COMMENDABLESnOn Politics and PoetrynRussell Kirk: Reclaiming a Patrimony;nThe Heritage Foundation;nWashington, D.C.nSince publishing his landmarknwork The ConservativenMind in 1953, Dr. Russell Kirknhas done so much through hisnwriting, editing, and lecturingnto define and enrich the conservativenintellectual movementnthat any work appearing undernhis authorship commandsnnotice. In the case oiRec/aimingna Patrimony such attention isnwell rewarded. This is not, ofncourse, to...

SCREENnA Lark from the Hollywood HillsnMy Favorite Year; Written by DennisnPalumbo; Directed by Richard Benjamin;nMGM.nWhen television became a viablencommercial medium, there was justifiablenconcern in Hollywood. The primarynfear was that movie audiencesnwould desert the palace aisles for thencomfort of their living rooms. Compoundingnthings for the then-shrinkingnmoguls was the 1949 Supreme Court decisionnthat companies which made filmsndidn’t...

JOIRNMISM InScurvy Self-RighteousnessnIn an editorial in The Nation we cannread:nIsrael describes itself as a democracynand should be judged by the standardsnof a democracy.nNotice, please, the predicate “describesnitself.” In liberal newspeak, of which ThenNation is one of the main codifiers, andemocracy that elects a nationalist conservativengovernment is not really a democracy.nBut what about standards? ThenNation has...

culture holds dear are much closer to those held by the people atnlarge than those of the central culture.nElectoral politics is more closely tied to the peripheral culturenthan to the central one, because electoral campaigns are conductednover the length and breadth of the nation, withnsubstantial direct contact between representative and constituent.nThe communication channels between representativenand...

cesses. That he now favors a morenmoderate course of action is his own affair,nbut I doubt that party regulars willnbe content to be co-opted by the leftnwing of the Democratic Party.nWilliam Barrett’s story takes upnwhere Isserman’s leaves off—at the endnof World War II, when, as a young mannhome from the European theater, he wasnintroduced into...

the art? Where is the metaphysics?nThese characters, and presumablyntheir authors as well, are more interestednin man’s cash assets than innhis bargaining with eternity.nShe adds for die sake of contrast, “TonBeckett characters, Borges characters,nNabokov characters, society does not exist,”nand, “the jolly picaros, andnCalvino’sCosimo … and the various axolods,ndinosaurs, cows, etc., which I havenmentioned [as examples of...

Beckett’s texts do span various styles,nthere’s something suspect about Ms.nDillard’s pronouncements.nTheoretically, Ms. Dillard is a seriousncritic: she is a novelist and a PuUtzer Prizenwinner in the nonfiaion category. Shenmakes a call for serious criticism, whichnshe thinks will save fiction from then”large and paying audience whose tastesnserve to keep it traditional”—to revivendead horses. She is most...

quiturs and paradoxes, produced a bodynof writing structured on strong convictions,nbut he also wrote for fiin as well asnto make a point in an unexpected way.nThe moving force behind WiUs’s writingnseems to be an insatiable quest for personalnstatus, which gives his work ansmart-alecky tone that is totally lackingnin Chesterton. Another possibility is thatnWills, as a...

eign policy starts as a moral embarrassmentnand becomes a psychological impossibility.nThis attitude has grownnstronger in the last 20 years with thentrauma of Vietnam, which may explainnwhy no JFK admirer has come forward tondefend him. How could they: the samenpeople who supported JFK now claimnthat Reagan’s budget provides too manynguns and not enough butter. JFK’s anticommunismn(“we...

That one’s mind is closed just at the point where he thinks itnis most open is a lesson that can be learned from baseball as wellnas from epistemology. This verity seems to include higher educationn, for the archetype of this fact is the liberal professor who,nwhile formally avowing standards of fair play and freedom ofnspeech,...

blinkered. This takes the form of ignoring evidence, some of itnobvious and hard to ignore, some of it subtle and easy to miss.nFor a long time, officials ignored the rising rate of violent crimen—the increase in murder, robbery, rape, muggings, and assaultsnnot registering on the Richter scale of liberal sensitivity.nThe reason they ignored the crime...

OPINIONS & VIEWSnThe Prevaricative Left & Homemade FascismnJoseph Conlin: The Troubles: A JaundicednGlance Back at the Movement ofnthe 60’s; Franklin Watts; New York.nAlan Brinkley: Voices of Protest: HueynLong, Father Coughlin and the GreatnDepression; Alfred A. Knopf; NewnYork.nby Bryce Christensennvynce upon a time, before such lowtechnsoporifics became passe, mothersnused to beguile young offspring with anfable about...

In a book otherwise filled with the liesnof the left, why then is Conlin so ruthlesslynhonest in debunking the myth of then”beautiful 60’s”? It seems suspicious.nAnd it is. Conlin’s real intent is not to exposenthe lies of the left, but to sanitizenthem. Quite simply, Conlin is repellednby the people who made up the 60’snmovement. This...

used the word to characterize Huey Longnand Father Coughlin, the figures examinednby Alan Brinkley in Voices of Protest.nOne might therefore suppose thatnthey were right-wing radicals. They werenradicals, certainly, but they were definitelynnot of the right. In his thorough,npainstakingly researched book, Brinkleynnot only attempts to acquit Long andnCoughlin of fascism, but he also (thoughnprobably unintentionally) exposes...

Coughlin expressed sympathy (albeitnqualified and ambiguous) for socialism.nIndeed, in a fascinating analysis of theirnsupporters, Brinkley discovers that thenpeople who followed Long and Coughlinnwere the same sort of people who foundnprogressive and socialist politics appealing.nLeftist politicians who denouncednLong and Coughlin as fascists, believingnthat both they and their followers werenintellectually superior to such demagogues,nmade the same discovery—tontheir...

generalizations about ‘young writers’ orn’new writing’ are also true of me.” Innother words, the book is slightly taintednwith the flavor of sour grapes. He contendsnthat there is a mob that controlsnwhat’s reviewed, promoted, and thusnread. These people, or mobsters, don’tnshare his interests in, say, the late “greatnpolyartist of modernism” L. Moholy-nNagy (so Kostelanetz calls him...

V-ilearly, everyone in this post-nEinstein world Icnows that all things arenrelative and that a novel is a fiction, ancounterfeit of life. Things, however, arennot what they seem. Novelists who creatensurfiction or otherwise break rules are—ifnthey are recognized at all by any but theirnpeers—typically dismissed as being experimental,nsomething only to benbothered with by academics. But I...

Southerners, etc.—are decidedly notnmainstream: because the stream is fednfrom the polluted spring in New YorknCity. The reigning publishing housesnand journals in that city decide who’snwho: who should be read, who isn’tnheard about. For example, Gore Vidaln(published by Random House) inevitablynappears blazoned on the cover of thenNew York Review of Books when henwrites for it. Kurt...

be for the whole human race to be wipednout rather than just the combatant countries.nCertainly total extinction is worsenthan a mere catastrophe, but 1 suspectnthat anyone who was undeterred by thendestruction of Eurasia and North Americanwould not be much moved by a threatnto the whole race.nWhile Schell has raised a seriousnissue, his analysis of nuclear...

vation was still at work. Only ‘selfless’nreason could ever entertain the thoughtnof self-extinction.”nActually, the problem is not the merenexistence of the bomb. If the wholenworld were run by a stable, democraticnworld government, who would worry ifnits forces commanded nuclear weapons?nEven short of that Utopia, there is plentynof evidence to suggest that the threat ofnnuclear war...

threaten the use of nuclear weapons onlynwith o//r permission: “At least this is truenfor the democracies. We do not knownwhat the peoples of the totalitariannstates, including the people of the SovietnUnion, may want. They are locked innsilence by their government. In these circumstances,npublic opinion in the freencountries would have to represent publicnopinion in all countries,...

VTreeks of the Byzantine period—nthe millennium stretching roughly fromnJustinian down to the fall of Constantinoplenin 1453—labored under a doublenhandicap: not only was the literaturen”stultified” by the language and formsnof Athens (dead for over a thousandnyears), but their political life was overshadowednby the Roman past (they evenncalled themselves Romans). Toynbee, itnmust be said, is at home...

begins with his death, this is still a novelnabout Alexander. His successors arenhaunted by the memory of their greatnleader, whose corpse is so significant thatnhis generals are willing to fight for it.nThere are certain periods of history soninteresting that no one, not even annovelist or a historian, can make themndull: Rome in the days of...

It is a cliche of criticism that Homerndisplayed his genius nowhere so much asnin his portrait of Helen. Since no onencould describe her divine beauty, henlet the whole Trojan War stand as hernmemorial.nStill, there is something to be said fornMrs. Renault: she sells. Her career, basednon one gimmick and a modest talent, is anreal tribute...

RELIEF FROMnMAGAZINE MUSHnAND ME-TOOISMnEach issue of Chronicles of Culture providesnthiose who thought the days of vital, compellingnwriting were past with evidence to the contrary.nYou, dear reader, may insure the continued feelingnof cerebral well-being that comes from absorbingnthe contents of each issue simply by detaching thencard that accompanies this page and fonwardingnit—filled in—along with your check.nIn...

characters. An uprooted Japanese studentntries unsuccessfully to engage Brunonin a conversation on the subject of life’snmeaning. A part-Jewish nightclub singernwonders if there is any place on earth fornher; a hack would have Bruno exalt hernwith a vision of Jerusalem—Appelfeldnspares us that. We hear of the town,nreturns. Their indifference is imperfect.nIrremediably conscious, Jews face lifenwith anxiety,...

novel means of birth control. It doesn’tnalways work, and the women learn thatnthe resultant children, raised communallynin this “community of philosophers,”ninterfere with their “self-development.”nChildren, i.e., the future, are discoverednto be regrettably “anti-progressive.”nAlthough undeniably “central to thencommunity . . . morally and philosophically,nthey had no right to exist.”nAcirema’s civilization, such as it is,ngradually crumbles under the...

Image. Whatever lack of inner orderngrounded Brooks’s career in Hollywoodnis not apparent in her writing, which isnclean, terse, and to the point. Most noteworthynare the pieces on Bogart and onnPabst. The actor is presented as an unsuccessful,npretty young man of the theatern(“Humphrey”) who, partly through hisnown efforts, pardy through Hollywood’s,nand partly through the independentnmushrooming of...

In Hawks on Hawks, Joseph McBrideninterviews the director; the commentsnand analyses Hawks brings to bear on thensubject of moviemaking are consistentnand of a piece: his approach is pragmaticnand businesslike. These statements sumnup the cinematic philosophy of Hawks innthe most concise way: “Our job is tonmake entertainment. . . . You aren’tngoing to get enough money...

been explored somewhat more thoroughly,nespecially its literary aspects, butnit, too, still lacks its historian. When thatnhistorian appears, these two works will benvaluable grist for his mill. In A Band ofnProphets a group of mature Southernnscholars considers the meaning of thennow-famous Agrarian manifesto /’//nTake My Stand. Regionalism and the-nSouth is a collection of writings by an...

19th-century Southern politics, “Tennessee’snWar of the Roses” (about thenfeuding Taylor brothers) and “A KarlnMarx for Hillbillies” (about Arkansas’snRabelaisian Governor, Jeff Davis). Vancenwas not alone. Humanistic sociologistsnare a Southern ttadition. That was true ofnVance’s colleague Odum and it is true ofnhis successor at Chapel Hill, JohnnShelton Reed, co-editor of the Vance essaysnand one of the contributors...

concerned with the peril posed by thenprogressive Western loss of the sense ofnthe sacred, of place, of craftsmanship, ofnfamily, of political genius. His remarks.nThe Insecurities & Envies ofnthe Liberal MindnDavid Lodge: Souls and Bodies;nWilliam Morrow; New York.nJoan Williams: County Woman; Atlantic/Little,nBrown; Boston.nby Gregory Wolfen1 he novel which sets a story against anbackdrop of turbulent social...

child is born with Down’s syndrome,nand this is seen as a result of the safenmethod, which often causes conceptionnlate in a woman’s menstrual cycle, whennthe chromosomes in the egg are weaknand liable to cause congenital birth defects.nWhether this presentation is tme isna question for medical science, but it’snworth noting that Lodge makes the case.nLodge continues...

integrationists are communists. BothnTate and Poppa see Allie’s place as in thenkitchen, and they react with irritationnwhen she speaks her mind. The only enlightenednmen are a sheriff and a districtnattorney from other counties, and a blacknman who was falsely accused of killingnAllie’s mother. The black man is one ofnthe few healthy people about, and he’ncomes...

Nn,, , . , , ‘You know I have always loved you.n__^ aturally, the system is to blame. ^nd there’s something else you mustn’The system was the Nothing, the ‘es- know.’ntablished Nothingness’ on whose gar- ‘Yes, what is it?’nbage one could live, had to live,” ‘That some form of socialism mustnacknowledges Fritz. The poverty of...

automatic, potentially self-destructiveninclination? This question remainsnunanswered. Landscapes and naturalnbeauty are brilliantly depicted, but actuallynall of the characters needed morenfully articulated natures, particularlynPolitics / Sociology / IdeologynSeymour Martin Lipset: Political Mann(expanded edition); The Johns HopkinsnUniversity Press; Baltimore.nby William C. Havardno. ‘ver the past 30 years SeymournMartin Lipset has enjoyed a succesnd’estime that is rare for an...

tions necessary for the practice of andemocratic politics within the context ofna diverse social structure.nLipset is no Marxist. His preference isnfor a pluralistic democratic order groundednin interest-group liberalism, with antolerance for a policy orientation rangingnbetween the nonextreme poles of individualismnand moderate collectivism. Henwants to find what might be called anTocquevillean way of channeling thendisparate interests...

thetic judgments, and scientificnknowledge will be present. These willnform the outlooks and suboutlooks ofnthe society. Thus there can never benan ‘end’ of outlooks or suboutlooks.nThe contention arose from the failurento distinguish these and ideology innthe sense here understood. [FromnShils’s article on “Ideology” in the In-nClever WritingnJohn Cheever: Oh What a Paradise ItnSeems; Alfred A. Knopf;...

x. far richer and more thought-provokingnwork is George Steiner’s ThenPortage to San Cristobal of A.H., whichnbrings to mind an image from another ofnYeats’s poems, “The Second Coming”:n”And what rough beast, its hour comenround at last/Slouches toward Bethlehemnto be born?” The “rough beast” innSteiner’s novel is a 90-year-old AdolfnHitler, found in the jungles of thenAmazon by...

He was not immune, therefore,nfrom the temptations of thengenre—which now can safely bentermed ironic realism—in whichnall the heavyweights of fictionnthen indulged, from Balzac tonChekhov. So he came up with annepistolary novel, Marienbad,nwhich chronicles the vicissitudesnof innocently duplicitous peoplengiven to the underdevelopednsnobberies and superficiallynmotivated intrigues so characteristicnof the bourgeois culture atnthat time. Of course, Flaubertnand Hardy...

S( KII.NnMoral RevanchismnDas Boot; Written and directed bynWolfgang Petersen; Triumph Films (Andivision of Columbia Pirtures).nby Eric ShapearonWar is hopeless and cruel—we knownthat. A movie that seriously intends tonmake this point once again must thereforenput its efforts into saying somethingnmore. The authors oiDas Boot try hard,nbut all they can come up with is a clumsynrevisionism whose...

O Paltry New WorldnTempest; Written by Paul Mazurskynand Leon Capetanos; Directed by PaulnMazursky; Columbia Pictures.nDesigner Victor Papanek, in hisnDesign for the Real World, makes annobservation that should be kept in mindnby not only those who design products,nbut also by all involved in the creation ofnartifacts:nThe steel beam in a house, painted anfake wood grain; the...

with the exception of The Hymn ofnJesus, approach the sonic spectacle andnopulent orchestral effects of The Planets,nwhose symphonic fireworks are apparentnin the excellent sound of this recording.nAnyone disposed to dismiss Hoist as anbrilliant but shallow showman shouldnexplore his moving settings of medievalnreligious love poetry. His Four Songs fornVoice and Violin, Op. 35, and This HavenI...

CORRISPONDKNC i: “fnLetter from Chicago: Feeling About Machinesnby Stephen MacaulaynLet any one who is acquainted withnwhat multitudes of people get theirndaily bread in this city by their labour,nwhether artificers or mere workmenn—I say, let any man consider whatnmust be the miserable condition ofnthis town if, on a sudden, they shouldnall be turned out of employment,nthat...

I think, it shows a recognition thatnthings are now serious; “that labournshould cease” is not a wholly unthinkablenprospect.nWe had no such thing as printednnewspapers in those days to spreadnrumours and reports of things, and tonimprove them by the invention ofnmen. . . . Hence it was that thenrumour died off again, and peoplenbegan to forget...

lie-relations work for several machinetoolncompanies told me recently that Inmust get a word processor. But as WalternAbish wrote, “Paper made books possible.nIt also helped prevent illiteracy. Inhave an interest in books and paper. Annoverwhelming interest.” But perhaps myninsistence on pulling a carbide ball suppliednwith ink across a blank sheet is notnPrevaricatorsnVvith its usual high-minded mendacity.nTime,...

IS AMERICAN CULTUREnON A SINKING SHIP?nChristianity and Civilization: The new, thoughtprovokingnand informative journal of Christiannthought; thoroughly Biblical, comprehensively catholic,nand distinctively Reformed.nVOLUME ONE: The Failure of the AmericannBaptist Culture*n”The Failure of American Baptist Culture” might seem a puzzling topicnfor a symposium of essays, but the contention of the editors.. .is thatnAmerican culture or civilization has been,...

I’m: AMI.KK AN I’HOSC I;MI MnCourage and GreatnessnThere’s little doubt that the Beirutnmassacre has deeply affected our sensitivitiesnand snowballed into a huge quandarynof politics and conscience. Complex,nsinister, ageless relationships betweennhuman nature and evil, hatred,nvengeance, violence are all involved, andnwe will not rush to shrill and narrowmindedninterpretations. A momentousntransvaluation of values is already takingnplace and its...

The term brainwashing came into the English languagenfrom Chinese during the Korean War to describe the bizarrencombination of torture and indoctrination used by the Chinesenas they tried to convert prisoners of war to communism. Withnconstant repetition, harassment, and humiliation, Chinesecommunistnpolitical officers attempted to persuade their victimsnto believe such notions as “the Soviet Union heads thenWorld...

ty, much less deal with it, is the complete distortion of thenmeanings of words. Semantic infiltration is the introduction ofnnew terminology which conveys not only a meaning but also annemotional impact designed to further the opinion-maker’snideology. The most common example is the use of the wordn”gay” to designate homosexuals, thus presenting them in anmore favorable...