2020 has taught us through bitter experience that our societies are not vaccinated against totalitarianism, and certainly not the mutant strain of "soft totalitarianism" described in Rod Dreher's Live Not by Lies: a Manual for Christian Dissidents (2020). The last year has seen lockdowns, curfews and bans on the most fundamental human relationships (attendance at… Continue reading On living not by lies
Prophets are despised in their own country, and now and then I am tempted deeply by Cassandra's fate. So in appreciation of true prophets and great writers, who formed my understanding of the world as a young man, here are some brief testimonies of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. "If one is forever cautious, can one remain a… Continue reading An interlude on Solzhenitsyn
From a review of recent books on Solzhenitsyn come this brief account of the conservative Russian author's encounter with condescending and blinkered American liberalism: “leading television commentator lectured me that I presumed to judge the experience of the world from the viewpoint of my own limitedSoviet and prison-camp experience. Indeed, how true! Life and death, imprisonment… Continue reading What I am reading… Solzhenitsyn on his limited experience
