chronicles of Culture originated as a protest against thenperversion of the American culture by something we call thenLiberal Culture. The marvelous cultural pluralism of thenAmerican civilization, grounded in the time-honored persuasionnthat the other’s point of view is our common asset, hasnbeen corrupted by liberal zealotry in pursuit of a monopoly onntruth. About four years ago...

vious that they long ago abandoned a pluraUsm based onnauthentic differences of views. By exerting a totalitarianlikengrip on the opinion-forming industry, their apologists andncritics are able to bar any truly opposing point of view from thenpages of influential liberal journals that loudly proclaim urbi etnorbi their pure and benign ideological nonpartisanship. Longngone is that kind...

QPIMONS & VlKVVS TnThe Enemy Up ClosenMilton Rugoff: The Beechers: an AmericannFamily in the Nineteenth Century;nHarper & Row; New York.nby Clyde WilsonnAmerican Protestantism divides intontwo distinct cultural traditions datingnback to colonial times. One tradition derivesnfrom New England and is Calvinistnin origin; the other is Southern and Anglican.nAnglican must be understoodnhere as referring to a spirit...

ent. First there was Lyman Beecher, thenleading Calvinist theologian of his day,nwho was instrumental in spreading thengospel to the West. (The “West” in NewnEngland parlance referred to areas northnof the Ohio River settled by New Englanders.nNothing else counted.) AmongnLyman’s numerous children were CatherinenBeecher, a pioneer feminist; HarrietnBeecher Stowe, “the little womannwho made the big war,”...

justice.nHenry Ward Beecher, the most popularnpreacher in America, famous for hisnspellbinding crusades against slavery,nliquor, the secret vice and every othernevil, committed adultery with at leastnone woman of his congregation, a womannwho happened also to be a SundaynSchool teacher and the wife of an admiringnprotege of Beecher’s. The offense itselfnis not so revealing as the spirit...

Corde’s view that “a simple belief innprogress goes with a deformed conceptionnof human nature.” Such echoes arenclearly germane to Bellow’s purposes;nprogress is one of the great issues of modernism:n”the modem consciousness, thatnequivocal queer condition, working withna net of foolish assumptions, and sonmuch absurd unwanted stuff lying onnyour heart.” Richard Weaver calledn”progress” a contemporary “god term.”nThe...

that we know, that we know, we know,nwe know.”nCorde’s serious limitations are presentednwithout varnish. He finds it almostnimpossible to come to terms withndeath. Sometimes he is petulantlyncranky and sometimes painfully selfrighteous.nBellow slips when trying tonmake an activist of him. The goodnmotive is short-sighted. Corde is a seer;nhe is what he is for reasons that far...

IVtlasti:nm^mmmm^^^^^^Kmmmm^ii^i^m^m^t^nTviv.SvxmwA^NnPARTISANn-Civil War Press CorpsnTT^p”^^^ SICSSSSBI^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^nSouthern Partisannhas arrivednThe Conservative bice of the Unieconstructed^^^nPresented With Wit and Style*nRead Andrew Lytle, Russell Kirk, M.E. Bradford,nR Reid Buckley, unpublished work by Richard Weaver,nand more…in the magazine you’ve been waiting for.n’For those concernednabout preservingnSouthern culture.”n—Human Eventsn”A group of writersn(convinced) that the timenhas come to reverse thenretreat… a hell-for-leathernassault…”n—Chronicles of Culturen’A...

contemporary is your only point of departure.n” No matter what we are like, itnis “a delicious world.” Beilow-Cordendoes not give up because “His motive…ncame out of what is eternal in man.” Thennovel contains, like Dickens’s Talenthough not so prominently, the resurrectionntheme. Toby Winthrop at OperationnContact dies and is reborn in order tonsave those who are...

changes that have occurred in the UnitednStates in the last twenty years or so. Thus,nbesides an introduction and a conclusion,nhe devotes a chapter to each ofnseven areas of change: crime, homosexuality,nthe economy, cults, the women’snmovement, shoddiness of manufacturedngoods and the unwillingness of servicenpersonnel to provide service. Harris is annanthropologist who claims in this book tonhave...

jor university, he finds them onerous: “Inbelieve in regulation but not in levelingnall distinctions and issues. The City ofnGod is desirable but it does not occurnwhen a landscape consists of evenly distributednrubble.”nThere is an air of paradox in all thisnconstant shifting of ground, fluttering ofnveils, that almost constitutes evasion.nGiamatti is ready for the accusation:n”There is,...

page, can’t everyone in the world be likenme? “I’m apparently alone …” shenbegins, as she expresses her disapprovalnof allowing high school classes to view thenpreliminary hearings. Trilling lets it benknown that “a week’s suspension andnfirm warning” would have been the propernpunishment for the drug violatorsnthat Mrs. Harris expelled. Turning to thentrial, she scolds the defense...

Clare’s religious conversion, and hasnnever recovered. His hostess was witty,nrich, beautiful and as nice to him as shencould be. To be sure, Sheed is impressednwith her numerous careers, but thosenroles are not of interest to him. Had shennever been anything but a Ridgefield,nConnecticut housewife, he would havenwanted to write the book anyway, simplynbecause he is...

pieces on film written since 1970, Simonnwrites, “Criticism at best, of course, isnonly a set of subjective opinions. But it isnopinions expounded at some length: explained,nillustrated with examples andnquotations, supported with comparisonsnand contrasts to other works, related toncertain standards of aesthetics and evennethics, and viewed in a larger context ofnhuman life.” This observation is no...

movies when he reviewed films for &quirenfrom I960 to 1966. He wrote inn1963: “One of the advantages of this jobnis that I don’t have to see many movies.”nThis, I suppose, helped reduce his levelnof choler; he isn’t as wont to savage someonenbecause of his or her looks or moniker.nMore importantly, Macdonald’s criticismnis grounded on something....

In earlier epochs,na critic tormented only the writers…nOf all the cants which are canted in this canting world—though the cant ofnhypocrites may be the worst—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting.nLaurence SternenIn ours, he torments everybody.nRecently a middle-aged father publishedna book about his sordid adventuresnin massage parlors, wife-swappingncommunes and the worlds of easy sexnand...

rivative, they often mask it with infightingndesigned to show how littlenother critics know. Simon is a master atnthis. A sampling of some of his sallies:nThe writing, directing and acting arenas amateurish as they are tendentious.n.. . Yet a number of critics, includingnPauline Kael, have given this sorrynmess their more or less guarded approval.nNor will the...

Women, Work and WimseynJames Brabazon: Dorothy L. Sayers;nCharles Scribner’s Sons; New York.nby Keith Bowern«1 1 like the Gargoyle best,” Dorothy L.nSayers wrote in a poem from her midteens.nShe continues, “… while thenparson, foil of pride/Spouts at his wearynflock inside /The Gargoyle, from his loftynseat/Spouts at the people in the street.”nThe figure was prophetic, for, thoughnshe...

her: at first she had kept son John Anthony’snparentage a secret in order to savenface among her colleagues at Benson’snAgency. Then, with the unexpectednpopularity of Zeal to Thy House, shenbecame a sought-after advocate of traditionalnorthodox Anglicanism. Like thenperpetual foundling in an Edwardianncomedy, the child’s discovery by thenLondon papers must have been a grievousnfear indeed. She...

And, dying so, sleep our sweet sleep no more.nDorothy L. Sayers once wrote thatn”The first life of any celebrity is nowadaysnaccepted as an interim document,”nand James Brabazon’s biography of her isncertainly that. It was written to straightennthe record before the “chaif-chewing”nexperts descended upon her. The biographynis an honest, though obviously incompletenaccount, appearing, with thenWishing Away...

description of the ideal that has beennchosen. Hoffman is content to inform hisnreader only that his is a liberal vision, thencharacter of which is to be inferred fromnthe vision of a good world that he subsequentlyndescribes. He simply assumesnthat the reader shares this vision, for henmakes no effort to convince those whonmight hold another that...

Profound Dislikes & Spiritual HeroismnVladimir Nabokov: Lectures on RussiannLiterature; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich;nNew York.nRonald Hingley: Nightingale Fever:nRussian Poets in Revolution; Alfred A.nKnopf; New York.nby Charles A. MosernVladimir Nabokov, exiled from hisnhomeland for art’s sake, is the only mannever to have established a reputation as anmajor writer of fiction both in Englishnand in Russian. He was also...

not a great writer, but a rather mediocrenone—with flashes- of excellentnhumor, but, alas, with wastelands ofnliterary platitudes in between.nA bit later in his discussion (and he wasnalways acutely aware that his assessmentnof Dostoyevsky was not widely shared),nNabokov came closer to formulating hisngenuine objection. Dostoyevsky’s world,nhe complained, “is created too hastilynwidiout any sense of that harmony...

sciously rejected the thought of exilenfrom her native land, even though hernex-husband, another excellent poet, wasnexecuted as a counterrevolutionary inn1921, her son was arrested during thengreat purges of the 1930’s and she herselfnwas the target of an intense campaign ofnpolitical vilification—because of her religiousnand personal verse—at the end ofnWorld War II. But she published only...

anecdotes, interesting conversations, occasionallyna sharp observation. I lookednforward to Old Glory. I should havenknown better.nA dififerent sort of problem comes upnwhen outsiders (Raban, as I said, isnEnglish) write books about our society.nHere we are the natives. When thenauthor is amused, puzzled, irritated, ornpleased, we’re the reason. And here thenpresumption of knowledge is with thenreader, who...

home; an Irish-Choctaw-Scotch-Mexicannfiverboat captain. Old Glory isnat its best when Raban just lets some ofnthese people talk. Here is a group of cardplayersnat Erjie’s Bar and Cafe in Lockport,nLouisiana. Raban asked about anplace to stay:n’Hey,’ called a fat man from his barnstool. ‘You want a place, I can shownyou a place. Out there in the...

scriptural metaphor, we rednecks mightnsay, is the Coat of Many Colors, not thenTower of Babel, but I confess—and Garreaunmight, too—that this judgment isnas much aesthetic as political.)nThe persona that emerges from Garreau’snbook is that of a curious, perceptivenand witty reporter—a good companionnfor the kind of voyage the booknoffers, one with which the reader cannidentify. Having...

nerve. Contrary to the popular impression,nthose who came of age during then1940’s and 1950’s were not narrowmindednstrivers, interested only in jobs,nhomes and automobiles. Rather, this wasna generation that could be quite responsivento patriotic ideals—especially the callnto contain, with force if necessary, the advancenof totalitarianism. With WorldnWar II barely over, it again shoulderednarms in Korea. It...

inequity.”* Accordingly, he and Doddnhave called for increased American economicnaid, while also sponsoring a measurenforbidding military involvement innCentral America without prior Congressionalnapproval.nAlthough such sentiments are by nonmeans universal among the Vietnamngeneration, they are surely characteristicnof it and especially of its most prominentnspokesmen. For this is a generation lackingnnot only memory of World War II,nbut, in...

The publication of these books, therefore,nis significant, if only because theyndeal sensitively with old age. In truth,nthe old have often been the subject ofnimportant literature—witness KingnLear. However, in recent decades the torrentnof fiction, poetry, drama and liberalnsociology has been centered obsessivelynon youth, particularly the radical youthnof the 60’s. In the late 70’s, as if cued...

onliness; “If there really is that secret essentialnyou down under all those layers ofnskin and bone and fluid and personality,nthe chances are that it is always and permanentlynalone. You can’t touch it.nNobody can touch it.” In her breezy way,nPromise Land lets The Grip know that henmust make a choice: either he abandonsnTom Zucold, who is...

THE MONUMENTAL LITERATURE OF DWARFSn.. . CONTINUES.nTHE^^ ROCKFORD PAPERS’ newnseries, “The Monumental Literature ofnDwarfs,” continues its critical look at contemporarynAmerican literature with essaysnon the following celebrated authors:nE. L. DOCTOROW. Is his writing annattempt to create literature or does hensimply put together attractive ideologicalntracts? Stephen Tanner takes a look at thenauthor of Ragtime.nGORE VIDAL. Is the...

man’s bullets would not hatm them.nThis belief lay behind such well-knownnIndian experiences as William HenrynHarrison’s victory at Tippecanoe Creeknand the famous Wounded Knee Massaaenof 1890.nWhether to accept new and challengingnintellectual conditions under thenpressure of changing events that one’snideas cannot accommodate, or to dancenthe Ghost Dance, is a choice many culturesnhave had to face. Today that...

-/Vlasdair Maclntyre does not see itnthat way. Cultural relativism, by denyingnthe validity of the concept man, hasnrendered ethics irrational, has made itnimpossible to have a science of ethics orneven to discuss ethical issues rationally. Isnabortion murder or freedom of choice?nHow does one decide? Passionate lettersnto the editor in newspapers reveal thenplight of modern ethical discussion....

tific” basis for the Soviet denunciationsnof American imperialism.nHowever, despite his encyclopedicngrasp of his latest subject, Avineri hasnfallen below my expectations in treatingnit. He misinterprets the ties between thenJewish people and the Western world asnegregiously as many of the current leadersnof American Jewish organizations.nWestern civilization, in both its Christiannand bourgeois aspects, is made to appearnhostile to...

and help him to ride one of his own hobbyhorses:ndiat corporate capitalism, becausenof its “internal tensions,” producednnazism and thereby the Holocaust.nUtilizing the theories of Syrkin,nAvineri predicts further anti-Semitic explosionsnas both the victims and the benefactorsnof capitalism try to find scapegoatsnfor the defects of the system.nIt must be said in fairness that Avinerindoes not serve up...

world. O’Connor advocates generosity,ncompassion and forgiveness, a sense ofntruth and honesty, and the self-knowledgenthat makes all of these values possible.nO’Connor’s collection of storiesnabout the people whom he knew in Corknoften remind one of James Joyce’s collection,nDuhliners. But O’Connor dislikednJoyce’s style, feeling that it overshadowednthe content of his work. Instead, henadopted a 19th-century model, Stendhal,nand compared...

SCRKI N TnBest-Selling Poetry & Salable RefusenE.T., The Extra-Terrestrial; Written bynMelissa Mathison; Directed by StephennSpielberg; A Universal Picture.nConan the Barbarian; Written by JohnnMilius and Oliver Stone; Directed bynJohn Milius; A Universal Release.nby Stephen MacaulaynIn the 19th century, several poetsnbegan to feel a sense of doom as the empiricalnmethod inexorably encroachednupon the realm that was once...

stretched, stalked or otherwise torturednor menaced by a malevolent creature—nhuman or not.nIn the days when the word automationnhadn’t even been coined, workingnin a factory was tough. As there wasn’t anTV set to escape into and as the 21stnAmendment wasn’t ratified until 1933,nthe pulps provided the laborer a modicumnof relief after the whistle blew. Althoughnone wouldn’t...

Ben Webster. Ellington profited, too,nfrom the collaboration of a young mannfrom Pittsburgh, Billy Strayhorn, whonhad come to him as a lyricist but whonrapidly developed into a first-class composernand arranger. The fresh talent andna new spirit of enthusiasm resulted in anstring of masterpieces, among thzmJacknthe Bear, Ko-Ko, Concerto for Cootie,nCotton Tail, Never No Lament, Bojangles,nHarlem Air...

are quite successful in reproducingnHodges, Nanton and Tizol.nWorld War II forced many changes innEllington’s personnel, but in 1955n(when Johnny Hodges returned after anfew years as a leader and Sam Woodyard,na superior drummer, was acquired) anothernexciting period began. The newnseries of innovations took the form ofnwhole albums rather than three-minutenperformances; among the more notablenwere Such Sweet...

middle class was given the hard sell.nCommon School Journal informed diencitizenry: “Our fathers encountered thenperils of the ocean, and endured the privationsnof a wilderness, nay, they sufferednand died for the great cause ofnequality …” Surely, no student ofnhistory would require any comment onnthis outright fabrication. Today the hardnsell is no softer; the deceit, lies and...

less other anti-ERA activists all over thencountry) who, if we were to believe Mr.nBroder’simplications, apparently are notnwomen. Actually, it was men, accordingnto the polls, who were, in their majority,nfirmly pro-ERA. We know little aboutnthe attitudes of children and house pets.nThe ERA went down to defeat notnbecause of its substance but because of itsnimage, failing because...

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The 19th century was the heroic age of the historian. Thentriumph of the historical method, according to one periodnsource, had “revolutionized not only the sciences of law,nmythology and language, of anthropology and sociology, but itnhas forced its way even into the domain of philosophy andnnatural science.” The concentration on primary records, the usenof the comparative...

-/jLnd so the world lurched ahead. The cultural tremornbrought on by the Great War and the rise to power ofnBolshevism, fascism and nazism shattered the faith held bynliberal historians that human progress was not only inevitablenbut also the theme which gave order to the past. The result hasnbeen sixty years of muddled scholasticism and the...

OPINIONS & Virw^TnnTimeless Apostasy ChicnGay Wilson Allen: Waldo Emerson, AnBiography; Simon & Schuster; NewnYork.nby OttoJ. Scottnseveral commentators have claimednthat Gay Wilson Allen has written thenfirst full biography of Emerson in thirtynyears. That is untrue—EdwardnWagenecht published a biography ofnEmerson in 1974; Joel Porte issuednanother in 1979- Both these volumes arenstill drifting through remainder outlets.nBeyond that, a...

her nephew drift, but also left a runningnchorus of comment and analysis on hisncourse which is more penetrating thannanything done by secular scholars sincenthen.nChanning charted the Unitarianncourse fot the Transcendentalists, but henwas not Emerson’s only exemplar. Therenis hardly a sentence of Emerson’s thatndoes not echo a previous thought, andnDr. Allen deserves credit for recognizingnthis much....

dustry.nThe Transcendentalists moved intonpolitics during the Mexican War. Likentheir imitators during the 1960’s, thenTranscendentalists saw racist motives innthe American war against Mexico, butnnot in Mexican hatred of Americans. ThenTranscendentalists spoke openly againstnthe war and heaped scorn upon thosenwho fought. One of the politicians attractednto the movement was Lincoln,nwhose speeches on the issue in the Housenof...

Six were now transformed into heroes.nEmerson thought Grant’s terms at Appomattoxnwere too lenient; he wanted tonsee the South punished.nAfter the war Emerson, Thoreau andnmost of the Transcendentalists becamenthe subjects of an outpouring of mawkishnand adulatory books, reminiscencesnand recollections. The Sage, however,nfell victim to aphasia and slipped into ansad decline. On this topic, as on the...