The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Absolutely Essential Classics of English and American Literature for Readers from 12 to…. These works have been chosen partly for their literary excellence but even more because they were, until recently, taken for granted, as part of our common Anglo-American heritage. This first version, which will be expanded from time to time, is only a sketch, and the omission of some beloved classic may be due to an oversight or a decision to include the work in a subsequent list. If the list is somewhat boring and predictable, it is because I have left off many of my favorite writers,...
I didn’t know Neocons had friends. I thought they only had interests. But both Peter Wehner in the NY Times and Tom Nichols at The Federalist whine they have “lost friends” over opposing Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. Well, some friends of mine in 2006 “lost” their son in the Iraq War, which these two chickenhawks supported, Wehner even as the head of Bush’s Office of Strategic Initiatives. I went to the funeral. And another former neighbor of mine got a 100% disability in Iraq. It’d say each is a bigger “loss” than somebody de-Friending you on Facebook. One of the...
In this episode of Latin, Dr. Fleming discusses the third declension, the dative case, and the inapt uses of English words that have Latin roots, particularly “fabulous,” “tremendous,” and the like. Remember that this podcast is not a formal course but a foray into the study of Latin. Original Air Date: April 29, 2016 Show Run Time: 1 hour 10 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner The Fleming Foundation · Latin, Episode 4 The Fleming Foundation Presents Latin℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2016. All Rights are Reserved. Notes for Latin: Episode...
Every one of us knows something about lying – not that I’d ever dream of casting aspersions on the probity of my readers–and it isn’t always from books that the bitter knowledge comes. And the one thing about lying that any normal person who’s ever been caught with his hand in the cookie jar understands is that the lie has to be convincing, otherwise it would be best to simply say nothing and look injured, leaving it to others to make the necessary excuses. A convincing lie, in fact, needs to surpass the truth in verisimilitude, because a salient feature...
In English we think of “politics” as the art of gaining maintaining, and using power. Partly, we owe this understanding to Machiavelli, who is unfairly accused of degrading political philosophy from the pursuit of truth to the pursuit of power. Utter nonsense! Machiavelli was not a philosopher in the pure sense of the world, but a Florentine writer and statesman who loved Florence and Italy and thought hard about the ways they could be made independent, free, and republican. Aristotle, by contrast, was interested in the nature of politics or ta politika, the things pertaining to the polis. The word...
This early work by one of the masters of the novel is the introduction to his magnificent series of novels set in or near the mythical cathedral town of Barchester. We meet some of the enduring characters—Mr. Harding and his daughter Eleanor, and that model of “stupid” conservatism, Archdeacon Grantly . The humor is broader than it is in later books, and in his portrait of the ardent liberal John Bold, Trollope lays his cards on the table as he never will again. The Warden is a wonderfully entertaining novel, but it is only one that raises very important moral...
Will Barker, a commercial traveler with a passion for photography, bought “the Lodge” overlooking Ealing Green in West London in 1902 for the purpose of making movies. Cinema–very often television programs rather than movies–has been made there ever since. Recently, a couple of its studios hosted the servants’ quarters of Downton Abbey. The place reached its perihelion after World War II, when the production company, Ealing Studios, made a string of 17 comedies, from Hue and Cry in 1947 to Davy in 1958. Those films brought British cinema to world consciousness as few never before, pleasing critics as well as...
The Good News [from Matthew 22]: And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying…Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. When they had heard...
Children, generally speaking, are not wiser than their parents, and it cannot ever be said that pupils are much cleverer than teachers, but it is a manifest truth that newspaper editors are always stupider than newspaper readers. In fact, reading a newspaper invariably conjures up in my mind the image of a large department store where the customers, who are ordinary people possessed of the usual medley of human qualities, are served by moronic salesgirls, automatons with the dual setting of surly or flirty. In England I read the Daily Mail, of which there is no longer an equivalent in...
Two political gaffes—one by Donald Trump and one by Hillary Clinton—injected pre-partum infanticide, known euphemistically as abortion, into the current presidential campaign. Ironically, both Trump and Clinton told the truth more or less, and the uproar they caused is a sign that the pro-life movement is headed in the wrong direction. Original Air Date: April 20, 2016 Show Run Time: 31 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): James Easton The Fleming Foundation · From Under the Rubble, Episode 3: The Unborn Don’t Have Rights From Under the Rubble℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2016....
