The Devil's Pleasure Palace (35 page)

The rest of us, though cast out of the Garden, yet attend to the sacred texts and heed the stories in our hearts. Having witnessed the Archangel Michael as, with fiery sword, he banished the ur-Father and ur-Mother from Eden, we can still see the eternal Cherubim guarding the gates, disporting themselves among St. Michael's magic fire, secure in the knowledge, and the hope, of our return.

       
The world was all before them, where to choose

       
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:

       
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,

       
Through Eden took their solitary way.

And, in that moment of grief and loss, humanity was born, to begin its long journey home.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help, encouragement, and suggestions during the creation and writing of this book, including Roger Kimball, Molly Powell, Jack Fowler, Tracy Scoggins, the people of Holy Family Chapel, Elena Kurtz, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Maxhimer. Special thanks to Bill Walsh.

INDEX

Abduction from the Seraglio, The
(Mozart),
99–100

Abortion,
50
,
74–76
,
86
,
113
,
121–122
,
147
,
185
,
192

Adorno, Theodor,
42
,
43
,
88
,
184
,
187
,
189
; rhetoric and music criticism of,
16
,
57
,
61
,
113–119

Adventures in the Orgasmatron
(Turner),
145

Afghanistan,
47
,
95
,
104
,
106
,
109
,
177
,
208

Agon
(Stravinsky),
116

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
(Carroll),
10
,
56
,
151
,
157–158

Alinsky, Saul,
4
,
45
,
84
,
103
,
155
,
163
,
189

Amadeus
(Shaffer),
127

“American
taqiyya
,”
109–110

Anderson, Brian,
40

Anti-Semitism,
56
,
82–83
,
124
,
126
,
152

Apostle's Creed,
65

“Arc of history,”
52
,
68
,
78
,
116
,
201

Areopagitica
(Milton),
7
,
19

Aristotle: doctrine of mimesis,
12–13
; three-part structure of storytelling,
15

Art: as gift from God and medium of truth,
13
; lessons of,
2–4
,
10
,
12–13

Assassins
(Sondheim),
107

Atheism: as belief in self,
134–135
; as faith in the state,
25
,
48
,
133–142
.
See also
Religion, Left's criticisms of

Augustine, Saint,
22
,
65

Babbitt
(Lewis),
198

Bach, J.S.,
127–128

Back to Methuselah
(Shaw),
105

Banned books,
167

Bartók, Béla,
115–116

Beauvoir, Simone de,
84

Beethoven, Ludwig,
85
,
118

Belloc, Hilaire,
109

Bellow, Saul,
21–22

Benedict XVI, pope,
206

Benjamin, Walter,
42
,
208

Berg, Alban,
116
,
117
,
118

Berlioz, Hector,
53

Bin Laden, Osama,
47

Blake, William,
67

Bloomsbury Group,
77
,
169

Blow Up
(film),
129–131

Bloy, Léon,
183

Boethius,
149–150
,
156–157

Boito, Arrigo,
20
,
165

Brazil
(film),
141

Breitbart, Andrew,
76

Bruckner, Anton,
62

Bush, George W.,
36
,
106
,
186

Busoni, Ferrucio,
165

Butler, Samuel,
160

Byron, Lord,
55

Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered Liberalism
(Pierson),
107

Campbell, Joseph,
14–15
,
31
,
102–103
,
131

Capitalism, Left's disdain for,
2–3
,
172
,
205

Capriccio
(Strauss),
128

Caprichos, Los
(Goya),
53–54

Casablanca
(film),
69–70

Cato,
68

Cavalleria rusticana
(Mascagni),
112–113

Chamberlain, Neville,
36

Chanson de Roland
,
94–95

Chesterton, G.K.,
86–87
,
103
,
104–105
,
146
,
183

Chinatown
(film),
93–94
,
101
,
108

Chopin, Frederic,
114–115

Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God
(Miles),
5

Christianity: allegory and,
65–67
,
83
; Christian hero and,
5–6
; foundational text of,
107–108
; Left's attacks on,
70–71
,
102–103
,
134
,
156
,
178
,
186
; Left's intolerance of fallibility of,
45
,
103–104

“City, The” (Wolff),
77

Civil rights movement,
85–86
,
153
,
197–198

Clements, Rob,
48

Clemenza di Tito, La
(Mozart),
97–99

Cold War,
17
,
24–25
,
46
,
177
,
207

Communism,
33
,
40
,
43
,
59
; death toll of,
122
; failure in Soviet Union,
47
,
59–60
,
71–72
,
92
,
185–191
; Lessing on,
101–102
.
See also
Marxism-Leninism

Communist Manifesto, The
(Marx and Engels),
136

Compromise, Left's insistence upon,
175–181

Conan Doyle, Arthur,
105–106

Conflict, progress and,
17–18
,
22–23

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
(Twain),
117–118

Consolation of Philosophy, The
(Boethius),
149–150
,
156–157

Constitution, of U.S.,
29
,
46
; First Amendment,
69
,
111
,
134
,
165
; Left's use of,
198–199
; Second Amendment,
139–140

Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, A
(Marx),
39

Coppola, Francis Ford,
32
,
113

Così fan tutte
(Mozart),
99
,
112

Counterrevolution and Revolt
(Marcuse),
172

Critical Legal Theory,
54–55

Critical Theory, generally,
1–2
; deception and,
49–52
; failure of,
197–210
.
See also
Frankfurt School

Critique of Pure Tolerance, A
(Marcuse, Wolff, and Moore),
44–45

Cthulhu mythos,
68
,
92–93

Culture, in America: Left's resentment of,
171–173
; conservators of,
4
; light and darkness and,
99–102
,
104–110
; West's feelings of inferiority and,
1–3
,
6
,
88
,
96

Death, Left's fascination with,
121–131
,
139

Death and Transfiguration
(Strauss),
62

Debussy, Claude,
61
,
84

Deception and lies: American “taqiyya” and,
109
; Critical Legal Theory and,
54–55
; Critical Theory,
49–52
; Frankfurt School's philosophy and,
42–49
; goals of,
25–26
; heroes and,
35
; Left's criticisms of religion and,
39–40
,
42
,
46–49
; Marcuse and tolerance,
44–46
; Satan and,
6–7
,
50

Delacroix, Eugène,
47

Democratic Party,
60
,
72
,
153
,
155
,
176
,
190–191
,
193

Devil's Pleasure Palace, The
(Schubert),
9–12
,
16

Dialectic, of Hegel,
25
,
43–44
,
107

Dickens, Charles,
177

Dissent, as “highest form of patriotism,”
151–152

Diversity, Left's goals and,
22
,
68
,
152
,
159
,
177–178
,
208

Doctor Faustus
(Mann),
62
,
115

Doctor Faustus
(Marlowe),
184

Dodecaphonicism (twelve-tone system),
57
,
62
,
113–119

Doktor Faust
(Busoni),
165

Don Giovanni
(Mozart),
12
,
99
,
112
,
114

Donleavy, J.P.,
184

Dracula
(Stoker),
100–101

Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times
(Nickels and Shacochis),
173

Dr. Strangelove
(film),
207

Earthly Heaven, Left's search for,
1
,
9–16
,
20
,
41–42
,
180

Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, The
(Marx),
83

Eminent Victorians
(Strachey),
167–169

Empson, William,
27

Enchiridion
(Augustine),
22

Engels, Friedrich,
25
,
136

Enlightenment, the,
42–43
,
46
,
53
,
96–99
,
135
,
153
,
166

Entertainment Weekly
,
188–189

“Erlkönig” (Schubert),
11–12

Eros and Civilization
(Marcuse),
81

Escape from Freedom
(Fromm),
81–82

Eternal Feminine, as saving power,
10
,
41
,
62
,
79–81
,
85–90
,
123–124
,
130–131

“Evolution,” used by Left,
48–49

Ewig-Weibliche. See
Eternal Feminine

Exchange Alley
(Walsh),
107

Fair Play for Cuba Committee,
199

Fall Wagner: Ein Musikanten-Problem, Der
(Nietzsche),
124–126

Family: Left's attack on,
32–33
,
61
,
73–81
,
205
; in narratives,
26
,
29
,
31–32
,
199–200
.
See also
Abortion

Fatal Attraction
(film),
67

Fatal Conceit, The
(Hayek),
133

Faust
(Delacroix),
47

Faust
(Goethe),
8
,
39–41
,
58–59
,
61
,
83
,
124–126
,
136
,
164–165
,
180–181
,
199
; Eternal Feminine and,
10
,
78–80
,
87–90