Utopias Unlimited, Part II
In turning the conventional on its head, Gilbert was able to see into the paradoxes that lay just beneath the surface of Victorian morality.
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Wednesday’s Child: The Glass Veranda
This week my wife is expected to give birth to our child. How can I not recall the moment in my beloved Pasternak’s Spektorsky, when the poet says….
A Letter from Alabama: The Legacy of Colin Powell by the Alabaman
Former U.S. Secretary of State, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell has died, according to reports in the media, from “Covid complications.” Since General Powell had received all the government coerced shots, skeptics may be wondering how this could have happened! The mainstream media legacy of Colin Powell does not entirely match up with the historical record.
Utopias Unlimited, Part I
This essay on the ethics of W.S. Gilbert has been revised and considerably expanded.
Wednesday’s Child: Devil May Care and Does
As there is little hope that the gentle reader can recall a post of mine from four years ago, I will quote its closing paragraph. That week I had just returned from London from the funeral of a close friend where I came across an old acquaintance – novelist Sebastian Faulks, author of The Girl at the Lion d’Or and other light masterpieces – and this led me to reminisce about our last meeting many years earlier, at a Chinese restaurant of my choosing.
Gilbert and Sullivan, Part I: A Brief and Informal Guide
There are many studies, commentaries, and guidebooks to the world of Sir W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. I have read or consulted several them over the years, and I will provide a little bibliography as this series—undertaken in response to requests—but I disclaim any specialized knowledge that is not in the hands or in the heads of perhaps tens of thousands of people who have read, watched, and listened to their work for many years.
What’s Happened to the Eschaton?
Many, many years ago, in my callow and misspent youth, I had a lapel button that said: “Don’t let them immanentize the eschaton.” This was a pretty good saying and conversation starter despite the fact, as I recall, that it was popularized by the intellectually shallow poseur William Buckley. The saying was an over-simplified reference to the vast, erudite, and dense writings of Eric Voegelin. Reduced shamefully to the simplest terms, immanentizing the eschaton is an attempt to bring Heaven to earth by the actions of men. For Christian civilization the given universe is a divine design which includes the...
