from my typed notes

One clue to the unreal optimism in the Spectator’s self-representations that refuse to credit readers with the ability to resist its tactics is the very extremity of Mr. Spectator’s construction, which testifies, I believe, less to his power than to the intractability of the problem his surveillance tries to control. Extraordinary weapons [my flabbergasted emphasis] deal with extraordinary problems

also

103 VOMIT:
Mr. Spectator’s light humor hides, as always, more serious concerns.

also

The Spectator empowers its author to menace readers with constant surveillance.
[GOSSIP GIRL!]

and, finally

Rejecting the visible authority on which Sir Roger’s or John Sly’s discipline depends, Mr. Spectator’s surveillance regime deploys absence as a terrorist force.
[this is fucking OUT OF CONTROL—simply off the scale]


(i'm somewhat fond of this book with the exception of the chapter noted above which drives me nuts)