The Latest(ish)
Much as blood and soil may help, it takes more to make a nation than a happy coincidence of genes and real estate. Today’s nation-states are, whatever they may claim, purpose-built, as artificial as they are organic. Many may now have developed a genuine sense of self, but that identity is often rooted in myth as much as history, in fantasy as much as fact, and in forgetfulness as much as memory. Nowhere is that more the case than in those states where the past is as awkward as geography is inconvenient. Imperial Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries, [...]
A Nation Safe for Autocracy
May 30, 2007
Fedor Solntsev (1801–92) at the New York Public Library; published originally in The New York Sun
It was Friday night in New York City. I’d already drunk a couple of beers, so now was a good time for a quick rummage around inside Paris Hilton. I wasn’t the first to do so, no, not even that evening, but what the hell? She didn’t mind. Her eyes were closed, her face angular and serene, her back arched in almost Mannerist contortion, and her legs, ah her legs; they were akimbo, long, smooth, and inviting. I did, however, take the precaution of putting on a pair of slightly grubby white gloves before, well… Well, since you ask, before [...]
Mean Girl
May 25, 2007
Paris Hilton; published originally in National Review Online
Here’s the problem. This review was meant to be about 28 Weeks Later, the newly released sequel to the hugely successful 28 Days Later, but, quite frankly, there’s not a lot to say about it. Judged in its own right, 28 Weeks Later is nicely paced, reasonably exciting, competently made, and well acted (with Robert Carlyle, as so often, a stand-out). What’s more, it boasts a few thought-provoking moments, and has enough deaths-by-helicopter-blade to justify the price of admission alone. The difficulty is that it’s a sequel. It cannot just be judged in its own right. The awkward, inconvenient fact [...]
Britain, Year Zero
May 15, 2007
28 Weeks Later; published originally in National Review Online
Of all the legends with which humanity deludes itself there are few more persistent, enchanting, and tormenting than that of a lost golden age. The Jews of the Old Testament pined for Eden, and the ancient Greeks dreamed of Arcadia. In the fantasies of many modern Britons, that vanished, magical idyll may have taken place on the island they call home, and not that many years ago, but that has only sharpened the sense of loss and tightened its grip on the English imagination. This particular golden age was said to have been ushered in with a funeral, that of [...]
England’s Arcadia
May 2, 2007
The Perfect Summer, by Juliet Nicolson; published originally in The New York Sun