()IM^I()^^ .^i iiws |nThe Capitalism-Democracy-Freedom DebatenMichaelNo3k:TJbe spirit of Democratic Capitalism; American Enterprise Institute/Simonn& Schuster; New York.nby Thomas FlemingnVxapitalism must be dead at last. Its demise has been predicted so many times—bynMarx and his disciples, by fascists, and even by tme believers like the ex-TrotskyistnJames Burnham—that many of us have come to regard the free market...

free enterprise seek their own advancement.nHe recognizes, however, that thenoperation of free enterprise encouragesnparticular talents and virtues among itsnpractitioners. The discipline, organization,nand, yes, vision associated withnorganizing a productive enterprise in anfree society have enormous potential,ndespite their supposedly selfish motivation,nto contribute substantially tonpeople’s benefit. The spirit that Novaknfinds in democratic capitalism, then, isnan elevating spirit which...

son. When these men thought of economicnmatters, they did so within thencontext of a political and social system.nThey took the flawed (that is, sinful)ncharacter of human nature for granted,nand attempted to establish ways to allownor encourage human improvement, evennif they could not assign a final goal to thatndevelopment themselves. The early theoristsnof democratic capitalism were...

the Old South—George Fitzhugh andnJohn C. Calhoun; and the various rightwingnmovements of this century—thenAction Franqaise in France and thenFalange in Spain (but definitely not, asnNovak points out, the National Socialistsnin Germany). The best-known livingnrepresentative of old conservatism isnAlexander Solzhenitsyn, whose sentimentsnare baffling and offensive to liberalsn(democratic capitalists) and socialistsnalike. What the old conservatives fearednmost was...

talist England did experience exhilaratingneconomic growth, but it is all too easynto forget what those growth rates meantnto members of the British working class,nwhose desperate conditions drove Carlylento a frenzy of despair (Past and Present,n1843). Tories like Walter Scott, innhis diary, called down divine vengeancenon the heads of capitalists who hadndismpted and destroyed the health...

both but because we are, in largenmeasure, indifferent to all religion. Wendo not, after all, believe in toleratingngroups which disagree with us on fondamentalnissues: religious “bigots,” racists,nfascists, nazis, aristocrats.nCapitalist democracy has brought unprecedentednprosperity to the West. Wenhave every reason to be proud of ournachievements. If man lived by breadnalone, ours would be the most blessednsociety...

Miller calls “a lateral dance of interpretation.n” In this sideways movement of deconstruction,nthe text is shown to have nondeterminate meaning, for the readernnever reaches “any passage that is chief,noriginal, or originating, a sovereign principlenof explanation.”nD enis Donoghue’s Ferociom Alphabetsnshould be viewed in the context ofnthis battle. Through a series of penetratingnreviews, Donoghue—like M.H.nAbrams, Wayne Booth,...

personal meeting in mind, not a messagenor secret. From print to voice; that is thenepireader’s direction [emphasis added].”nEpireaders want to believe that “languagenis merely virtual until it has becomenspeech, and that as speech it isnmediation rather than substance.”nGraphireading, on the other hand, isn”the eclipse of voice by text” (GeoffreynHartman’s phrase). It is, essentially, deconstruction,nan ideology...

mum degree of bewilderment’ in ordernto awaken and clarify this knowledge.”nIn other words, Blackmur was a kind ofnprotodeconstructionist. He still feltnuneasy in recognizing what appeared tonhim the indeterminacy in literary meaning.nThe full-fledged cleconstmctionist isnconvinced not only that certainty is unattainable,nbut also that the only virtue liesnin abandoning the attempt to achieve it.nDeconstruction, although highlynvocal and...

This (Ionian Needs VOIInShe is enduring terriblenanguish in our society. Fromnevery side, she is being encouragednto negate herself.nIncredibly, in the name ofn”feminism” she is being urgednto imitate men! In thenname of “equal rights” she Isnbeing stripped of the privilegesntraditionally accordednthe fairer sex. Tragically, Innthe name of “population control”nshe is being informednthat it’s OK to slay...

struggling masses much in the same waynhis drinking bouts highlighted his termnas vice president of the National DefensenAssociation, a temperance organization.nIn existentialist terms, you could expressnJack London’s entire sojourn on earthnunder the label “bad faith.” Perry’snbiography is 2. post facto lie-detector testnwith London’s testimony on nearly everynsubject torturing the poor machinenbeyond its parameters. His views...

Wohryzek, a fellow convalescent. A littlenwhile later Milena Jesenska Polakova,nwho was translating his work into Czechoslovakiannand who was lovelessly married,nfell his way. Not only did he letnboth women know of one another’s existence,nbut even let Milena’s husband innon the triangle. The only piece of dishonestynperpetrated by Franz Kafka was hisnsubversive aid to employees who soughtncompensation...

Kafka, being honest, depicted hisnnightmares. He revealed the personalitynof the diclasse, stripped of humanity,nnothing more than an insect. He showednthe absurdity of living as such in anmiddle-class world, whose conventionsnbecame ridiculous by contrast. Butnwhen “modern man,” bourgeois to hisntoenails, tries on existentialism, he is notnas honest as Kafka. He accepts blowndryers and television, Renaults and...

Give your favoritenNON-LIBERALna gift subscription tonyour favoritenjournal of opinion.nAha! The perfect gift for that friend whonshcires 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...

captors in any way. But when he returnednto the Soviet Union after the warnhe was received as a semitraitor, andngiven a prison sentence.nIf those who remained loyal to thenSoviet regime received such treatment,nclearly those who had actually foughtnagainst it could expect nothing betternthan execution if they returned to thenSoviet Union. The question then becamenwhether the...

tain death. Some two decades later Coffinnwould use that immoral submissionnto authority as a twisted justification fornhis outspoken and ultimately successfulnopposition to an American policy whichnsought to prevent still other thousands ofnhuman beings from being delivered toncommunist tyranny in Vietnam. DnGrand Commemorations of DetailnMircea Eliade: Autobiography: VolumenI: 1907-1937: Journey East,nJourney West; Harper & Row; NewnYork.nPoems...

tedium of the reminiscences of a greatnman, which take on particular importancenfor the teller because they are hisnown.nIf this narrative were fictional insteadnof genuinely autobiographical, it wouldnsuffer from a failure on the part of thennarrator to set a proper distance betweennhimself and the angst-ridden youthnabout whom he writes. The reader isnnever quite sure whether Eliade...

that brings Shelley to mind: “the eggnmiraculous upon the ledge, the birdncompact upon the egg, its generousnwarmth, its enviable patience, its naturalnfortitude and grace.” He likewise finds atna business-machine show the triumph ofnthe human spirit, as men and womennstand among the pieces of hardware,noblivious to their glitter, delighting insteadnin the subtle sexuality of onenanother. His...

Both Plath and Sexton were of NewnEngland stock, and both showed earlynpromise. Plath published her first collection,nThe Colossus, in I960. Three othersna shattered mirror of suffering womankind.nwere published posthumously. Sexton’snfirst book, To Bedlam and Back, also appearednin I960; she published five more.nPlath was a Phi Beta Kappa, a Fulbrightnscholar, and a teacher at Smith; Sextonnwas...

These and similar poems may be enoughnto maintain her place in Americannpoetry. Still, there are too many whichnare either embarrassingly confessional ornsimply cmde, as “The Jesus Papers,” innwhich Christ is, among other things, annOedipal buffoon.nAll fine poets occasionally write badly,nsome more than others, and mostnhave sometimes indulged in autobiography.nIn almost all cases the final judgmentnon...

mass communications the danger ofnabuse is great. As Locke observed, “Allnmen are liable to error; and most men arenin many points, by passion or interest,nunder temptation to it.” It is not unlikelynin a large campaign that unethical practicesncould be perpetrated without thenfall knowledge of the high command.nHalf-truths, selective interpretation—neven fadging—of polls, sordid innuendos:nall are unfortunately...

Unfunny AmoralistsnGail Godwin: A Mother and TwonDaughters; The Viking Press; NewnYork.nNancy Thayer: Three Women at thenWater’s Edge; Doubleday & Co.; NewnYork.nby Susan Tunneyn”Th Lhe first use of good literature,”nG.K. Chesterton once wrote, “is that itnprevents a man from being merelynmodern. To be merely modern is to condemnnoneself to an ultimate narrowness,njust as to spend one’s...

Ihe only thing worthy of mentionnabout Three Women at the Water’snEdge is that Nancy Thayer has managednto write an entire novel in the pluperfectntime as Godwin’s, and one of the bookjacketnblurbs is by Godwin. So much fornoriginality in the current state of arts andnletters. Both Godwin and Thayer haven”Nancy Thayer has written a superb woman’s...

dations for a conservative theory of economicndevelopment. Beyond the substantialnconvergence of Bauer, Loehr andnPowelson, though, looms the philosophicalntension of their differences. What isnthe central problem of “economic development,”nand in what direction do wenseek its solution? What is the role ofnpolitics in this field, and, at the core,nwhat is the importance of the “distribution,n” or “equality,”...

“could only have been possible with increasingnbalance of [political] leverage, innwhich coalitions bargained to obtainnmutual privileges and to break down thenmonopolies of others.” Bauer concludesnjust the opposite: “How misleading it isnto think that the exclusion from politicalnactivity necessarily inhibits the economicnprospects of a person or group.”nThe rift leads finally to the core ofnthese authors’ focus...

Walter J. Ong in the 50’s, with regardnto the fact that by then Roman Catholicismnwas no longer an immigrant faith.nThe rebellion of the San Patricio battalionnin the Mexican-American War isnpresetited as a suitable analogy to thenprincipled resistance to the VietnamnWar. Hennesey claims that the 19thcenturynconflict was also an unjust war. Itndoes not occur to him...

beyond the cold facts and dates of thentext. There is no argument with most ofnHcnnesey’s facts qua facts. What wouldnraise one’s critical level of interest wouldnbe some fruitful insights and comprehensivenconceptions. One such opportunitynneglected relates to Father Hennesey’sninability to make inspired linkagesnamong ideas; this could have beenndone by forming an insightful observationnupon religion and politics...

Portable ReagannLee Edwards: Ronald Reagan: AnPolitical Biography; Revised edition;nNordland Publishing International;nHouston.nThe Reagan Wit; Edited by Bill Adlernwith Bill Adler, Jr.; Caroline HousenPubhshers; Aurora, lUinois.nby John Shelton ReednOther readers will have to draw thenpolitical lessons from Lee Edwards’snbiography of Ronald Reagan. It looks tonme as if his first term as President isnfollowing pretty closely the script...

universal, examines archetypalntendencies and patterns in generationsnof storytelling, and re­nWASTE OF MONEYnAwfiilly Unlike AustennJoan Juliet Buck: The OnlynPlace to Be; Random House; NewnYork.nWhen great writers die, somenarrangement ought to be madenpermitting them to take theirnnames with them. Left behind,nthey are often shamelesslynabused by publishers eager tonpromote second-rate authorsnwith incredibly unwarrantedncomparisons whose falsity cannnever be justly...

S( RI:I;NnIrreverence of Things Past or the Best-Selling Void &nThe Traps of Well-intentioned Cross-BreedingnA Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy; Written and directed by Woody Allen; AnnOrion Picture.nOn September 29,1662, Samuel Pepys watched a performance by the King’s companynof A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His terse characterization: “The most insipid,nridiculous play that I ever saw in my life.”...

divagations on love and marriage eidiernsilly or phony, or both. This is not wartime,nwhen a brief erotic episode—or sonit has been argued many times—hasnsome moral and existential justification.nWhat the girls in An Officer seem to benmotivated and guided by is the CondenNast Publications cum Ms. magazinencum ERA-certified ethos, but at thensame time they are reaching...

one who has suffered with him throughnthe permutations of crossover, fusion,nand quasi-rock to which he subjectednhimself ina 10-year questfor commercialnstardom.nChuck Mangione should be, but isnprobably not, ashamed of himself. Mangionenbetrays himself by letting glimpsesnof his true leanings creep into his playing.nIn “Steppin* Out” (from “LovenNotes,” Columbia FC 38101) there arensome genuinely hip flugelhorn phrases,nexpressed with...

EXPR 1033) is a Japanese reissue of importantnAmerican music, imported bynPolygram. These are the 1955 recordingsnthat introduced Brown to a wider audiencenthat was amazed by the warmthnand virtuosity of his trumpet playing.nThe Tommy Dorsey/Frank SinatranSessions, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (RCAnCPL2-4334, 4335, 4336) include on sixnLP’s everything Sinatra recorded withnDorsey from 1940 to 1942. There...

defiance of international law. The reassertionnof unrestricted submarine warfarenin January, 1917, as well as the publicationnof the Zimmerman telegram, madenwar with the United States inevitable.nGottfried’ s errors about the Lusitania,nhowever, are almost insignificant whenncompared with his discussion of the Germannarmy’s conduct in Belgium. Contrarynto his assertion that Tuchman doesnnot “inquire” into the “circumstances”nsurrounding the Belgian...

ter at hand, I have not read the VolkischerBeobachter,nbut I assume that Mr.nMason has. My own views on the warnwere drawn fi:om Gerhard Ritter, CJOIOnMann, and William Langer, all bona fidenanti-nazis.nUndoubtedly German submarinesnoften failed, before attacking, to alertnvessels from neutral countries that carriednsupplies to their enemies. But there wasnno way that German submarines couldnrespect international...

nist Cambodians are enough for thencountry’s future. During the summer,n2000 gendarmes spread through France,nchecking for conformity to the postfreezenprice of butter and eggs. Meanwhile, thenminister of justice freed thousands ofncriminals after abolishing, through parliamentarynmajority, his predecessor’snsemitough law on security. Industries—nthe ones not yet bankrupt—are workingnhalftime, while hopelessly strugglingnagainst worker demands encouraged bynthe government. Unemployment hasnrisen...

Mitterrand came to power largely onnthe implied promise that his would be an”socialism with a human face,” thenslogan of the Prague Spring and of thenlater vogue of Eurocommunism. Thosenwho voted for him in 1981 have had anrude awakening and have yet to digestncommunist participation in importantnministries. My feeling is that if Mitterrand,neven now, dismissed the...

him, has buckled under the burden ofndie realities of power. He has resorted toneuphemizing tax imposition as “revenuenraising,” and, in foreign policy, chosenflashy, media-oriented successes insteadnof supporting probity. In the MiddlenEast, he rescued the nerve center of thenbestial political gangsterism that servesnour most implacable enemy. To pleasenthe financial gougers in the West andnEast, he destroyed...

A thought came to my mind several months ago whilenwatching a television interview of two rival groups from Texasninvolved in a debate concerning school curriculum. Thosenwhom one could identify as conservatives protested passionatelynagainst using our schools to “peddle” unpatriotic and antireligiousnviews. The other side countered by appealing to thenseparation of church and state and by...

strong card.nIt may be objected that I am urging traditionalists to buildntheir arguments upon what seems a lower good, freedom fromncoercion, rather than a higher one, social virtue. There is muchnto be said for this criticism. I, for one, am convinced that nonsociety can long endure which ceases to agree on ethical firstnprinciples. But to...

QpiMONS & Vii:ws~TnAfter MidcenturynJay Cantor: The Space Between: Literaturenand Politics; The Johns HopkinsnUniversity Press; Bahimore.nRobert C. Rosen:/o/&« Dos Passes: Politicsnand the Writer; University ofnNebraska Press; Lincoln.nby Lee Congdonn<<1nIjliss was it in that dawn to benalive,” Wordsworth rhapsodized aboutnthe French Revolution, “But to be youngnwas very heaven!” Similarly, manynAmericans who came of age during then1960’s look...

tably. Unlike Cantor, they never mistooknpoetry for politics or literary tropes for thenburden of history.nLike so many of his generation, Cantornis not at home in our historical world—ifnhe cannot have apocalypse now, he willnsettle for a permanent revolution of consciousness.nHe has not, in short, changednvery much since his student days. Althoughnhe now affects a soul-searchingnattitude,...

Midcentury, the best of his later works,ndoes not quite-measure up to USA, it isnstill worth reading. In his perceptive portraitnof actor James Dean (“The SinisternAdolescents”), for example, Dos Passosnwarned us of what was in store for thendeclining years of the American Century.nDean was the paradigmatic alienatednyouth: a rebel without a cause, contemptuousnof all authority, resentful...

is provided. We see Antigone’s despairnin the war-torn and decadent Thebesnwhere the love of a brother for a sister is anaime, but Yourcenar’s choice for justicen(the will of divine love) is given no meaning;nthe overwhelming sense of futilitynand the imagery of death are all that remainnin the mind after reading thisnpiece. The failure of expressionism...

in disgrace, but not before he hasndelivered a charming speech which impressesnsome of the conferees and vowednto write a great novel—which, of course,nwe know he does.nJelnhausen is all too transparendynGrass. When Chaucer or Dante appearnin their own works, they are personaendistinct from the author, and theirndownishness or fallibility provides an insightninto the truth that is...

Are Catholic/nSTUPID ?nThere is a tenacious myth in America thatnsays Catholics are stupid, ignorant, andnsuperstitious. IVIoreover, there is a prejudicenamong modernist Catholics that thosenCatholics who really believe in the Bible, thencreeds, tradition, and the Church are intellectuallynfeeble. After all, it’s said, there aren’tneven enough intelligent orthodox Catholicsnto support a decent journal of opinion.nWell, the NEW...

ness executives. Liebes had told me thatnhe had set aside $1-million in case he wasnkidnapped. He appeared to be not overlynfrightened by the prospect. He was overn70, not in good health and, although hisnfamily was living abroad, he said: “Thisnis the country where I arrived as a youngnman, where I succeeded in business, andnwhere I...

the F.B.I., C.I.A., Defense IntelligencenAgency, Threat Assessment Group, Officenof Central American Affairs, andnothers. He was told that intelligencenreports indicated “that some ultra-conservativesnin EI Salvador in concert withn. . . elements of the security forces hadnconcluded that the United States’ mistakennview of human rights conditionsn. . . could best be corrected by havingnthe ‘communists’ assassinate the...

kept the ambassador and his staff asnhostages. Walls were heightened at thenAmerican chancery and embassy residence,niron gates were reinforced, thenwalls were topped with barbed wire, andnheavier gates were installed. “We werenall a little nervous,” is the rare admissionnof the otherwise unflappable ambassador.nThe occupation of embassies wasnonly one facet of an increasing lawlessness,nand every law-enforcement effortnby...

Subscribe now and save.nThe NewnCriterionnThe literary life today by Joseph EpsteinnBerlin 1928 (A memoir) byEliasCanettinPostmodern: Art and culture in the I980.Snby Hilton KramernKR. Leavis: A revaluation by Norman PodhoretznMusic: American npcni hy Stonttel Uiimun; Architecture: l)(.’si|;ninKnmusc-uniN hy VHIiani H.Jttnly, Art: Ihc rukin.s rtlrospt’cfivt- hynmtUnt KrunivrnBooks: Sinumv tie Httiuitn’r Iji C4-rcm<»nif dcs udit-ux rerieuvti hynFnttvrivk Hnnvn;...