Darkness Visible: Newton, Conclusion–Alchemy
The 17th century in Europe was a bridge between the unbridled arrogance of the Renaissance and the technocratic self-confidence projected in the Enlightenment.
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Italian II.0 UPDATED 06/11 and 06/16
Anyone who wishes to follow, in however desultory a fashion, this Italian course should register by June 10.
Podcast: Communism and Capitalism
An informal discussion of two false ideologies that are mirror images of each other.
Darkness Visiible: Newton 3
The great English writers of the Elizabethan era and the 17th century owed a great deal to the Renascence of classical learning, which had taken place in Italy. One aspect of this Renaissance, however, involved an attempt to revive ancient paganism or rather anti-Christian neo-paganism.
Wednesday’s Child: Sweetness and Light
Of the nearly six hundred weekly posts I have published here since this site was launched, I note that not one delved into what is called natural history.
Podcast: Before Chronicles
Former managing editor Katherine Dalton Boyer interviews her former boss on the days before Rockford, in this the first part of a series.
Darkness Visible: Newton, part 2
Isaac Newton was deservedly knighted for his great accomplishments, but it is a mistake to minimize either his occult interests or his bad character.
Darkness Visible: Part I Sir Isaac Newton, Preface
This is the first section of the first part of a series of articles on the central significance of occultism . Like many of the fathers of modern science and Enlightenment–René Descartes, Francis Bacon, Elias Ashmole, and Robert Boyle–Isaac Newton was a devoted alchemist and occultist.
Podcast: Soak the Rich and Suck the People Dry
Fleming and Easton enjoy a sharp exchange on the greedy Plutocrats who own–and fund–the American government.
Ezra Pound on the Aesthetes: More Notes
Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley Ode is one of the masterpieces of 20th century English/American verse. Everything in the poem is difficult and elusive. The subtitle in French shows it is a kind of funeral homage to Pound himself, who features in the poem partly as Mauberley, a gentle disciple of the 1890’s who has to confront the realities of the literature business in London.
