In fairness, the equivalent of this letter could have been written after the execution of Charles I, or after the fire of 1666, or after the Crimean war, or after either World War, or after Amelia's grand-dad's first public performance (the song was Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," which I've been unsuccessfully trying to get him to perform himself again for 40 years). When has England ever NOT been a cacaphony of "decline" complaints?
Fair points, all, dear Thomas. I am biased by having lived there during good times. John Major transitioned to Tony Blair while I was there. I watched them hand Hong Kong back to Beijing on a telly for which I had to pay a license fee.
I've not yet spent time there. My wife spent a semester in London while in college and enjoyed it very much, although my impression is she enjoyed Glastonbury, Bath, Stratford-on-Avon, and Ireleland more.
Pet peeve of mine: They did not hand Hong Kong "back." Hong Kong had never previously been part of the People's Republic of China (neither has Taiwan).
Like the nostalgia of many for the glory of 1950s USA...London of the 1970s & 1980s had long since tasted and digested the bitter Revolutionary root. R-Paul says the date we lost our Republic was 11/11/'63 (the CIA et al Killing/Coverup of JFK). But I wonder, are 1913...(Senate/FED Res/ ...WWI) not a better dates?
Yet these all are but Fruit, of a long past Revolution...of Heart and Mind...sans the guillotine.
Quote:
"If, snatching away the mask of the Revolution, you asked her, "Who are you?", she would say to you: "I am not what they believe I am. Many speak of me, and very few know me. I am not Carbonarism conspiring in secret, nor riots roaring in the streets, nor the change from the monarchy to a republic, nor the substitution of one royal dynasty for another, nor a temporary disturbance in public order. I am not the howls of the Jacobins nor the furies of the Mountain, nor the fighting on the barricades, nor the pillaging, nor the arson, nor the agrarian law, nor the guillotine, nor the drownings. I am not Marat, nor Robespierre, nor Babeuf, nor Mazzini, nor Kossuth. These men are my sons - they are not me. These things are my works - they are not me. These men and these things are transitory things, and I am a permanent condition.
I am the hatred of every religious and social order which Man has not established and in which he is not king and God together; I am the proclamation of the rights of man against the rights of God; I am the philosophy of rebellion, the politics of rebellion, the religion of rebellion; I am armed nihilism; I am the founding of the religious and social state on the will of Man in place of the will of God! In a word, I am anarchy, for I am God dethroned and Man put in his place. This is why I am called Revolution: it means reversal, because I put on high that which should be low according to the eternal laws, and I put low what should be on high." Jean-Joseph Gaume, The Revolution
I love reading stuff like this from you and contrasting it with comments by others, such as Thomas Knapp. You guys sit on each of my shoulders and give me reminders.
I loved this essay. It’s beautiful and sad and poignant. The first time I ever went to London, it was supposed to be a working trip and I was supposed to be spending my day in the British Library working on my book. I couldn’t do it. I had to walk. I had to walk everywhere and memorize the city from top to bottom with my feet. It was just wall-to-wall history, wall-to-wall literary history. At times, I felt like I was inside a Dickens novel. I tried to find Bentham’s auto icon, and couldn’t do it. Directions were unclear at that time, and he may have been put away for a while, because I did look hard. I’m glad you found him.
In fairness, the equivalent of this letter could have been written after the execution of Charles I, or after the fire of 1666, or after the Crimean war, or after either World War, or after Amelia's grand-dad's first public performance (the song was Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," which I've been unsuccessfully trying to get him to perform himself again for 40 years). When has England ever NOT been a cacaphony of "decline" complaints?
Fair points, all, dear Thomas. I am biased by having lived there during good times. John Major transitioned to Tony Blair while I was there. I watched them hand Hong Kong back to Beijing on a telly for which I had to pay a license fee.
Listening now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmHgnPPkkQ
I've not yet spent time there. My wife spent a semester in London while in college and enjoyed it very much, although my impression is she enjoyed Glastonbury, Bath, Stratford-on-Avon, and Ireleland more.
Pet peeve of mine: They did not hand Hong Kong "back." Hong Kong had never previously been part of the People's Republic of China (neither has Taiwan).
Re: Hong Kong -- Whoa, I didn't realize that!
Bath is truly lovely.
Like the nostalgia of many for the glory of 1950s USA...London of the 1970s & 1980s had long since tasted and digested the bitter Revolutionary root. R-Paul says the date we lost our Republic was 11/11/'63 (the CIA et al Killing/Coverup of JFK). But I wonder, are 1913...(Senate/FED Res/ ...WWI) not a better dates?
Yet these all are but Fruit, of a long past Revolution...of Heart and Mind...sans the guillotine.
Quote:
"If, snatching away the mask of the Revolution, you asked her, "Who are you?", she would say to you: "I am not what they believe I am. Many speak of me, and very few know me. I am not Carbonarism conspiring in secret, nor riots roaring in the streets, nor the change from the monarchy to a republic, nor the substitution of one royal dynasty for another, nor a temporary disturbance in public order. I am not the howls of the Jacobins nor the furies of the Mountain, nor the fighting on the barricades, nor the pillaging, nor the arson, nor the agrarian law, nor the guillotine, nor the drownings. I am not Marat, nor Robespierre, nor Babeuf, nor Mazzini, nor Kossuth. These men are my sons - they are not me. These things are my works - they are not me. These men and these things are transitory things, and I am a permanent condition.
I am the hatred of every religious and social order which Man has not established and in which he is not king and God together; I am the proclamation of the rights of man against the rights of God; I am the philosophy of rebellion, the politics of rebellion, the religion of rebellion; I am armed nihilism; I am the founding of the religious and social state on the will of Man in place of the will of God! In a word, I am anarchy, for I am God dethroned and Man put in his place. This is why I am called Revolution: it means reversal, because I put on high that which should be low according to the eternal laws, and I put low what should be on high." Jean-Joseph Gaume, The Revolution
I love reading stuff like this from you and contrasting it with comments by others, such as Thomas Knapp. You guys sit on each of my shoulders and give me reminders.
I loved this essay. It’s beautiful and sad and poignant. The first time I ever went to London, it was supposed to be a working trip and I was supposed to be spending my day in the British Library working on my book. I couldn’t do it. I had to walk. I had to walk everywhere and memorize the city from top to bottom with my feet. It was just wall-to-wall history, wall-to-wall literary history. At times, I felt like I was inside a Dickens novel. I tried to find Bentham’s auto icon, and couldn’t do it. Directions were unclear at that time, and he may have been put away for a while, because I did look hard. I’m glad you found him.
It makes my month to get this from you, Erin. Truly.
I can totally see you walking around, looking around, but forgetting to look right, and almost being hit by a black taxi.
Re: UCL -- I was surprised to find Bentham there, honestly.
Thank you for this little bit of light on an otherwise dreary Monday.
Same!!
My brother and sis-in-law live in the Borders, and they know that it is only a matter of time before all this crap reaches them, even there.
I suspect that's where my people come from.
Oh goodness — I did not even make the connection, haha!