Sep 11, 2020 | The Culture
The novels I resisted reading The Elementary Particles when its translation came out at the start of our new millennium. Les particules élémentaires by Michel Houellebeqc was published in 1998 to excited reviews by the chattering classes, most praising, a few...
May 15, 2020 | The Culture
I came late to the table of Clive James’ banquet of cultural insights, reading a review of his Cultural Amnesia in the summer of 2019 and then feasting on the book in early fall. It is indeed laden with rich food for thought, beginning with “Anna Akhmatova”, who James...
Mar 2, 2020 | Philosophy, The Culture
On January 12th, Roger Scruton died and a light went out in the conservative firmament—a light sorely needed in this era of oikophobia in the West. The enemy – the oikophobicks Scruton identified the enemy, the privileged peoples led by academia, and gave a name to...
May 22, 2019 | Politics, The Culture
The oldest hatred makes a comeback. Like ocean waves, antisemitism has troughs and crests, never completely dying. Antisemitism’s 100-foot wave crested in Hitler’s Nazi regime, and there was hope that the shock of the Holocaust would drain the swamp. But it didn’t....
May 3, 2019 | The Culture
A family Easter I had family for Easter. At least about 20 of the now nearly 80 immediate family members. As I sat in our living room, with the spring sun streaming gloriously through the picture window, and looked around the room, I was utterly content. I was proud...
Mar 26, 2019 | Politics, The Culture
For the in-crowd in our new millennium, the two desired cultural markers are Hot and Cool. The first denotes the most-sought-after person, place or thing of the cultural moment, and the second denotes the perfect response to this moment. So the moment’s idol is...
