Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” brilliantly captures how creeping authoritarianism works. It’s only too relevant.
Tag Archives: Fascism
“Rhinoceros” and Trump’s GOP Takeover
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged conformity, Donald Trump, Eugene Ionesco, GOP, Rhinoceros, Trumpism Comments closed
Why Fascists Obsess about Invasions
Tuesday In an important article, Washington Post’s Phil Rucker pointed out how the El Paso shooter’s diatribe, in which he talks of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” mirrors Donald Trump’s language. Rucker reminds us of what we’ve been hearing from our president: President Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged El Paso shooting, Klaus Theweleit, male fantasies, white supremacy Comments closed
A New Isaiah Walks the City Streets
In David Gascoyne’s 1932 poem “New Isaiah,” the poet uses Isaiah imagery to prophesy the decline of the west.
Ishiguro Anticipated Brexit, Trump
Recently Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro anticipated the return of tribal hatreds in the developed world.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Brexit, Buried Giant, extreme partisanship, Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day Comments closed
Kelly as Coriolanus? Dear God, No!
John McCain is John of Gaunt to John Kelly’s Coriolanus. Guess which one loves his country more.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Coriolanus, Donald Trump, Henry VI Part I, John Kelly, John McCain, popular rule, Richard II, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Nazis and the Classics
Do the classics make us better people. F. R. Leavis thinks so while Terry Eagleton disagrees and cites as an example concentration camp commandants who read Goethe.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged book burnings, Goethe, Nazis, Terry Eagleton, William Shakespeare Comments closed
A Fascist Novel & Immigration Policy
Raspail’s “Camp of Saints” is currently influencing White House policy in ways similar to how “Atlas Shrugged” has guided Speaker Paul Ryan. The novel needs to be taken seriously.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Camp of Saints, Donald Trump, German Freikorps soldiers, immigration policy, Jean Raspail, Steve Bannon Comments closed
Freikorps Fantasies and Trump’s Policies
David Brooks of “The New York Times” wonders whether Donald Trump’s policy preferences all come down to a preference for masculine hard over feminine soft. Klaus Theweleit’s study of fascist fantasies in the 1920’s describes such tendencies.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged emasculation anxieties, fascist fantasies, Freikorps, Klaus Theweleit, male fantasies, misogyny Comments closed
Why the Alt-Right Austen Takeover Will Fail
The alt-right has tried to appropriate Jane Austen. Their readings are alternately hilarious and horrifying.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged alt-right, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, NEH, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, William Bennet Comments closed
