to all those who have given it a shot.

The bottle remains, mostly, and the contest continues. But I amend the prize requirement to include the additional test as discussed in my comments below (see insert at C) of the first half-hour of Zabriskie Point. Are these folks ideologues, idealists, neither or both? No entry will be considered without response to this important consideration.

However, I have a new contest, involving a certain book I bought today. It is a boxed edition from 1971 published by Knopf, with book design that’s frankly beautiful, of a work that originally appeared in ’64. There is nothing so undignified as a blurb on the box, and on the book jacket itself there is only one blurb, which appears on the front cover, the back cover being simply blank in a very attractive off-white linen.

The blurb on the front reads: “The noblest self-disclosure of spiritual struggle and triumph, perhaps the greatest testament of personal devotion, published in this century…”

This remarkable encomium is attributed, with a grand and not uncatholic simplicity, to The New York Times Book Review.

There are two ways to win. One, you can identify the book and/or author. Please answer only if you don’t know the answer! I am interested only in guesses, not in research. Second, you can find another book with a better blurb than this. Any book, of any kind, will do, but please consider both the text of the benediction and the authority of the benedictor.

Unfortunately, since the last contest was (I believe) on the order of rhyming “orange,” whereas this one can actually be won, the victor or victors will earn no more than a shot of Laphroaig—or in case of remarkable effort, possibly a double. Prof. Moldbug’s resources are limited.