This particular line in the Sunday Toronto Star interview with Barbara (Amiel) Black caught my eye:

"I've always thought if I hadn't been given some good looks and cursed with loving clothes, I would have achieved more as a writer because I would have had more time. It's been a distraction."

"Clothes and decent looks are a handicap because they don't co-exist well with the life of a writer. Perhaps it's an excuse because I just never had enough talent to be what I wanted to be. I'm trying now (but) it's very, very hard."

Hey Babs: I'm not stricken with either curse, and I haven't exactly produced the Great Canadian Novel yet myself! :)

The interview was conducted by Joan Crockatt and Arlene Bynon (Crockatt was a managing editor of the Calgary Herald back when Barbara's husband Conrad owned Southam).

Here's some excerpts from the interview:

For those who haven't been following the news, Conrad is in a spot of trouble with Hollinger International, including "allegations he misappropriated millions," the story notes.

Some have seen Black's troubles as actually a victory for shareholders' rights.

Black, like her husband, blames their troubles in part on a global trend toward anti-capitalism. "Corporate McCarthyism," is how she puts it. She said those who are seen to benefit from capitalism are under assault, even in the United States.

She calls New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is waging a campaign against insurance company practices, a "zealot ... on a crusade." She sympathizes with homemaking jailbird Martha Stewart, whom she sees as "an exceptional woman who works like a dog ... and delivers, shareholder value. It's amazing." ...

"The United States is turning away from what it was (a champion of capitalism) to egalitarianism and envy," she says. "Egalitarianism and envy come together. In fact, sometimes envy drives egalitarianism."

I remember one quote that had her saying human beings were as hierarchical as jackdaws.

To yield to egalitarianism is to deny our fundamental nature! :)

Her most infamous quote is likely this one: " my extravagance knows no bounds." That appeared in a 2002 Vogue article.

"When I said to (the writer) `my extravagance knows no bounds,' I was being ironic about myself. I was making a joke. It became my Marie Antoinette `Let them eat cake.' I did (it) as a favour and it boomeranged on me."

Actually, I believe her when Black says she intended it to be ironic. In a way, it's tragic that a woman as obviously intelligent as Ms. Black couldn't see the damage potential in that line.

Anyway, it's an interesting read.