Category Archives: A.J. Liebling

A.J. Liebling’s “Apology for Breathing,” is a breathtaking and honest view into a city that’s filled with different people and personalized experiences that we can relate to. Liebling points out that the city is in constant change, which kind of makes the reader understand that we live in a city in which we are unavoidably exposed to other cultures and different types of ways to conduct your business.

His description of the city is one filled with points that show he grew up in the city, and that while he talks with great pride about the city, he also sounds nonchalant in describing situations that he grew up in. His talk of how millions of people go about their own business with not a single clue of what others around them are doing, is inspiring. Particularly I feel like the author’s job at describing the city is something all writers like ourselves should keep in mind, because his description in writing of New York city Is just the same as if hearing him speak of it in person.

A.J. Liebling digs deeper into New York’s essence by honoring the modern people of the city. Liebling viewed New York not through its history, but through the quirks that makes it a haven to so many people coming from different areas of the world today. One particular passage that really showcases this is his vivid description of the characters he meet in the city:

“I like to think of all the city microcosms so nicely synchronized through unaware of one another: the worlds of the weight-lifters, yodelers, tugboat captains and sideshow barkers, of the book-dutchers, sparring partners, song pluggers, sporting girls and religious painters, of the dealers in rhesus monkeys and the bishops of churches that they establish themselves under the religious corporations of law.”

The view of the city as a microcosm, as a tiny world full of thriving lives oblivious of each other’s existence is a very familiar thought that Liebling shares with many New Yorkers today. This microcosm of various faces and can be seen during commutes on the train, where people avoid others’ gazes despite being merely inches away from each other. There is a sense of freedom in the city that lets this people be—whether they’re religious painters or song pluggers. It’s a kind of freedom attained from New Yorkers who simply cannot care about anything else beyond what is on their daily agenda. As Liebling mentions, there are New Yorkers who die oblivious of their surroundings and history, and there are New Yorkers who rather ignore what they are aware of. Either way, it’s a paradox that defines New York City as the liveliest and loneliest sanctuary in the world.

I am amused by Liebling’s style of writing. He critiques New York City as if it’s nobody’s business. I think that this piece works in many areas because of the way Liebling introduces his topics and explains what he wants to say. “New York women are the most beautiful in the world. They have their teeth straightened in early youth… The climate is extremely healthy”. I noticed that he doesn’t say the people were healthy but later states that, “the average life expectancy is so high that one of our morning newspapers specializes in interviewing people a hundred years old and upward.” (18). This is valid because the life expectancy for New York City has increased causing people to have to delay their retiring age to 65+ and even though some people are past the expected age that they can retire they refuse to stop working. This is New York City in the year 2013.

“It is a distinction for a child in New York to be the brightest on one block, he acquires no exaggerated idea of his own relative intelligence.” (18). This is true because people push their kids to achieve all they can. New York City is made up of more immigrants and parents who are trying to make ends meet and want to give their children a better education so that they won’t have to struggle as much as them. This made a lot of sense to me when reading it because this ideas of, a “dream” for a brighter future still exists today.

Liebling also says, “It takes a real one to keep renewing itself until the past is perennially forgotten.” For some reason this doesn’t work for me in this piece because is statement reminded me of having a specific memory. For instance, 9/11 occurred a few years ago but it is still a topic that will keep a presence in our history. I don’t think that it would take “a real one” to forget such a tragic event but a real one to remember. I guess what he’s saying is that because of all our revolutions that we “New Yorkers” prefer to discuss the most recent.