member of the disputed claims section,nwith a salary of two thousand francs anmonth; coming one month before hisnmarriage, the salary was enough to setnup a household in untroubled comfort.”nNot the sort of biography one expectsnfor a revolutionary, but then he was notnone.nA momentous event transformed thenlife of Leon Blum from that of the literarynfigure he...

Socialists, Communists, and the middleclassnRadicals. The Communists remainednaloof from the government, while thenRadicals were notoriously opportunistic.nBlum’s most important decision duringnthe Popular Front government wasnto remain neutral during the SpanishnCivil War, an action which sealed thenfate of the Spanish Republic. Why did henchoose this course? Lacouture suggestsnthat Blum, an ardent Anglophile, wasnswayed by the British Tory...

ings of the Frankfurt School in Germany.nThe exile of Theodor Adomo, HerbertnMarcuse, and Erich Fromm in the UnitednStates symbolized the modernization ofnAmerican radicalism as well, for herenwas a new literature for the making of annascent counterculture. But Rothmannand lichter also insist that American Jewsnhad already contributed heavily to annadversary culture in this country. Theynmade up...

for such inner rebirth and for the convictionnof “salvation” could be no morenpoignantly fulfilled than as victim of thenEstablishment’s cruelty, in short, by thenpoliceman’s club. The believer now securesnan identity rooted in self-sacrificenand moral righteousness. The puritan’snquest has been fiilfilled; “1 bleed thereforenlam.”nIxothman and Lichter provide anthought-provoking study. Their materialnis thorough to the point of...

L first met and interviewed RonaldnReagan in late August 1974 at the Washington-BaltimorenFriendship InternationalnAirport motel. During the 45-minute oncameraninterview, 1 asked Mr. Reagannwhether, in the wake of Mr. Nixon’snWatergate-related resignation, Mr. Fordnhad consulted him on the selection ofnNelson Rockefeller as Vice-President.nCandidly, he said no. Could not such anlack of consultation with the most importantnleader of...

dential campaign from collapse.nSince Mr. Reagan was sworn in asnPresident he has been plagued with thensame problem. Perhaps what is evennworse, the Reagan Administration at thenhighest level has been staffed by mennand women who have spent most of theirncareers opposing his political principlesnand program. President Reagan’s style ofngoverning, moreover, has been to giventhese appointees wide...

materials and then to disseminateninfonnatlon about whatnthey have read through the appropriatenchannels. Therefore, itnis unlikely that great writers “justnhjppen” to slip through the net,nCh^ce undoubtedly does havenan effect, but ideology is of morenimport. That is, if a writer of literaturenpresents a world view thatnis contrary or in some way atnodds to the one that is...

and justifiably distressed by thenway amoral individuals and ansecular state have prosperednSatan’s cause by publicly denigratingnreligion, the family, and evennlife itself. Also disturbed by thenpassivity of millions of professingnChristians who have done so littlenin opposition, he forcefiilly urgesnbelievers to continue and intensifyntheir overdue counterattack.nUnfortunately, in trying to depictnvirtually all secularists asnprotonazi totalitarians, he indulgesnin overly...

MUSICnCries of CacophonynJohn Cage: For the Birds; MarionnBoyars; Boston.nby Robert R.Reillyn”I have nothing to say,” John Cagencomments in his latest book. He goes onnat great length to convince his interlocutor,nDaniel Charles, that this is so innthe series of 10 interviews that comprisenFor the Birds. Ideas have artistic consequences;nthus, it is most interesting tondiscover what ideas...

thing becomes confused—it’s wonderful!”nNoise, however, is not the dissolventnjust of power, but also of order. MaxnPicard theorized compellingly in Hitlernin Ourselves that Hider was elevated tonpower mostiy because his was the loudestnscreech in an age submersed in the irrelevancenof noise. Hitler used noise as anpath to power.nIt is telling that Cage denies the existencenof the...

Bovary isn’t Flaubert’s version. Examplesnof this are legion: any translation sharesnthe same characteristic. However, annequally rational challet^ can be mountednagainst those who, say, like their Herodotusnstraight: Who in the late 20th centurynknows the same language thatnHerodotus spoke in 455 B.C.? Or, fornthat matter, which person fluent innFrench—even one who has never leftnRouen—knows the same French...

their artistic—to say nothing of theirneconomic—^value came into question.nMost of the contributors to The Forger’snArt examine this case and try to answernthe question. There is no agreement.nOne of the most interesting essays isn”Forgery and the Anthropology of Art”nby Leonard B. Meyer. Meyer considersnforgeries within the context of culture.nThis makes sense for the simple reasonnthat art...

“Persuasion At Work . . . tells how we might worknmore effectively to counter the spoilers of thenAmerican system.”nPersuasion At Work is a newsletter specificallyndesigned to keep the businessman apprisednof the important developments in thenopinion-making contest. Each month we offernan analysis of a publication, an organization orna movement pushing public attitudes one waynor the other...

questions: How has the Mexican Statenbeen able to achieve the enormousnpower it now exercises, and, in a part ofnthe world where the overnight coupnd’etat is a recognized political ploy, whynhas it taken 73 years to do it? SalvadornBorrego sees two fiindamental reasonsnwhy the socialization program has enjoyednsuch remarkable success: the unwaveringndetermination of politicalnleaders, and the...

sion. Tout comprendre c’est tout pardormernwas obviously the moral foundationnof his nonnegotiable ultimatum, asnif what he had done required not absolutionnbut imprimatur. And perhaps he isneschatologically correct: after all, hengrounded his factitious righteousness innthe reigning Zeitgeist. When Time magazinenputs on its cover one David Bowien—the supreme symbol of plastic, anomicnandrogyny, a trivial deviate whom Timencalls...

There are few things in this world more irritating than beingntold by a salesman in a men’s store that a particular style ofndress is all the fashion. I am the sort who, lacking the necessaryndiscrimination and money to be sartorially resplendent, adopts ansuperior attitude toward those who seem always to knownwhether or not stripes are...

Marxism, devoting the remainder of his life to the invention ofnan intoxicating brew of existentialism and political radicalismnand to the celebration of anti-Western revolutions in the socallednThird World. During the last pathetic years of his life, thenmost femous French intellectual since Voltaire could often benfound distributing Maoist leaflets on the streets of the feshionncapital of...

OlMMONS v^^ II WS InDiscourse on a French FarragonKarlis Racevskis: Michel Foucaultnand the Subversion of Intellect;nCornell University Press; Ithaca, NY.nCharles C. Lemert and Garth Gillan:nMichel Foucault: Social Theorynand Transgression; Columbia UniversitynPress; New York.nJonathan Culler: Roland Barthes;nOxford University Press; New York.nMaurice Blanchot: Ihe Space of Literature;nUniversity of NebraskanPress; Lincoln, NE.nby Gary S. VasilashnX o get things...

1 o return to the first sentence. Thenfirst thing that should be noted is the usenof “right foot” instead of “left foot.”nFoucault tends to delve into (around?)nsubjects that are not widely noted andndiscussed because they are assumed tonbe of little import in the larger schemenof things; he has, it is clear, been influencednby the Annates’...

jective (e.g., Johnson, according tonBoswell, on Rousseau: “Rousseau, Sir, isna very bad man. I would sooner sign ansentence for his transportation, than thatnof any felon who has gone from the OldnBailey these many years. Yes, 1 should likento have him work in the plantations”).nJohnson is a support of the structure ofnWestern civilization. Writes Racevskis,n”Foucault ....

come alive, primarily because he seemsnto capture so accurately the various idioms.nThe slang, sarcasm, profanity, andnIrish intonations have the stamp of authenticitynand are woven into engagingncharacterization and narrative. He conveysna period flavor by including thenmovies and songs of the era, and he recreatesnold neighborhoods and city landmarksnwith an obvious tincture of nostalgia.nAny prominent figure associatednwith...

is the main character in Ironweed Thisnthird novel is set in the same time andnplace as the second; the same backgroundnevents and characters appear in both.nFrancis is a bum whose life is a pattern ofndeath and flight. As a talented young baseballnplayer, he was involved in a troUeynstrike and killed a man by using his...

There is an overt antagonism towardnmoralism. Religion has a prominent placenbecause most of the characters are IrishnCatholics, but it is treated as a culturalnphenomenon of essentially negativenconsequence. The question of moral responsibilitynis toyed with, but the impressionnleft is that the lives of men andnwomen are largely determined by forcesnoutside their control. There are passagesnnear the...

errors.” Food-stamp regulations were sonlax that overpayments to recipients whonhad conveniently “forgotten” to tell thenwelfare office some fact relevant to theirnbenefit level proved uncollectible. Asnone “welfare rights” group advised itsnclients, ‘Tou only have to pay back then[illegally acquired] stamps if you wantnto.” Such a situation was tailor-made fornfraud and abuse.nIn this milieu, welfare recipientsnevolved into...

morality” but as one “of economic andnsocial well-being.” She argues that then”answers” to her new family agenda “lienin the whole range of the social, physical,nand biomedical sciences.” Normativenvalues, religious traditions, and ethicalnteachings are curiously ignored.nAn truth, public life stands at the mercynof private life. When the latter falters,nthere is little that govermnents can do tonset...

talists; he would have cheered them on.nHe would have also cautioned themnagainst believing that cleaning up thenBay would absolve them of their sins. Henmight have turned in at an art gallerynqua flophouse and would have despairednthat aiter all this time the decadents ofnthe fin de siecle still rule the arts. PursuingnWells into the countryside, aroundnMill...

Liberalism, which today is called conservatism,nis apolitical creed. Chesterton hadnfew illusions about the temporality ofnpolitical beliels. They were things thatncould be defended, like the Cross, butnwhich it was not always the privilege ofnmen to have as they wanted them. TonChesterton the ideal of free men rulingntheir own fete was bound up with theirnpossession of property....

nothing was at stake. He states that WorldnWar 11 “all but wrecked Western civilizationnfor no purpose.” In his discussion ofnClausewitz, he mentions that the NapoleonicnWars were useless. This is not annew outlook for Powers. In his earliernbook The Man Who Kept the Secrets:nRichard Helms and the CIA (for whichnhe won a Pulitzer), he dismisses the...

tional to fight a war, but once a war begins,nrational calculations will governnoperations. He also believes that bothnsides would hold back a reserve whichnwould be the basis for exercising powernin the postwar world. This implies thensurvival of state and society, though probablynunder military rule.nUnfortunately, his views are not alwaysnconsistent. This is largely due tonthe feet...

working of society against movements fornartificial equality. Right-libertarians defendnthe freedom to be unequal (meaningnbetter) against state power thatncurbs achievement, while left-libertariansncall for equality of status for those whonbehave in unequal (meaning morally inferior)nways. Though both groups ofnlibertarians claim to be individualists,nthey attempt to aflfect the status of thosenthey champion in different ways. Thusnconservatives and right-libertarians...

Give your favoritentW*B«R^ »na gift subscription tonyour favoriten<«njournal 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...

members never made it back for interviews.nSixty-five others were found bynNewsweek or contacted the magazinenthemselves after an article on their fellownsoldiers had appeared. These men talkednat considerable length, largely becausenin the decade between their return andnxhe Newsweek reporters’ arrival, no onenelse seemed interested in listening.nAs if in a state of national amnesia,nAjnerican citizens and leaders...

tween the isolated incidents of real valor,nthere is little to admire either in thencharacter of those who served or in theirnconduct since their service. Many ofnthese men are still in flight from theirnmemories of the war, and they are readynto blame either the Army or their countrynfor what Vietnam did to them. Fewnseem willing to...

ern ideology: the Party. There can be noncompromise, and anyone who does notntoe the radical feminist line is the Enemy;nsuch “so-called feminism… cannot combatnantifeminism because it has incorporatednit.” Like Marx, Dworkin is not clearnabout what comes after the revolution,nwhich will apparently be brought aboutnby such conventional means as the EqualnRights T^mendment, changes in marriagenlaw, and...

derstanding of what makes people tickn(psychology), but instead a politicalncommitment to human liberation.”nThe overall impact of Marxist thoughtnhas been to solidify and institutionalizenthe left’s revolutionary animus. The continuingncontradiction in Marxism—nwhich the contributors to The Left Academynnote with varying shades of anxietyn—is that its theorists (drawn from thenmiddle class) have no effect on the supposedlynrevolutionary working...

arranged a sqjaration between theaternand its metaphysical origins, with notncompletely satisfactory results. Over thencourse of time, theater has waffled backnand forth between its ritualistic originsnand the desires of its promoters to createna theater suitable for the moment.nWhether reaching back to its religiousnpast, or storming the parapets of indifferencenfor the latest cause celebre, theaternhas always been...

Art and EgotismnIan Hamilton: Robert Lowell: AnBiography; Random House; NewnYork.nl111jam Fifield: In Search ofGenitis;nWilliam Morrow; New York.nby Robert C. SteensmanWhen the definitive history of 20thcenturynAmerican poetry is eventuallynwritten, the work of Robert Lowell willnprobably occupy a prominent place innthe discussion. From the appearance ofnhis first volume, Land of Unlikenessn(1944), to his last, The Dolphin (1973),nLowell...

mense, and deliberate derangement ofnall the senses.” Plath’s poetry was a kindnof fever chart which traced the course ofnher own psychic dissolution, and Sexton’snmorbid concern with drugs, abortion,nsuicide, and menstruation showed theninfluence of an unstable master upon hisnapprentices, who seemed to be asking,nin lines from one of Lowell’s last poems,n”Sufferer, how can you help me,/...

“Persuasion At Work . . . tells how we might worknmore effectively to counter the spoilers of thenAmerican system.”n,rs^np^s^ isionnPersuasion At Work is a newslottor specificallyndesigned to keep the businessman apprisednof the important developments in thenopinion-making contust. Each month we offernan analysis of a publication, an organization orna movement pushing public attitudes one waynor the...

Amazon AdventuresnPaule Marshall: Praisesongfor thenWidow; G. P. Putnam’s Sons; NewnYork.nSusan Monsky: Midnight Suppers;nHoughton Mifflin; Boston.nRebecca Hill: Blue Rise; WilliamnMorrow; New York.nby Diane Long Hoevelern1 hese three novels reveal both hownfar the “woman’s novel” has come, andnyet how &r it has to go before it speaksnto readers about universal concerns.nEach of these novels is primarily concernednwith...

JNow these brief plot summaries donnot do justice to the undeniable art:istrynthat these novels possess. The narrativenvoice in each is clear, engaging, andnsu^estive of the complex nuances ofnhuman emotion. But the depiction ofnthe women themselves, as heroines ornas secondary characters, causes one tonmarvel at each w^oman’s naivete. Forninstance Marshall’s heroine mourns, in anlong dream-memory sequence,...

sporadic afifair. Is this afl&ir a matter ofnconvenience or great love? One is forcednto conclude that human beings have anway of justifying their needs in such anway that they can accept their own duplicityn(others have gone over this samenterrain very thoroughly before). Anwoman is lonely, feels neglected by hernhusband and jealous of his first wife,...

personal appearance, one can’t help butnthink that the only interesting thing aboutnany of these events is the fact that Wongnthinks the reader would be interested innthem. Even Wong’s style is unimaginative,noverworking the simple present to describenpast events:nAfter a week in Cincinnati to pack mynthings and say my goodbyes, I go tonChicago to begin my first...

new-fangled songs, and wish with everythingnin me that someone wouldngive her back her ‘Ave Maria’ and hern’Tis the Month of Our Mother.’ Rememberingnmy days in the choir, Inwish with everything in me that Incould hear again a Latin Mass impeccablynsung, or a crystal-clearnSightless PerceiversnThe Secular Mind: Transformationsnof Faith in Modem Europe;nEdited by W. Warren W^ar;...

fessor Wagar recognizes modem Westemnman’s persistent vision of the emergencenof a state of moral perfection onnearth; he seems to be unaware that EricnVoegelin, the political philosopher, hasnalready dealt with the phenomenon, callingnthe attempt to bring about such anstate an act of rebellion against God.nVoegelin labeled the attempt “gnostic,”nand showed how, carried to its ultimatenextreme, it...

throne more than a century afternJohn’s death, the restrictionsnupon his governance -were stillnslight. No senate hearings investigatednor ever tried to restrainnhim when he repeatedly brokentreaties, repudiated debts, circulatedndeceptive piopa^nda amongnhis own people, manipulated hisnlords, seduced (perhaps raped ) annoblewoman, permitted fti^tfiilnmistreatment of French villagers,nand sacrificed hundreds of hisnsubjects’ lives to his vaingloriousnforeign ambitions.nTrue, as he...

S( ui;i:nPaying Dues and Eating Free LunchnReturn of the Jedi; Written bynLawrence Kasdan and Geotge Lucas;nDirected by Richard Marquand; 20thnCentury Fox.nThe King of Comedy, Written by PaulnD. Zimmerman; Directed by MartinnScorsese; 20th Century Fox.nby Stephen Macaulayn”Let’s face it, we made a film for children.”nSo said Mark Hamill, betternknown to millions as Luke Skywalker, tona reporter....

l’lIH>l k.llfll1l t I.’nLetter from Washington: Politics & Culturenby Edward J. LynchnMeridian House International, thenWashington mansion selected by Thenhigersoll Foundation and The RockfordnInstitute to unveil the T. S. Eliot Awardnfor Creative Writing and the Richard M.nWeaver Award for Scholarly Letters, embodiesnmany of the paradoxes central tonthe current decade. Located in a city ofnstraight lines and...

thought to the possible and desirablenlines of development. Somehow, thenCommon Market is not able to providenthe solid foundation that the Churchnonce did for the medieval universities. Itndoes not have a central idea, a coordinationnof human endeavors under a transcendentalnreality; it does not even haventhe vision of a cultural synthesis. It triesnto accommodate pluralism, to copy...

ment,” as K H. Ruppel commented. Thenconclusion shows signs of the “pantonal”nworld of composition, particularlynin the handling of orchestral texturesnand the use oi Sprechstimme, whichnSchoenberg had already begun to use.nThe quiet opening oiGurrelieder, a heritagenfrom Wagner and Bruckner, is ancharacteristic that appears frequentlynin Schoenberg’s pan-tonal/expressionistnand dodecaphonic music.nThe Five Pieces for Orchestra, despitenits pan-tonality—that is, “a...