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Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
Penguin Classics, 2020
“How do you have the nerve to write some of the things you do?” I asked him. “Oh, it’s easy. I just pretend that I’m already dead.” — Michel Houellebecq[1]
Some years ago, in that white-collar internment camp known as graduate school, a classmate pointed out to me a book with a title that, being nominally philosophy students, amused us: Philosopher or Dog? by one Machado de Assis. (more…)
6,251 words
Some eminent notables have claimed that the American Civil War had substantial roots in literature. Mark Twain, for example, said of Sir Walter Scott that he was “in great measure responsible for the war.” That proposition is debatable, of course. This argument hinges on how much the widespread influence of his romanticized chivalric prose bolstered the South’s hyper-thumotic stance — in plainer words, piss and vinegar — which contributed to secession, and shortly thereafter a war that went horribly awry. (more…)
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Saturday’s installment of the new and improved Writers’ Bloc, hosted by Nick Jeelvy, is now available for listening and download. His guest is Counter-Currents’ own regular writer, Kathryn S. They focus on the ante-bellum Southern writer George Fitzhugh’s classic defense of slavery, Sociology for the South. Topics discussed include:
00:03:00 George Fitzhugh’s style
00:06:00 Is slavery good? (more…)
2,567 words
Fascinating drama can always emerge when characters argue the truth against each other. Each has something that is undeniably correct in their position, but since neither wishes to back down, it’s up to the audience to figure out whose position is more correct in the long run. Kevin Beary has written three one-act plays which deal with the African question, and uses dialectic with expert precision. (more…)
1,174 words
Like a shooting star in a white hood, the news crossed my Twitter feed about how evil white supremacist Republicans in Texas voted last Friday to make it impossible for teachers to say anything bad about the Ku Klux Klan.
Naturally, that’s not what happened, (more…)
Ross Douthat
1,484 words
A fierce battle is being waged over American history, pitting liberals against conservatives over how to present our past to children. Conservatives argue American history should inspire a civic nationalism within children, regardless of color, and our history should present the Founding Fathers as colorblind liberals. (more…)
Robert Cuccioli as Ben Rumson in Jon Marans’ Paint Your Wagon
2,260 words
The Western dominated American pop culture until the early 1970s, when it suddenly winked out like an aging athlete. TV was infested with Westerns. Jonathan Winters once complained that though he loved Westerns, he didn’t like “fifteen of them in a row.” It sure seemed that way. (more…)
Phil Eiger Newmann, Floyd Bucks, 2021.
1,113 words
When I commented recently that I found the word “Juneteenth” to be Junetarded, somebody one-upped me by suggesting that soon, the US will officially change Halloween’s name to “Octoroonth.”
Yes, the nation has truly become that dumb. (more…)
1,632 words
Did you know that whites invented homosexuality, transgenderism, rape, lesbianism, feminism, and all other forms of perversion? Neither did I, but my eyes have been opened by the insightful new documentary film Buck Breaking, produced by Tariq Nasheed. It’s the story of how white supremacy sexually objectifies the black man to break his masculine spirit and dominate him. (more…)
2,756 words
Richard Lyman Bushman
The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century
New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2018
Most of us who are not farmers are tempted to take farming for granted. We certainly see the results of farming in the produce sections of our supermarkets. Beyond that, we have pleasant images of industrious country folk in denim overalls just doin’ their thing amid amber waves of grain. (more…)
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I took a rare day off on Memorial Day, but it had nothing to do with mourning dead American soldiers. Naturally, this didn’t stop me from being bombarded by the endlessly treacly and corny “conservative” online finger-wagging about how I need to honor all the dead soldiers who ostensibly shed their blood to protect my freedoms. (more…)
3,334 words
Ron Chernow
Grant
New York: Penguin Press, 2017
Ulysses S. Grant is one of the archetypal Americans. A brilliant general who would only accept unconditional surrender. A modest president who eschewed pomp in favor of simple, democratic attire. (more…)