Violet – an opera by Roger Scruton

Violet has many ‘husbands’, none of whom she has given herself to: “I married none of them”, she says, “they married me.” It is the end of an age and the beginning of the end of an aesthetic sensibility that she and her live-in brood of bachelors furiously try to preserve. But what will come of love that always seeks the ideal, that tries never to be consummated in a particular time or place?

Cultural confidence and the liberal death wish

In a selection from his forthcoming book The Intellectual Temptation, former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein suggests that an academic obsession with abstract theory over hard-won experience lies behind our political and cultural crises. Bolkestein takes us from centralization through multiculturalism to cultural self-flagellation: ideals – or ideologies – that define the landscape of contemporary Western Europe.

A Dove Descending: Part III of III

Roger Scruton

The Clarion Review is proud to present the third and final installment of this novella by writer and philosopher Roger Scruton.

Zoë’s dreams of meeting her destiny on the streets of London are running aground fast. To whom will she turn? To Dr Leacock, the predatory postmodern professor who’s always too ready to help? To Michael, the mysterious art student, who surely pours his angst into something worth living for? Back to her mother, whom she disgraced by her flight, and whom she still resents? Zoë takes her stand; will the world turn with her?

“I must watch over you”: The virtue of familial responsibility

Carrie Frederick Frost

Family is on everyone’s mind during Christmastide, whether it be the Holy Family of the Christmas story or our own families. But rarely is this topic approached theologically or as a virtue. Read Carrie Frederick Frost’s reflection on the under-appreciated virtue of familial responsibility and its great exemplar in the novel Kristin Lavransdatter.

A Dove Descending: Part II of III

Roger Scruton

When we last saw Zoë, she had run away from home one morning, leaving her mother in tears. Now that her long-planned tirade against the family’s Cypriot traditionalism is behind her, however, Zoë seems to have no clear idea of what she will do or where she will go when she leaves work later the same day. Or, rather, she has too many ideas…

Why should businessmen read great literature?

Vigen Guroian

In every society, power must be humanized and used morally in order that free and civilized life might prosper. And in a commercial society, businessmen and businesswomen wield especially great power and are frequently called into roles of civic and political leadership. So, why should they read great literature?

Little Indulgences

By: Jonathan David Price

Coffee is all that matters to Mr. Johnson at this hour. One cup at eight. Only in the morning. He has only missed his coffee twice, the day he had to leave his wife and kids, and the day his mother died. He was bitter both days. Mr. Johnson likes his coffee bitter—two squirts of milk … Read more

A Dove Descending: Part I of III

Roger Scruton

The first installment of the novella A Dove Descending about a Greek girl who falls from too great a height. She lives in London with her pious mother, her recently-deceased father’s continuing presence, and the lure of the modern life that books and a progressive professor have offered her. Now she must choose between the ancient culture she was born into and the freedoms offered by England.

Pass de Botton: An atheist’s appraisal of religion misses the cue

Brian Lapsa

A review of Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists.

Not long ago Starbucks sandwich boards advised us to “Take comfort in ritual”—in this case the diurnal rites of lattés and Frappucinos. It’s clear enough that the Giant of Joe benefits from regular patronage, but less clear is why recommending ritual might not be off-putting to a clientele whose apple of wisdom is to “think different.” Ritual is religious (or is thought to be) and is therefore considered wholly personal. Most Westerners tend to regard its presence in public space with suspicion.

‘Asking for it’ – Rape, consent, and the problem of shame

Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode

What’s wrong with rape? As soon as we scratch the surface of the problem we encounter the deep complexity of human relations. It is important to recognize this complexity, particularly when the discussion of sexuality – arguably the most intimate form of human relations – is played out in exultant parades in which triumphantly brandished signs defend “slut pride” by proclaiming things like “my short skirt has nothing to do with you”, “we’re taking ‘slut’ back”, and “I’m a human not a sandwich”.

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