Of wisdom; hope no higher
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . Only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add Faith,
Add virtue, Patience, Temperance, add Love,
By name to come called Charity, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shall possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.”
— Paradise Lost, Book Twelve
Thus does the Unholy Left return to its crumbling Teufels Lustschloss and take up residence within—like Wotan in Valhalla, impotently watching the flames leap and the walls tumble, in silent vigil for the end it has so long awaited, so long feared, so devoutly desired. A philosophy of nihilism, according to the ur-Narrative, must and will end nihilistically.
The rest of us, though cast out of the Garden, yet attend to the sacred texts and heed the stories in our hearts. Having witnessed the Archangel Michael as, with fiery sword, he banished the ur-Father and ur-Mother from Eden, we can still see the eternal Cherubim guarding the gates, disporting themselves among St. Michael’s magic fire, secure in the knowledge, and the hope, of our return.
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
And, in that moment of grief and loss, humanity was born, to begin its long journey home.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help, encouragement, and suggestions during the creation and writing of this book, including Roger Kimball, Molly Powell, Jack Fowler, Tracy Scoggins, the people of Holy Family Chapel, Elena Kurtz, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Maxhimer. Special thanks to Bill Walsh.
INDEX
Abduction from the Seraglio, The (Mozart), 99–100
Abortion, 50, 74–76, 86, 113, 121–122, 147, 185, 192
Adorno, Theodor, 42, 43, 88, 184, 187, 189; rhetoric and music criticism of, 16, 57, 61, 113–119
Adventures in the Orgasmatron (Turner), 145
Afghanistan, 47, 95, 104, 106, 109, 177, 208
Agon (Stravinsky), 116
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll), 10, 56, 151, 157–158
Alinsky, Saul, 4, 45, 84, 103, 155, 163, 189
Amadeus (Shaffer), 127
“American taqiyya,” 109–110
Anderson, Brian, 40
Anti-Semitism, 56, 82–83, 124, 126, 152
Apostle’s Creed, 65
“Arc of history,” 52, 68, 78, 116, 201
Areopagitica (Milton), 7, 19
Aristotle: doctrine of mimesis, 12–13; three-part structure of storytelling, 15
Art: as gift from God and medium of truth, 13; lessons of, 2–4, 10, 12–13
Assassins (Sondheim), 107
Atheism: as belief in self, 134–135; as faith in the state, 25, 48, 133–142. See also Religion, Left’s criticisms of
Augustine, Saint, 22, 65
Babbitt (Lewis), 198
Bach, J.S., 127–128
Back to Methuselah (Shaw), 105
Banned books, 167
Bartók, Béla, 115–116
Beauvoir, Simone de, 84
Beethoven, Ludwig, 85, 118
Belloc, Hilaire, 109
Bellow, Saul, 21–22
Benedict XVI, pope, 206
Benjamin, Walter, 42, 208
Berg, Alban, 116, 117, 118
Berlioz, Hector, 53
Bin Laden, Osama, 47
Blake, William, 67
Bloomsbury Group, 77, 169
Blow Up (film), 129–131
Bloy, Léon, 183
Boethius, 149–150, 156–157
Boito, Arrigo, 20, 165
Brazil (film), 141
Breitbart, Andrew, 76
Bruckner, Anton, 62
Bush, George W., 36, 106, 186
Busoni, Ferrucio, 165
Butler, Samuel, 160
Byron, Lord, 55
Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered Liberalism (Pierson), 107
Campbell, Joseph, 14–15, 31, 102–103, 131
Capitalism, Left’s disdain for, 2–3, 172, 205
Capriccio (Strauss), 128
Caprichos, Los (Goya), 53–54
Casablanca (film), 69–70
Cato, 68
Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni), 112–113
Chamberlain, Neville, 36
Chanson de Roland, 94–95
Chesterton, G.K., 86–87, 103, 104–105, 146, 183
Chinatown (film), 93–94, 101, 108
Chopin, Frederic, 114–115
Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God (Miles), 5
Christianity: allegory and, 65–67, 83; Christian hero and, 5–6; foundational text of, 107–108; Left’s attacks on, 70–71, 102–103, 134, 156, 178, 186; Left’s intolerance of fallibility of, 45, 103–104
“City, The” (Wolff), 77
Civil rights movement, 85–86, 153, 197–198
Clements, Rob, 48
Clemenza di Tito, La (Mozart), 97–99
Cold War, 17, 24–25, 46, 177, 207
Communism, 33, 40, 43, 59; death toll of, 122; failure in Soviet Union, 47, 59–60, 71–72, 92, 185–191; Lessing on, 101–102. See also Marxism-Leninism
Communist Manifesto, The (Marx and Engels), 136
Compromise, Left’s insistence upon, 175–181
Conan Doyle, Arthur, 105–106
Conflict, progress and, 17–18, 22–23
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, A (Twain), 117–118
Consolation of Philosophy, The (Boethius), 149–150, 156–157
Constitution, of U.S., 29, 46; First Amendment, 69, 111, 134, 165; Left’s use of, 198–199; Second Amendment, 139–140
Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, A (Marx), 39
Coppola, Francis Ford, 32, 113
Così fan tutte (Mozart), 99, 112
Counterrevolution and Revolt (Marcuse), 172
Critical Legal Theory, 54–55
Critical Theory, generally, 1–2; deception and, 49–52; failure of, 197–210. See also Frankfurt School
Critique of Pure Tolerance, A (Marcuse, Wolff, and Moore), 44–45
Cthulhu mythos, 68, 92–93
Culture, in America: Left’s resentment of, 171–173; conservators of, 4; light and darkness and, 99–102, 104–110; West’s feelings of inferiority and, 1–3, 6, 88, 96
Death, Left’s fascination with, 121–131, 139
Death and Transfiguration (Strauss), 62
Debussy, Claude, 61, 84
Deception and lies: American “taqiyya” and, 109; Critical Legal Theory and, 54–55; Critical Theory, 49–52; Frankfurt School’s philosophy and, 42–49; goals of, 25–26; heroes and, 35; Left’s criticisms of religion and, 39–40, 42, 46–49; Marcuse and tolerance, 44–46; Satan and, 6–7, 50
Delacroix, Eugène, 47
Democratic Party, 60, 72, 153, 155, 176, 190–191, 193
Devil’s Pleasure Palace, The (Schubert), 9–12, 16
Dialectic, of Hegel, 25, 43–44, 107
Dickens, Charles, 177
Dissent, as “highest form of patriotism,” 151–152
Diversity, Left’s goals and, 22, 68, 152, 159, 177–178, 208
Doctor Faustus (Mann), 62, 115
Doctor Faustus (Marlowe), 184
Dodecaphonicism (twelve-tone system), 57, 62, 113–119
Doktor Faust (Busoni), 165
Don Giovanni (Mozart), 12, 99, 112, 114
Donleavy, J.P., 184
Dracula (Stoker), 100–101
Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times (Nickels and Shacochis), 173
Dr. Strangelove (film), 207
Earthly Heaven, Lef
t’s search for, 1, 9–16, 20, 41–42, 180
Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, The (Marx), 83
Eminent Victorians (Strachey), 167–169
Empson, William, 27
Enchiridion (Augustine), 22
Engels, Friedrich, 25, 136
Enlightenment, the, 42–43, 46, 53, 96–99, 135, 153, 166
Entertainment Weekly, 188–189
“Erlkönig” (Schubert), 11–12
Eros and Civilization (Marcuse), 81
Escape from Freedom (Fromm), 81–82
Eternal Feminine, as saving power, 10, 41, 62, 79–81, 85–90, 123–124, 130–131
“Evolution,” used by Left, 48–49
Ewig-Weibliche. See Eternal Feminine
Exchange Alley (Walsh), 107
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, 199
Fall Wagner: Ein Musikanten-Problem, Der (Nietzsche), 124–126
Family: Left’s attack on, 32–33, 61, 73–81, 205; in narratives, 26, 29, 31–32, 199–200. See also Abortion
Fatal Attraction (film), 67
Fatal Conceit, The (Hayek), 133
Faust (Delacroix), 47
Faust (Goethe), 8, 39–41, 58–59, 61, 83, 124–126, 136, 164–165, 180–181, 199; Eternal Feminine and, 10, 78–80, 87–90
Felix culpa (Fortunate Fall), 35
Fence, Chesterton’s parable of, 86–87, 103, 104–105, 146
Ferguson, Missouri, 54
Fidelio (Beethoven), 85
First Amendment, 69, 111, 134, 165
Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich, 29
Flying Dutchman (Wagner), 10, 12, 85, 103
Forbidden Planet (film), 92
Foreman, Carl, 131
Four Last Songs (Strauss), 21
Francis, pope, 1, 183
Frankfurt School, generally, 1–2, 16, 18; founders and philosophy of, 23, 42–49, 82; promise versus reality of, 95–96
Freedom of speech, 7, 19; First Amendment, 69, 111, 134, 165; political correctness and, 68–69; pornography and, 165–167
Free will, 27, 138, 160, 170; and fallen humans’ superiority to angels, 19, 22; God’s gift of, 6–7; knowledge of Good and Evil and, 35
Freischütz, Der (Weber), 11, 12, 53, 103
Freudianism, 44, 57, 72, 81, 92, 143
Fromm, Erich, 42, 81–82, 96
Function of the Orgasm, The (Reich), 143–145
Fundamental transformation of U.S., as goal of Left, 4, 32, 58, 60, 62, 155, 190, 192, 205; use of language and compromise, 175–181
Furet, François, 40
Gender, as Marxist tool, 193–194
General Will, of Rousseau, 135, 139
Genesis, Book of, 7, 17–30, 91–92
Geyer, Ludwig, 124
Ginsberg, Allen, 77
Gladstone, William, 108, 117, 167–169
God: gift of free will, 6–7; principles established by, 179–180; qualities of, 157–158
Godfather (film), 31–32, 113
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 11, 53. See also Faust (Goethe)
Goethe University, 43, 105
Goldberg Variations (Bach), 127–128
Goldman, David, 125–126
Good-Bye to All That (Graves), 201
Gopnik, Adam, 192
Gordon, George “Chinese,” 108, 167–169, 208
Gordon, Thomas, 68
Goya, Francisco, 53–54
Gramsci, Antonio, 16, 23, 61, 70, 88, 106, 165, 184, 189, 206
Grass, Günther, 178
Graves, Robert von Ranke, 201, 208
Gulf War, 177
Haeckel, Ernst, 13
Hamlet (Shakespeare), 36
Hans Heiling (Marschner), 12
Hanson, Victor Davis, 54
Hayek, Friedrich, 133
Hellman, Lillian, 180
Hemmings, David, 129–130
Henze, Hans Werner, 75
Heroism, 5–6, 26; America’s need for, 190–195; as concept outside of literature and entertainment, 178–179; Good versus Evil and action required of hero, 31–37; and lack of need for the state, 141–142; light and darkness and, 104; quests and, 14–16; self-sacrifice and, 9–14, 104, 108; versions of, 140–141
Hero with a Thousand Faces, The (Campbell), 14–15, 31, 102–103, 131
Heydrich, Reinhard, 124
High Noon (film), 77, 131, 140, 142, 191
Hitchens, Christopher, 145
Hitler, Adolf, 43, 54–56, 71, 124, 189. See also National Socialism
Hoffer, Eric, 44
Hoover, Herbert, 35
Horkheimer, Max, 42–43, 88
How the Irish Became White (Ignatiev), 154
Huxley, T.H., 48
I Am Charlotte Simmons (Wolfe), 86
Ignatiev, Noel, 154
Immigration, 87, 95, 153–155, 199
Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), 87, 154
Independence Day (film), 50–51, 191
Innovation, decline in American, 204–205
Institut für Sozialforschung, 43, 44
Intellectuals (Johnson), 82–83, 133–134
Iraq, 95, 104, 106, 177
Islamic extremism, 37, 47, 94–96, 103–104, 109, 113, 169, 175, 177
“January 22nd, Missolonghi” (Byron), 55
Jensen, Robert, 153–154
Jesus Christ: crucifixion of, 107–108; defeat of Satan, 127; descent into Hell, 65–66; as self-sacrificing hero, 5–6; three-act structure of passion of, 15
Johnson, Paul, 82–83, 133–134, 135
Junge Lord, Der (Henze), 75
Kafka, Franz, 140–141
Kampf (fight or struggle): of Left, 2–4, 17–30
Kennedy, Edward, 87, 104–105, 154, 202–203, 206
Kennedy, John F., 107, 154, 171, 199–200
Kennedy, Joseph P., 154
Khartoum, 108–109, 167–169
King, Martin Luther Jr., 52
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert, 108–109, 208
Korean War, 104, 176
Kotzebue, August von, 9–10
Krupskaya, Nadezhda, 84
Kunstwerk der Zukunft, Das (Wagner), 84
Kyj Incident (1945), 176
Language and vocabulary, used to deceive, 6, 20–21, 56–57, 157–159, 175–181, 205. See also Political correctness
Last of the Mohicans, The (film), 159
Lenin, V.I., 25, 113, 135. See also Marxism-Leninism
Lessing, Doris, 101–102
Lewis, C.S., 103, 159
Lewis, Sinclair, 198
Lies. See Deception and lies
Lies, Passions, and Illusions (Furet), 40
Light and darkness, struggle between, 91–110; Enlightenment and, 96–99; heroic spirit and, 103–104; militant Islam and, 94–96; nihilism’s hold on human imagination, 91–110; power of myth and legend, 102–103; rache (revenge) and, 105–106; Western guilt and lack of cultural confidence, 99–102, 104–110
Lincoln, Abraham, 161, 186
Lind, William S., 165
Liszt, Franz, 63, 85, 118, 165
Little Dorrit (Dickens), 177
Long, Frank Belknap, 68
Lovecraft, H.P., 68, 92–93, 138
Lucifer. See Satan
Lueger, Karl, 152
Lukács, Georg, 16, 23, 61, 70–72, 88, 122, 164–165, 178, 192, 204, 206
Luther, Martin, 150
Maddow, Ben, 77–78, 131
Magic Flute, The (Mozart), 12, 97–101, 118
Magic Mountain, The (Mann), 46, 62–63, 164
Mahler, Gustave, 152
Mann, Thomas, 46, 54, 62–63, 115, 164
Mao Zedong, 68, 88, 135
Marcus Aurelius, 95, 102, 128
Marcuse, Herbert, 42, 44–46, 61, 81, 88, 152, 171, 172
Marlowe, Christopher, 165, 184
Marschner, Heinrich, 12
Marx, Karl, 25, 43, 57, 58, 118, 135–136, 194, 206; critique of religion, 39–40, 47–48; Johnson on, 82–83. See also Marxism-Leninism
Marx
ism-Leninism, 23, 108, 143, 176, 190; Christian allegory and, 83–84; cultural Marxism, 2–3, 7, 48–49, 70–71; death toll of, 46–47; Frankfort School and, 42–48, 57; as new religion, 24–25; sexuality and, 143
Mascagni, Pietro, 112–113
Mauve Gloves and Madmen, Clutter and Vine (Wolfe), 178
McAuliffe, Anthony, 207
McCarthy, Mary, 180
Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), 95, 102, 128
Mefistofele (Boito), 20, 165
Meistersinger, Die (Wagner), 125, 128
Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), 50
Metamorphosis, The (Kafka), 140
Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler (Viereck), 56
Metapolitics: The Roots of the Nazi Mind (Viereck), 54, 55
Mexico, 154, 193
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 10–11, 12, 85, 105, 124
Miles, Jack, 5
Miller’s Crossing (film), 141
Milton, John: Areopagitica, 7, 9; optimism of, 158–159. See also Paradise Lost (Milton)
Milton’s God (Empson), 27
Mimesis, Aristotle’s doctrine of, 12–13
Mockery, Left’s inability to tolerate, 149–161
“Moln labe,” 206–207
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (1939), 188
Moore, Barrington Jr., 44–45
Morozov, Pavlik, 33
Moyers, Bill, 102
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 12, 97–101, 112, 114, 118, 127, 153
Murray, Charles, 74–75
Music, 61–63; context and subtext as message of, 111–119; twelve-tone system, 57, 62, 113–119. See also specific works
“Music and Language: A Fragment” (Adorno), 114
National Socialism, 23, 33, 56, 59, 71, 72, 108, 122, 198, 205
New Deal, 35, 198
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 124–126
Nihilism, 1, 6, 50–51, 77, 129–130, 209; hold on darkness of human imagination, 93–96
1984 (Orwell), 52, 95, 119, 141–142
Nivelle, Robert, 206
Nobel savage, Rousseau and cult of, 133–142
Nosferatu (film), 100
Oedipus, 22, 116
Oikophobia and xenophilia, of Left, 183–195
One-Dimensional Man (Marcuse), 171
Op. 2 (Chopin), 114–115
Opera, primal conflicts and quests in, 9–16. See also specific works
Operation Barbarossa, 43, 56, 188
Orgone, Reich and, 143–145
Orwell, George, 52, 119
Oswald, Lee Harvey, 107, 199–200
Other Journal (blog), 48
Paglia, Camille, 166
Paradise Lost (Milton), 7, 17, 24, 26–29, 32–35, 67–68, 79, 89, 97, 128, 137–138, 164, 170, 183, 203–204, 209
Parker, Theodore, 52
Parsifal (Wagner), 11, 13–14, 66, 92, 124, 126