tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post114925654477806646..comments2024-01-10T06:40:26.416-05:00Comments on Chesterton and Friends: 1914Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-1149447455415855112006-06-04T14:57:00.000-04:002006-06-04T14:57:00.000-04:00.....or else we could say that WWI was the exclama........or else we could say that WWI was the exclamation point at the end of some process in society at that time, just as we could say the same about 9/11 in our own day.Kyrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09885106712181408383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-1149447307665481512006-06-04T14:55:00.000-04:002006-06-04T14:55:00.000-04:00Actually, the idea of self-doubt and identity afte...Actually, the idea of self-doubt and identity after WWI is a phrase/concept I borrow from Michael Medved, who even as a Jewish commentator sees something vital dying in Western Culture at that point. All of those forces-and the people who advocated them- did exist beforehand obviously, but the war, I would argue, was the paradigm shifting event. Most of the other individuals existed in somewhat isolated spheres, but the Cataclysm which the Great War was struck into every household in Europe. The House of Hapsburg and the Czars of Russia still managed to exist through the Reformation(granted no large issue in Russia) and the French Revolution, but both were effectively extinguished after this conflict. <BR/>Thanks for the reply, and I agree that high drama makes for better narrative than the gradual slipping away and replacement of ideas.Kyrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09885106712181408383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-1149444869137099762006-06-04T14:14:00.000-04:002006-06-04T14:14:00.000-04:00It's a common assumption to make, and the narrativ...It's a common assumption to make, and the narrative of history would make more sense if it were true, but the "cloud of self-doubt and lost identity" originated in the <I>fin de siecle</I> -- its most memorable expressions, bohemianism, <I>art noveau</I>, Dadaism, Expressionism, Stravinsky, whats-his-name that "scientific" Austrian composer -- Schopenauer, I think? -- and arguably even Freud, predate the First World War, most by as much as ten or twenty years -- or <I>thirty</I>, IIRC, if Freud counts. It would make more sense if WWI caused it, but as it is...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-1149351975067471332006-06-03T12:26:00.000-04:002006-06-03T12:26:00.000-04:00You meant to type "heathen," not "heather," I susp...You meant to type "heathen," not "heather," I suspect.Andershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14696927267736941355noreply@blogger.com