companion, and as it gradually grew decrepitnI listened to its tremors with andesolated tenderness, even with tears innmy eyes.” When he attempted to simplifynhis style, he was distressed to find thatn”The threat of ti^e faux naifloomcd overnthe pages like a leer.” No reviewer couldnprovide a more accurate description ofnthe tone of Voices.nThis memoir should have...

away a living fragment, to hide away anhuman relic, like the fingernail of a saintnThat explanation seems to fit Prokosch’sndescription of his journey throu^nlife as a search for the “artist as a hero, asnan enigma, as a martyr, and finally as anSegment of humanity.” I remain dubious,nhowever, about his description ofnthe enterprise. William H. Pritchard...

initially or disrupts it along the way, andnwhich therefore virtually guarantees thatnthe projected work of art will fail. Let usnconsider the case of the novelist again.nIdeally speaking, a novelist, at any pointnduring the long, arduous process ofnwriting a novel, is engaged in his literarynlabors for the sake of the novel. He isnwriting a novel for...

Give your favoritena gift subscription tonyour favoritenjournal of opinion.nAha! The perfect gift for that friend whonshares your outlook—and ought to be enjoyingnCHRONICLES OF CULTURE.nHere’s your chance to provide a gift thatnengages, enrages, challenges, piques, posits,nreviews, critiques, essays and observes—in andecidedly non-liberal manner.nThe perfect match: your friend and thennext 12 monthly issues of CHRONICLES OFnCULTURE.nAnd we’ve...

better artist than is F;iirbaims. There isnsomething unmistal Add to Favorites

linguistic representations of the worldnand thus make the world different fromnwhat it was previously. This should notnbe surprising. Still, most people continuento believe that langu^e merely providesna way of transcribing reality, not of constructingnit When societies act as thoughn”transcription” were true, they becomenstatic and new innovations or technologiesnfor both the physical and behavioralnspheres of existence...

ity. Nihilism and the unleashing of hatrednas the dominant responses to experiencenserved to eliminate personal confidencenin individual existence; not unexpectedly,nPeikoff discovers Freud and his followersnat the center of this antiperson,nantivalue morass.nThe half-truths that make such a viewnappealing must be faced squarely; however,nPeikofiFs credibility slips when henbecomes swept up in his own rhetoricalnexcesses which manhandle the...

ing chapter when Peikoflf finally presentsnus with the philosophical solution tornAmerica: Ayn Rand’s “objectivism.”nPeikofiPs remarks become aphoristic, asnthough they were the irrefutable wisdomsnof some Eastern mystic. Logicalncontradictions thus need not be addressed.nAlthough the central role innhuman af&irs of ethics and values is properlynacknowledged, Peikoflf provides nonprogram for discovering the origins ofnthose ethics and values and...

“redeemed” inherit Beulah land, wherenall passionately held imaginative visionsn—even contrary ones—^are equally true.nAs one of the very few contemporarynscientists who read Blake, Peter Medawarnadmires the beauty of Blake’s verse, butndetests the illogic and subjectivity of hisnepistemology. (For Urizen, beauty is notntruth.) Himself a Nobel laureate in medicine.nDr. Medawar lucidly answers thenantiscientific “literary propaganda of thenRomantics”...

reasonable people,” will be our guide.nPrecisely what “natural” sense does henhave in mind? That which guides the verynnatural aborigines of Borneo or theirncounterparts in California communes?nOne suspects that instead he has in mindnthe very Mwnatural sense inculcated bynJudeo-Christian culture, but, if so, he isnphilosophically cheating. He is cheating,ntoo, when he informs the reader thatnrecognizing the...

speak No EvilnMichael Straight: J^terLong Silence;nW. W. Norton; New York.nby John E. HaynesnAn After Long Silence Michael Straightnreveals that he was a member of a communistncell and cooperated with a Sovietnespion^e network while working fornthe U.S. government. These revelationsncaused a brief stir in the media whennStraight’s memoir appeared becausenStraight’s socially prominent familynfounded and owned The...

lieve to be innocent of the charges madenagainst them.” In the next issue a NewnRepublic story entitled “Somebody isnLying” said that “it seems certain thatneither Elizabeth Bentley and WhittakernChambers were perjuring themselvesnon a monumental scale, or that this wasntrue of many of those who they accusednof being members of a Communist espionagensystem before and during...

Miller did not assert that Hiss was completelyncandid in his testimony and allowednthat the physical evidence wasndiflScult to explain.nThe Hiss case was a major politicalncontroversy and the occasion for particularlynbitter debates between anticommunistnliberals and their Popular Frontnopponents. Although many liberals camento accept Hiss’s guilt, a large segment ofnAmerican liberalism insisted (and stiUninsists) on Hiss’s innocence....

the various attributes contributing tonsuccess in the battles—strategy, armaments,ntactics, manpower—^virtue is conspicuouslynabsent. The good guys donnot necessarily win battles, contrary tonthe myriad Hollywood movies on WorldnWar II in which a few nice Americans inevitablyndefeat innumerable nasty nazis.nContrary to the myth of virtue triumphantn(e.g., during the Vietnam War, it wasncommonly maintained that the combatnsuperiority of North...

that were this the case, the “peace” movement,n”concerned” scientists, bishops,nand news commentators would soonnbegin to decry the inhumanity of thesensophisticated nonnuclear weapons (afternall, they do kill people) and demand theirnelimination.nIt would seem that the West has nownbecome too humane to engage successfullynin warfare, a savage business innwhich the most brutal tend to reign supreme.nFor over...

an excellent risk for release on his ownnrecognizance, a reform Feeley advocates.nRegarding the right to a speedy trial,nFeeley rightly (and briefly) points outnthat delay benefits defendants, many ofnwhom blatantly and deliberately thrownroadblocks into the proceedings andnthen claim a violation of their rights. It isnnot, of course, a speedy trial the defendantnwants when he asserts this...

the necessary price of such justice.nIn practice, though, it is difficult tonknow what effects the implementationnof his proposals would have. As Feeleynnoted, the system has a way of creativelynreverting to old habits, and while Morris’snproposals (which he urges on the legislaturesnrather than the courts) wouldnmake the process logically consistent,nhow dififerentiy the public and the convictednwould...

action a man, preferably an older mannand even more preferably a sedate lather,nwill find himself in a woman’s clothes, ornbetter, undergarments or, better yet, annun’s garb.” Approvingly, Mr. Bermelntells US: “At this the audience will shriek,nrather than laugh, especially the marriednwomen.” The author also ^predates thenoutrageousness of Buck Henry’s film ThenFirst Family in which the...

how little is actually known aboutnthe relationships between authorsnand books and books andnreaders. Why does an authornwrite a particular book? Is it becausenhe has something to say; ifnso, does he think that anybody isninclined to listen? Or does thenauthor look at book-writing as annoccupation; if so, then would henbe inclined to write anything butna grocery-store...

sence of any ideological soapboxesnor lurid sensationalism,nMindspell can depend on escapingnthat fate. DnFrom the World of RodericknHaig-Brown: Writings andnReflections; Edited by Valerie Haig-nBrown; University of Washington Press;nSeattle.nCanada is a marvelous country,nPierre Trudeau—to saynnothing of Ma^e—notwithstanding.nIts beer is excellent;nToronto is certainly one of thenbest cities in North America; itsnscenery—from the Atlantic to thenPacific—is astonishing. More importantiy,nit...

volve “the phantasy of self as a pure perceivingnbeing,” but the viewer must alsondraw a line between itself (more aboutnthe neuter form anon) and the object sonthat it can be a voyeur. On this subjectnEllis says, “Voyeurism implies the powernof the spectator over what is seen. Notnthe power to change it, but the knowledgenthat the...

number of teenage mothers—^and I meannthe pre- 18-year-olds, which makes thesenmothers, by legal definition, childrennthemselves—is at an all-time high. Mrs.nWerner proclaims that a child’s “own”nmother is the best mother, but how doesna child successfully raise another child?nOn the other hand, there are loving, caringnadults who are unable to have theirnown biological children, who make herculeannefforts...

totalitarian tool that can be used to minimizenhis power and influence must benput into operation. Feminism is a totalitariannmovement easily disguised as anlofty liberationist proposition. It thusngets sheepish, imbecilic support fromnthe liberal cultural powers that be. WhynPresident Reagan is unable to pinpointnand expose once and forever this brutalntwisting of basic notions is beyond ourncomprehension. Confrontation...

99n”The center of a literary and political squall.n— The New York Timesn”An extraordinarily readable journal of ideas.”n— FortunenOleg Prokofiev on his father’s music • A. L.nRowse on Edmund Wilson • Leonid Pasternalcnon the Pasternak family • The diaries of RoynFuller • Malcolm Cormack on the art of GeorgenStubbs • E. M. Cioran on himself’ Lewis...

nn5«>?>Hnonnn?rni-tnCLnOJn4i^ trnfiin2 on§-&nt^’ on t|£,nCN^ 5-n*-tn’— ft) r-n1—‘ fD fB =.nft)nOn Add to Favorites

Recently a friend shocked his academic peers. He abjurednhis tenured security and left the academic sanctuary: after 15nyears of university existence, he had had enough. He contendednthat the environment he initially sought—^the community ofnscholars, the pipe and tweed—^no longer existed. He chargednthat the university had internalized the grossest values of bignbusiness without their compensating virtues....

xmenlerican religion, too, has succumbed to the numbersngame. The most popular and “successM” denominations arenthose most impressed by quantification. They exclaim fromnthe church tops their impressive figures on attendance, conversion,nand building constructioa Dial a prayer and be countednfor Jesus! The Saturday religious pages of most newspapers arenoften, at best, tasteless, fronically, a society unrivaled in...

()P[MOS & Vll-VVS inThe X-Rated WeaponnSam Cohen: The Truth About thenNeutron Bomb: The Inventor of thenBomb Speaks Out; X^llUam Morrow;nNew York.nby Will MorriseyntCr*n1 his book marks the first time an’nuclear hawk’ has defected from thenAmerican nuclear establishment,” exclaimsnthe dust jacket. One expects anothern”What have I done?” lament, guaranteednto make its author a celebrity onnthe church...

way, by means of national technicalnverification, that such an agreementncan be monitored.nSeismic sensors can detect the undergroundntesting of warheads that explodenby nuclear fission; they cannot detectnthe much smaller explosions producednby nuclear fusion in neutron warheads.nOnce again, this has obvious implicationsnfor any nuclear-arms treaty.nPresident Re^an ordered the productionnof neutron warheads, but deferredntheir deployment in Europe untQ...

Foppish FictionnEd McClanahan: The Natural Man;nFarrar, Straus & Giroux; New York.nTodd McEwen: Fisher’s Hornpipe;nHarper & Row; New York.nKelly Cherry: In the ‘Wink of an Eye;nHarcourt Brace Jovanovich; SannDiego.nby Robert F. GearynWhat is wrong with contemporarynfiction? A reading of this trio of comicnnovels brings to mind a couple of thenmany diagnoses. Some years back LionelnTrilling warned...

them is as much as anything else what itnmeans to be human. Harry learns thisnexperientially as he finds unsuspectedndepths in the people who surround him.nIt is the achievement of The Natural Mannto convey so much sense amid so muchndelicious fun.nAn air of nostalgia, though not of ancheaply sentimental sort, pervadesnMcClanahan’s novel. The world of Needmore,nthe...

GigolojusticenSince 1976 when the (;;ilifornia SupremenC^lourt established the conimunitypropcrt)nrigJits of couples who live togetliernwitli a nonmarital “contract,” thenfinancial security of mistresses hits beennbountifully assured. Now, in the name ofnevenliandedness, C^alitbrnia’s generousnjudicial system has extended the samengracious retirement benefits to their malencounterparts. Recently a Santa Monicancourt awarded S125,000 to British actornTrevor Hook for services rendered tonEsther...

actually fits neatly a politics of selfindulgentnfantasy in which even revolutionn(or, more precisely, revolutionarynattitudinizing) forms but another marknof one’s supposedly superior sensibility.nIn the Wink of an Eye presupposes thenmind-set, so common in academia, thatnjust knows that the United States is corrupt,nthat leftist terrorists are fundamentallynon the side of right, and similarnaxioms of the higher political...

while Wallace and his views were quietlyninterred in scholarly footnotes.nThe consequences have been awfiil.nBestial and inhuman acts gained a quasiscientificnjustification, as “survival of thenfittest” became the excuse for the mostnrapacious and predatory behavior. Ignorednwas the feet that our very use ofnthe word inhuman and the total absencenof analogs (tncanine? insimian? tnfeltne?)ntestifies to man’s distinctivelynmoral character....

knew (as many no-nuke partisans nowndo not) that temporal existence is notnthe supreme human good and that thereforendeath is not the worst evil, many acceptedntheir cruel fete with dignified resignatioanBut none expressed gratitude tonthose who labeled, treated, and slaughterednthem as animals. They wanted tonlive, and for distinctively human reasons.nHints as to the character of this...

dwarfe the distortions created by anynother activity.nOlson is a past president of the PublicnChoice Society, an organ of a particularnschool of thought to which economistsnincluding James Buchanan, RichardnMcKenzie, and Gordon Tullock belong.nLike most members of any school, Olsonnmakes the mistake of trying to explainntoo much with one variable. He attacksnother major schools: the Classical (equilibrium)nschool...

of these regions. To test Olson’s logic,nconsider its reverse. Would a Southernnvictory in the Civil War have weakenednresistance to unions or the welfare state?nWould a London Terror have improvednEngland’s performance in the 1800’s? Innrecent times it has not been conservatismnbut radical change which has producednnegative impacts on the economy—andnon society.nOlson should have considered morenthan just...

suffer cuts.nGoldman pays tribute to the manynspontaneous and automatic decisionsnthat are made in a market economy andnMWch produce its flexibility and responsivenessnto consumer demands. However,nit is not clear that Goldman wouldnreject central plarming if it would dropnCentral planning is handicapped evennfiirther in an era of technological revolution.nInnovation is by nature impossiblento “plan” because it rests...

cerpting what purports to be a seriousnpiece of literature. With this in mind,nmagazine publishers pander to a pantingnpublic.nThe commerciali2ation of the artistnand his art is something that AlfrednStieglitz abhorred and fought againstnthroughout his life. Stieglitz insisted onnthe intrinsic value of amateurism, on artnfor art’s sake. He refiised to fiinction as andealer in the ordinary sense...

emptor: If the expensive price tag doesnnot discourage, the vacuous contentsnshould. Sue Davidson Low^e has no lacknof affection or respect for her Uncle Alnand says so herself:nIt was not until 1932 or 1933, when Inwas ten or eleven years old, that 1 begannto sense the deep respect in which henTales of the UnknownnHoward Gardner: Art,...

Give your favoritenNON-LIBERA^na gift subscription tonyour favoritenjournal of opinion.nAha! The perfect gift for that friend whonshares your outlook—and ought to be enjoyingnCHRONICLES OF CULTURE.nHere’s your chance to provide a gift thatnengages, enrages, challenges, piques, posits,nreviews, critiques, essays and observes—in andecidedly non-libersd manner.nThe perfect match: your friend and thennext 12 monthly issues of CHRONICLES OFnCULTURE.nAnd we’ve...

ogists, under the guise of a scientific quest,nstruggling to explore perhaps the greatestnmystery of human nature: that of thencreative imaginatioa Not that we weren’tnwarned. In 1917, Oswald Spengler, innThe Decline of the West, described thenthreat of the scientific attitude:nReason, system and comprehensionnkill as they ‘cognize.’ That which isncognized becomes a rigid object, capablenof measurement and...

pulse perhaps most distinctively sets usnapart from the lower forms. As Longernhas so poetically expressed her insight,n”Of all bom creatures, man is the otilynone that cannot live by bread alone.”nvFardner is especially interesting innhis discussions of the actual creative expressions,nboth linguistic and visual, ofnchildren. The developmental tendencyntoward realism in both perceptions andncreations presents a uniquely...

As a psychologist, Gardner is strangelynsilent on two modern figures whonwould seem to be indispensable to hisnstudy. Sigmund Freud is mentioned onlyncasually and in passing; Carl Jung is notnalluded to by name at all. Freud’s notionnof the neurotic foundation of art is weUnknown, if not notorious, and is understandablynrepugnant to Gardner’s cognitivendiscipline. Jimg, though, with...

ened, sometimes out of control. Morrisngives her a device that works well bothnto provide humor and to reveal essentialncharacter—^an unexpected undercuttingnor change of direction at the end of anparagraph or the begiiming of the next:n”If my life with Mark was one of simple,nchangeless passion, my life after he leftnme became equally simple—a. rathernstraightforward and primitive...

responsible. Yes, I know that sexual encounternhas become the chief means ofnexpressing freedom and control of one’snlife, of finding “meaning,” even simplenadventure, in a world that seems increasinglynregimented and senseless. And Inknow that every “with it” author and directornmust show us this in wonderfulndetail. But there is a terrible irony, unrecognizednby Wachtel or Morris, innshowing...

countries; it is the Russians, not theirnneighbors, who have formed the empirenthat has been dominating Eastern Europenfor centuries. Nor have Russians exhibitednxenophobic or inferiority “symptoms”nto a greater extent than othernpeoples. Eighteenth- and 19th-centurynRussia, with its cosmopolitan Frenchspeakingnaristocracy and burning interestnin things Western European, was not ansociety dominated by fear of or isolationnfrom the West. The...

makes as little sense as Barraclough’snview of prewar society. World War Inbegan between the eastern- and central-nEuropean empires over a crisis in thenBalkans that affected the European powernbalance; the Moroccan problem, likenevery other colonial issue between thenGreat Powers from 1815 to 1914, wasnresolved by compromise. Had coloniesnand the underdeveloped world beennthe decisive issue before World...

(a contradiction in terms), it is anothernexample of the search for truth throughninauthentic means. Complexity is reducednto the editor’s and producer’snpredilections. And to make mattersnworse, 60 AfOTMtes’producer Don Hewittnadopts the self-righteous stance that hisnis the “only” position. When confrontednwith several examples of omission andncommission on his programs, Mr. Hewittnrefused to apologize, maintaining thatnthese were programs...

problems in television news that are directlynrelated to the medium. But therenare also distortions that result from thentraining and background of televisionnjournalists. Their training at many universitiesnand as apprentices at newspapersnand television stations is an exercise innmimicking media heroes. If Mike Wallacenis contentious, young journalists believenthat is the appropriate style for an interviewer.nHow else can...