[Freud] “never unraveled the crucial mystery of two or more desires that violently disagree because they agree too much, because they imitate each other” (Girard, A Theater of Envy, p. 104).
Fooba Fooba Fooba
In another essay, Westphal is concerned to deal with the ready identification of postmodernism with various political absolutisms, particularly fascism and communism. In “Deconstruction and Christian Cultural Theory,” Westphal argues that such an assimilation is based on a gross misreading of Derrida and Foucault in particular. “So it is that the temptation to lump postmodernism …
Leithart’s Ugly Ditch
Here’s the problem. Merold Westphal wants to stand outside modernity, critiquing it. But he most certainly does not want to replace it. He talks wistfully about how nice it would be if it were to be magically replaced — in a Lennon-like Imagine sort of way, where the schools have all the money they need …
A Word to NSA Students
We are halfway through Jerusalem Term, and so it is appropriate for me to bring you a few words of exhortation — what your academic dean described to me as a few kicks and hugs. This I am happy to do, and after thinking it over, I decided to speak to you in a Mosaic …
In the Kind Name
Gracious Lord and God, Father of Life, the gift of rest is one of the great blessings You have bestowed on us, and the blessing of work goes with it. We thank You for it all, and seek to rest before You now, preparing our hearts to worship You in the morning. We ask that …
Not Eating Gravel
“I have no problem with high standards or tight rules — but the rules are for the children; the children are not there to give the rules something to work upon. There is nothing wrong with hard work in a rigorous school, but there is something wrong with work that is hard for all the …
Ideational Art
“Ideational art, speaking for its culture, represents a nonvisual world of transcendental realities lying beyond both reason and the senses. Its subjects are spiritual: Almighty God, the Divine Christ, the blessed Madonna, inspired apostles and saints, and, generally, the realm of intangible spiritual values” (B.G. Brander, Staring Into Chaos, p. 269).
Let’s Get Some More Uplift Around Here
“Like all great satirists, Shakespeare must have been besieged with requests for a more uplifting view of mankind. Great mimetic writers are always asked to renounce the very essence of their art, mimetic conflict, in favor of an insipidly optimistic view of human relations, always presented as more gentle and humane, whereas in reality it …
Up to Our Chins in Sensate
“Drawing their data from encyclopedias, histories of art, and museum catalogs, from art journals, scholarly monographs, and other reference sources, the researchers listed art works by the scores of thousands. They classified each item according to its traits, whether ideational, integral, or sensate. Then Sorokin compared changes in the arts to the changes of cultural …
And Narrative Is All the Rage These Days
“MTV’s rock videos tend to be fragmented and surreal, with fast cuts, visual rhythms, and imagery that is striking but does not make a lot of sense. Country videos naturally tend to be narratives, reflecting the storytelling character of the music'” (Gene Edward Veith, Honky-Tonk Gospel, p. 165).