After listening to an episode of the On Being podcast, titled Thinking and Friendship in Dark Times, I took up the invitation to remember the impact on my own thought of Hannah Arendt. The podcast featured a literary critic who used the mantle of Arendt’s thought to criticise approaches to refugees, global capitalism and theContinueContinue reading “Hannah Arendt and remembering thought”
Tag Archives: politics
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat X: flight in green light
X At the sight of blackbirds Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply. Wallace Stevens, 13 Ways of looking at a blackbird It is not often that the average educated reasonable person catches a glimpse of bureaucrats in flight, out in the open, for all to see, theirContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat X: flight in green light”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat IX: servants of Utopias.
IX When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird There is a strange book out there, which, if I ever develop these blogged posts into a more scholarly collection of essays, I suppose I will have to read,ContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat IX: servants of Utopias.”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat VII: at the feet of thin men
VII O thin men of Haddam, why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women around you? Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird Bureaucrats do not figure much in political utopias. Lawmakers do. Political leaders with marvellous abilities – vision andContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat VII: at the feet of thin men”
13 Ways of looking at a bureaucrat VI: through barbaric glass darkly
VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause. Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird Image Source: Thirteen Winter Tracery However much I may wish to make the figure of the bureaucrat familiar,ContinueContinue reading “13 Ways of looking at a bureaucrat VI: through barbaric glass darkly”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat V: the beauty of the bureaucrat
V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after. Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird The idea that there is beauty in the acts of a bureaucrat may seem a shocking idea. Querulous. Contrary. Quixotic. Are not bureaucratsContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat V: the beauty of the bureaucrat”
13 ways of looking at bureaucrat IV: in unity is death.
A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a blackbird Are one. Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird, stanza IV The supreme fiction of government is the unity of politics and administration. This fiction is told through many conceits and many variations. Sam Finer’s glorious achievement, hisContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at bureaucrat IV: in unity is death.”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat III: the craft of the cameo actor
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime. Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird, stanza III Imagine yourself at a crowded and vexed public meeting. A few hundred ordinary people, that legendary topos, have gathered to discuss an issue that is causing concern in theContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat III: the craft of the cameo actor”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat (II): the three-eyed raven
I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds. Wallace Stevens, 13 ways of looking at a blackbird, stanza II In Game of Thrones the three-eyed raven is the seer who is withdrawn from the world, and yet travels, embodied as a raven, to witness the world’s events, even thoughContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat (II): the three-eyed raven”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat: vigilance amidst stillness
Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the blackbird. (Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, stanza 1) We citizens flatter ourselves sometimes by believing that government, big brother, and ultimately some bureaucrat somewhere in a police or intelligence agency, is really watching us. The ever vigilant stateContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat: vigilance amidst stillness”
13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat
“Psychoanalysts don’t usually write essays; they tend to write lectures or papers or chapters, or what are called, perhaps optimistically, contributions.” Adam Phillips “Coda: up to a point” in One Way or Another: New and Selected Essays If Phillips’ invitation, masked in the form of a provocation, is true of psychoanalysis, how much more trueContinueContinue reading “13 ways of looking at a bureaucrat”
The unravelling of empires
US and western leaders have to find better ways to satisfy their people’s demands. It looks, however, as though the UK still lacks a clear idea of how it is going to function after Brexit, the eurozone remains fragile, and some of the people Mr Trump plans to appoint, as well as Republicans in Congress,ContinueContinue reading “The unravelling of empires”
Democracy’s discontents
Election nights are rites of reunification. The divisions of a society spew out over weeks, with licensed vitriol and contemptuous sneers permitted for all, and then as the consequences of the strife are tallied, the champions of right and wrong bicker about predictions and polls and the latest certainties they have received by rumour. ThenContinueContinue reading “Democracy’s discontents”
Political emotions
I am giving a paper at the end of this week at a seminar run by the Australian Research Council Centre for the History of Emotions, at the University of Melbourne. It is a second venture for me onto the stage of a more academic kind of writing, although the paper is not especially academic.ContinueContinue reading “Political emotions”
“Citizenship is a spiritual experience”
The most insightful and curious article I have read in the weekend papers is by Paul Kelly of The Australian. Kelly has written a piece that appears to be part of a journey of discovery. His recent castigations of the political class and the Australian people for spurning sensible economic reform, and acting like aContinueContinue reading ““Citizenship is a spiritual experience””
Donald Trump and America’s wounded pride
Today I watched live the speech made by Donald Trump to accept the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States of America. I watched as a detached and curious observer since this was the first and only time I have observed a full Trump performance, rather than edited excerpts in the news. HisContinueContinue reading “Donald Trump and America’s wounded pride”