less repetition, the conservative imaginationnas recommended in Hart’s examplenis not at all ideological.nHart cannot invest too many of hisnhopes for a civilized future in what thenuniversities may achieve. On this pointnhe quarrels with Allan Bloom, who isntoo much a man of the Enlightenmentnto be a conservative. He reasons, rather,nthe other way around, that the mostnimportant things may have to be writtennand circulated outside “the regularnchannels for orderiy intellectual exchange”—nas with Belloc, with Lewisnas apologist, Chesterton, and Kendall.nFor the way in which intellectualnfashions develop and ideas achieve currencynhas, as he describes the processnin Ideas in Culture, very little to donwith their intrinsic or intellectualnsubstance — their ability to survive anrigorous critical examination. Furthermore,nthe regnant metaphors functioningnin a universe of discourses may tellnus more about what thinking that contextnwill allow than the discursivenachievement of its philosophers. Evennso, with or without a push from thenacademy, the intellectual habits thatnhave dominated most Western thoughtnsince the Renaissance are rapidly losingntheir authority and momentum. JeffnHart points in support of his analysis tonthe conclusion of Wittgenstein’snTractatus as demonstrating that modernnrationalism is a doctrine now survivingnonly by default. Other evidencento the same effect which he discussesnappears in the recent history of thosenNew York intellectuals who once trustednthe sanguine promise of socialism.nTheir biographies are beginning tonappear, and the unexpected finding ofnthis generation is that the old authoritiesnhave turned out to be the best: thatnwe are, as we were told, circumscribednby links and derivations, by patrimonynand the huge skein of an a priori socialnmatrix; that geographical placing signifiesnthat with our “given” identity wenrequire for our guidance, at a minimum,nrevealed truth and a full knowledgenof history, not dialectics or abstractnprinciples.nI might say more about ProfessornHart’s felicity, both his ability to speaknalways as himself in a voice that is bothnserious and ironic, genial and amused:na conversational voice that attempts tonclose a few questions, to silence fewnadversaries (except for dogmatism), butn36/CHRONICLESnwhich nonetheless lives up to his statedndefinition of the critic’s task — to ben”the best reader of a poem or prosenwork that erudition and native intelligencencan produce.” I might furthernsound a note of impatience with Hartnon pornography. Though he is probablyncorrect in his assumptions aboutnthe Realpolitik of the question as itnoperates presently in American lawnand culture, however strong the trendsnin motion in our world, it continues tonbe true that what becomes of a societyndepends upon the care with which itnprotects the physical dignity of itsnwomen—whether they want that protectionnor not.nBut this is to cavil at one chapter inn21 that stand well together in a splendidnbook. Instead I will conclude withnHart on Spain and the literature of thenSpanish Civil War. In his essays onnHemingway, Cironella, and recent historiansnof Spain one finds texts readncarefully within the widest possiblentangle of reference. Moreover, thesenare commentaries untroubled by thenmythic passion of the left for thisnparticular war.nNo American critic writes better ofnthis material in the context to which itnrightfully belongs.nM.E. Bradford is a professor ofnEnglish at the University of Dallas.nTwo Countries,nTwo Culturesnby George CareynAutobiographical Reflectionsnby Eric VoegelinnEdited and introduced bynEllis SandoznBaton Rouge and London:nLouisiana StatenUniversity Press;n123 pp., $16.95nThe publication of Eric Voegelin’snAutobiographical Reflections is ansmall but highly significant step in annenormous project that has been undertakennby the Louisiana State UniversitynPress, the publication of his collectednworks. The editors estimate that, in all,nthis project will run to 34 volumes, atnnnleast 15 of which will include heretoforenunpublished materials.nReflections is the outgrowth of EllisnSandoz’s research for his book. ThenVoegelin Revolution: A BiographicalnIntroduction (LSU Press, 1981). Itnconsists of Voegelin’s transcribed responsesnto queries put to him in thensummer of 1973 by Sandoz; queriesnthat center- on the major events ofnVoegelin’s life, as well as on the coursenof his intellectual development. Fornthis reason, there is a considerablenoverlap between Reflections and ThenVoegelin Revolution; that is, a goodndeal of what we find in Reflectionsnconcerning major components of andndevelopments in Voegelin’s approachn— e.g., his theory of consciousness, thensources and nature of gnosticism in thenmodern world, the need for opennessnto the whole — is also found in ThenVoegelin Revolution, frequently in thenform of a direct quotation from theseninterviews. Sandoz’s book, however,nalso provides an extremely coherentnand lucid overview of Voegelin’s approachnand findings. For those approachingnVoegelin for the first time,nor even for those who are familiar withnhis work but who lack a comprehensivenknowledge of his methods and concerns.nReflections by itself is not a goodnstarting point. It should be read innconjunction with The Voegelin Revolutionnso that Voegelin’s concerns, observations,nand refinements can be appreciatednin the context of his majornworks.nThis does not mean that new andnoriginal material is not to be found innReflections. The major contribution ofnthis book, and what renders it mostnappropriate as the prelude to his collectednworks, is the insights it providesnus into Eric Voegelin as a humannbeing. Many of these insights we gleannindirectly from his reflections aboutnthe state of the world and society hensees about him. In this respect mostnreaders are bound to find his observationsnabout the United States of particularninterest, if only because the twonyears (1924-25) he spent as a youngnstudent in this country at Columbia,nHarvard, and Wisconsin had such anprofound impact on his thinking. In hisnwords, “There was the strong backgroundnof Christianity and Classicalnculture [in the United States] that wasnso signally fading out, if not missing, inn