Elena Shvarts and the burnt archive. Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob, and the perils of order in history. The Stranger Effect and the charisma of Messiahs. The Coming of the Third Reich. Hermann Broch, The Death of Virgil and the ethics of poetry as gathering flowers of the mind.
Tag Archives: culture
Podcast 31 – Seven Basic Plots vs 1001 Nights of Stories
This episode of The Burning Archive examines tragedy and comedy, the story of the story of stories, the seven basic plots, and how even historians write their histories with these plots. But can the inventiveness of great storytellers really be limited to seven basic plots. Will Scheherazade outwit, outlast and outplay the critics?
Podcast # 30 – Three Faiths. One Holy Land.
Podcast 30 of the Burning Archive discusses the claims of Judaism, Christianity and Islam on the State of Israel and the Universal City of Jerusalem.
Podcast 26 – Beowulf
In October 1731 there was a fire in the Ashburnham House residence of the Keeper of the King’s libraries in Westminster London. The fire threatened the one and only manuscript of the Old English poem, Beowulf. It was rescued by the librarian and others leaping from the window, clasping manuscripts. Singed but intact, Beowulf was literally saved from a Burning Archive. The episode is available on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
Flowers of the Mind 7. Asvina (week 5) 2021
Michael Anton, Machiavelli, and the way. David Starkey, rootedness and Chaucer. Dalai Lama. Jordan B. Peterson and self-transformation. Zbigniew Herbert and dreams.
Podcast #22 – A Canon of One’s Own
This episode of The Burning Archive podcast features a special guest – young lawyer, Freya Rich, who speaks to the Burning Archive about the questions and topics from history and culture her generation would like to know more about; what from the past is not past for her; and what might become A Canon of her Own
The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. When faced with cultural decay and ruined institutions, what is a podcaster to do? In this episode, Jeff Rich turns for hope to the traditions of the Eastern European dissidents of 1960-90 Eastern Europe.ContinueContinue reading “The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless”
The Burning Archive Podcast #8 – Cultural Decay and the meaning of the Burning Archive
I have posted episode 8 of The Burning Archive Podcast – Cultural Decay and the meaning of the Burning Archive. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. In this episode I discuss cultural decay – the theme of cultural pessimists for centuries, and of this writer for a decade or more, including many posts on thisContinueContinue reading “The Burning Archive Podcast #8 – Cultural Decay and the meaning of the Burning Archive”
Burning Archive Podcast #7 – The ordinary virtues of governing well
I have posted episode 7 of The Burning Archive Podcast – the ordinary virtues of governing well. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. In this episode I discuss a possible antidote to political decay; building a strong culture rooted in the ordinary virtues of governing well. Based on traditions of virtue ethics scattered from ConfuciusContinueContinue reading “Burning Archive Podcast #7 – The ordinary virtues of governing well”
A multi-polar world
Originally posted just over three years ago as a reflection on 2017, a difficult year, this post seems more germane than ever. A multipolar-world (Originally posted December 2017) I was asked the other day in conversation with a friend, what was the best thing about this year? She had earlier said the best thing wasContinueContinue reading “A multi-polar world”
The plague year
One year ago posted the post below on the likely effects of the coronavirus on our lives, our health and our governments. Like most people I think I over-estimated the health impact of the virus, and under-estimated its social and political impact. I certainly did not predict the sapping of democratic culture by expert elites.ContinueContinue reading “The plague year”
The persistence of the Mahabharata
One year ago I was about to fly to Bali, as it turned out in the last window of easy international travel before wide COVID travel restrictions. It was a wonderful, relaxing, luxurious and rejuvenating trip. Part of the regrowth came from the direct experience of the cultural traditions that India disseminated over South EastContinueContinue reading “The persistence of the Mahabharata”
Cantos from a cage
Today I am reposting this reflection on the true heritage of Ezra Pound, Cantos from a cage, which I originally posted in April 2018. I have borrowed from the local library, Daniel Swift The Bughouse: the poetry, politics and madness of Ezra Pound (2017) that tries “to make our peace, as best we can, withContinueContinue reading “Cantos from a cage”
America’s fate: civil war, fragmentation or collapse?
Today after the distressing events and death in the Capitol building of Washington DC that interrupted the process of confirming electoral college votes, I am reposting this piece from five months ago. It may be more relevant today than then. I would place my bets on fragmentation or collapse at this stage *** Original PostContinueContinue reading “America’s fate: civil war, fragmentation or collapse?”
Fragments from the Burning Archive: Anna Akhmatova
In my study is a box of old index cards with fragmentary thoughts, notes on narratives and characters, and quotations taken from my reading. The box is labelled “Notes to Digitise,” and perhaps that will one day be a retirement project. But for now it is a stimulus to dig deep down into the BurningContinueContinue reading “Fragments from the Burning Archive: Anna Akhmatova”
Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies
My repost today comes from 22 April 2018, and seems relevant to the difficulties we are experiencing in our distressed republics today. I also posted something of a follow-up post on the Collapsing New Buildings of Government. Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies During the week I was discussing with aContinueContinue reading “Cultural fragmentation and the collapse of authority in Western democracies”
Fragments from my diaries – the year in review
Throughout the year I have kept a diary in a an A5 black notebook of 200 pages or so. I have followed this practice for quite some years now, and when I write the first entry in the notebook will give it a title. This year’s notebooks I titled , “The view from Thucydides Tower”ContinueContinue reading “Fragments from my diaries – the year in review”
Axel’s Castle, a mirror and an encyclopaedia
Today I am reposting this post from April 2, 2018 that reflected on some of the literary symbols that formed uncanny fascinators in my mind. *** When I was about fifteen, I found Edmund Wilson’s Axel’s Castle in a library. It was my introduction to literary modernism, and their progenitors, the French symbolists. Over timeContinueContinue reading “Axel’s Castle, a mirror and an encyclopaedia”
America’s Hispanic Past and its Hispanic Future Proves it is not Exceptional
“even well-educated, amiable, open-minded people in the United States do not realize that their country has a Hispanic past as well as a Hispanic future.”Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States Over the last few weeks I have read Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States. TheContinueContinue reading “America’s Hispanic Past and its Hispanic Future Proves it is not Exceptional”
The Coming Renaissance of the Second Culture
Terrible events occur in history that devastate the cities that our minds build. The Barbarians sack Rome, and other-named disasters have similarly brought ruin to all past civilisations across time and the globe. It is hard not to see, from my crumbling Tower of Thucydides, in all the obscure runes of our time, a similarContinueContinue reading “The Coming Renaissance of the Second Culture”