Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: July 2025

… Now I’ve left Britain, here’s what you look like Lionel used to review for me when I was The Inquirer's book editor. She's as brilliant as she is lovely.

… Horace for the Ages ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… G. E. M. Anscombe - On Wittgenstein (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

… Bring Back Quiet Libraries (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

… UNFORGETTABLE FIRE(Hat tip, Dave Lull) Ours is “an age in which religious belief seems to be at once in steep decline and surging out of bounds.”

… A Beatnik Tourist in Ayahuasca Country ( Hat tip, Dave Lull)

… My Daughter Walks in the Garden (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Austerity —,by Janet Loxley Lewis (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… ISI Remembers Edwin J. Feulner I knew Ed, from back when I worked for ISI. Great guy.

… The violets bear them away by William Logan ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It's an interesting experience to read a novel seemingly at random. This was the case recently when taking up Mihail Sebastian's For Two Thousand Years. Published in 1934 in Romania, this is a book far from my usual tastes and interests.

Strangely, I'd read another of Sebastian's novels -- Women -- a few years ago, and I'd enjoyed it. But this novel -- Two Thousand Years -- is far darker, far more foreboding. This is a book, in effect, which charts the emergence of a more virulent form of anti-Semitism in Romanian culture. The novel does not makes its way to the Second World War, but the themes which are uncovered anticipate what was to come. Except, of course, that what came was far worse.

Two Thousand Years is more, though, than a historical novel: it is one profoundly focused on identity, and on Sebastian's conflicting, almost tortured, sense for his own Judaism. There are parts of this novel which are very difficult to read -- in part because Sebastian has allowed that anti-Semitism to encroach on his moral judgments. Much more can -- and has, I'm sure -- be written about this troubling dynamic: as I say, I found it to be quite upsetting, not least because Sebastian seems at moments to negate Jewish contributions to the European past.

In the end, Two Thousand Years is a novel in search of Romania: of its workers, its ethos, its history and culture. That does seem, truly, to be Sebastian's objective: to describe this place through its people and their conflicts, and their intractable march toward something far more sinister. Sebastian has an aphoristic way of writing which provides rewards to the patient reader. Here is one of the most memorable:

"Aren't you traveling light for a man who's making history?"

"No. It's all I need. I'm leaving the rest behind."

… Lionel Shriver: The left has grown adept at gaslighting (Hat tip, Dave Lull) lionel used to review for me when I was the book editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. she's beautiful and wise.

… The Erie Canal at 200 (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Reading Two Thomases (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Can Americans Love Poetry Again? ( Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… The Huble Essatist. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Tom Wolfe’s Sociology of the Weird (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) From high school on, I have identified with the Beats. I knew some Hippies, of course, but I never thought of being one.

… Political Theater Makes Bad Drama (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

… The Architecture of Arrogance (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Elizabeth Jennings' poem "Euthanasia" (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Toni Morrison, Editor (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules": a stunning performance, a brilliant new translation! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules" made its debut this month – and San Francisco actress and singer Grace Wade smoldered as the betrayed Juno in Dana Gioia's stunning new translation of the tragedy.

… Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… David Rytman Slavitt Obituary (Hat tip, Dave Lull)

… Male Novel Readers Are Not Fiction (Hat tip, Dave lull.) Liberal politics have destroyed the space for male readers. The women who “dominate the publishing industry” are the same kind of women that dominate Hollywoke — man-bashing, woman-mutating feminists. They’re the reason my four novels thus far aren’t published by major presses like Hachette, Harper Collins, and Random House but by boutique publishers (very discriminating ones).

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Monday, July 28, 2025

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Friday, July 25, 2025

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Monday, July 21, 2025

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Friday, July 18, 2025

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Monday, July 14, 2025

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Friday, July 11, 2025

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

Monday, July 07, 2025

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Saturday, July 05, 2025

Friday, July 04, 2025

Thursday, July 03, 2025