4,994 words
Of peasant ancestry on his father’s side and boasting aristocratic (boyar) maternal roots, the Romanian poet, prose writer, and editorialist Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) had not put his modest inherited wealth to waste. Educated in the German language since childhood, Eminescu was culturally — if not always geopolitically — an enthusiastic Germanophile. (more…)
Edmund Dulac, “The Buried Moon” from The Red Cross Fairy Book, 1916.
Edmund Dulac, “The Buried Moon” from The Red Cross Fairy Book, 1916.
4,430 words
He had me at: “It was still the South, he knew it for a certainty when they passed an aged negro in overalls hobbling down along the highway toward no conceivable destination. The land was cursed. God, he loved it.” [1] Tito Perdue, author of the two novels here reviewed, The Smut Book and Cynosura, is a proud Southerner who has enjoyed skewering the sacred cows of these, our cursed times since he became a writer in the early 1980s. (more…)
1,095 words
Jalal El-Kadali
Oyster Mountain: Poems
Charleston, WV: Nine-Banded Books, 2020
To say that frogs turn
Into princes is blasphemy
Against Nature; Salvador Dali, however
Was a painter who painted the things in his subconscious
The world of his dreams; at least
He didn’t expect anyone to believe that they were real
At least he wasn’t telling lies to children (more…)
413 words
If White Privileges were real
In our hearts and in our homes
Our good-byes would be hellos
And whispers would be bellows
As thoughts distort and form against
the glare of august fellows (more…)
Phil Eiger Newmann, Kipling, 2020.
Phil Eiger Newmann, Kipling, 2020.
3,244 words
Nobel Prize-winning poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling was born on this day in 1865. For an introduction to his life and works, see the following articles on this site.
Puritan-descended poet Robert Frost in the 1910s, about 40 years old. Even his physiognomy was Yankee.
Puritan-descended poet Robert Frost in the 1910s, about 40 years old. Even his physiognomy was Yankee.
1,853 words
Discussing Robert Frost’s collection Steeple Bush in the New York Times upon its release in 1947, poet Randall Jarrell devoted the bulk of his review to quoting and summarizing just one poem, “Directive,” saying,
Reading through Frost’s new book one stops for a long time at “Directive. . . .” There are weak places in the poem, but these are nothing . . . (more…)
Simon Marmion, The Eight Phases of the Song of Roland, ca. 15th century.
Simon Marmion, The Eight Phases of the Song of Roland, ca. 15th century.
1,863 words
I sold my car before moving to Europe a few years ago. I had this car for several years and took it on various road trips across the US. During a few of these trips, I thought about The Song of Roland, the French poem from the 11th century. From tales of tragedy to stories of heroism, this epic poem has given me a lot to think about during the various road trips of my life. (more…)
Paul Albert Besnard, The First Morning, 1881.
Paul Albert Besnard, The First Morning, 1881.
341 words
Your heart rate dropped precipitously
Like the bottom of my mind at its apogee
The angels were clamoring for your wings
Despite what they say, they are terrible things
Immeasurable for the dread in me
But I love you unspeakably because (more…)
713 words
“A slave is one who waits for someone else to free him.” — Ezra Pound
One of the ongoing projects of the North American New Right is the recovery of our tradition. One does not have to go too far back before one discovers that every great European thinker and artist is a “Right Wing extremist” by today’s standards.
Aleister Crowley by Charles Krafft
Aleister Crowley by Charles Krafft
424 words
Aleister Crowley was an English poet, novelist, painter, and mountaineer who is most famous as an occultist, ceremonial magician, and founder of the religion and philosophy of Thelema. But ironically Crowley’s supposed Satanism and Black Magic are far less frightening to most people than his politics. For Aleister Crowley was also a man of the Right.
Roy Campbell
Roy Campbell
1,562 words
Roy Campbell was a South African poet and essayist. T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Edith Sitwell praised Campbell as one of the best poets of the inter-war period. Unfortunately, his conservatism, Nietzscheanism, and Catholicism, as well as his open contempt for the Bloomsbury set and his participation in the Spanish Civil War on the Fascist side, have led his works being consigned to the memory hole. (more…)
231 words
Thomas Stearns Eliot was one of the 20th century’s most influential poets, as well as an essayist, literary critic, playwright, and publisher. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, from old New England stock, Eliot emigrated to England in 1914 and was naturalized as a British subject in 1927.
Antoni Piotrowski, The Batak Massacre, 1889.
Antoni Piotrowski, The Batak Massacre, 1889.
1,784 words
I spent a long summer in Sofia, Bulgaria to explore the area and attend a few heavy metal concerts. During my time there, I took daily walks through the city center where I passed by stray dogs, ancient ruins, and historic monuments. Many of these monuments were dedicated to the countless individuals that lost their lives (more…)