Counter-Currents
Novel Takes: Essays on Literature
Greg Johnson
San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2024
224 pages
About Novel Takes:
There’s a lot of truth in fiction.
In Novel Takes, Greg Johnson explores racial, ethnic, and political themes in such works as Jean Raspail’s The Camp of the Saints, Frank Herbert’s Dune series, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, H. P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, Michel Houellebecq’s Submission and Annihilation, Tito Perdue’s Morning Crafts, The Node, and Reuben, Chuck Palahniuk’s Adjustment Day, and others.
Praise for Novel Takes:
“I can speak to Greg Johnson’s skills as a literary critic, because he has written about three of my books with understanding and appreciation. It’s more than a bit embarrassing to be reviewed by someone who produces a better grade of prose than found in the matter under consideration. But that’s the story with Greg Johnson, for whom literary criticism is but one of his many talents, including editing Counter-Currents, the best site to be found anywhere on the Web.”
—Tito Perdue, author of Reuben and twenty-two other novels
“Greg Johnson is a very old-fashioned literary critic. He looks for truth, even in fiction. His Novel Takes lives up to its name by offering genuinely surprising interpretations of novels with Right-wing political themes and lessons. You’ll high tail it to the original books, convinced Johnson is ‘reading in’ his own ideas, only to discover that, no, he’s ‘reading out’ deeply heretical ideas that are already there.”
—Jef Costello, author of Heidegger in Chicago: A Comedy of Errors
“Read any good books lately? Here are some recommendations. From mega-blockbusters like the Dune franchise to misanthropic bestsellers like The Camp of the Saints and A Confederacy of Dunces to more politically niche works like Bill Hopkins’ The Leap! and Harold Covington’s Northwest Quartet, Greg Johnson finds obscure books you need to read and offers challenging new perspectives on old favorites. Make room for this, and plenty more, on your bookshelves.”
—James J. O’Meara, author of The Eldritch Evola and five other books
Contents
Preface — 1
Dystopian Visions
1. Jean Raspail’s The Camp of the Saints — 1
2. H. P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth — 13
3. Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? as Anti-Semitic/Christian-Gnostic Allegory — 21
4. Michel Houllebecq’s Submission — 30
5. A Farewell to Reason: Michel Houllebecq’s Annihilation — 42
Frank Herbert
6. Frank Herbert: Our Prophet — 54
7. Archeofuturist Fiction: Frank Herbert’s Dune — 63
8. Notes on Dune Messiah — 69
9. The Golden Path: Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune & God Emperor of Dune — 74
10. The Bene Gesserit Books: Frank Herbert’s Heretics of Dune & Chapterhouse Dune — 88
Tito Perdue
11. Waiting for Saint Benedict: Tito Perdue’s Morning Crafts — 101
12. Turning the World Around: Tito Perdue’s The Node — 108
13. The Cultured Thug: Tito Perdue’s Reuben — 113
Cautionary Tales
14. John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces — 123
15. Bill Hopkins’ The Leap! — 135
Engaged Literature
16. Superheroes, Sovereignty, & the Deep State — 146
17. Birth of a Nation: H. A. Covington’s Northwest Quartet — 158
18. Farnham O’Reilly’s Hyperborean Home — 176
19. Notes on Chuck Palahniuk’s Adjustment Day — 183
20. Ayn Rand’s Ideal: The Novel & the Play — 188
21. The Meaning of Mishima’s Death — 196
Index — 201
About the Author — 218