I don’t plan to do this often, but…moving forward in our relationship, I will sometimes want to share work I find so profound that I’ll have very little to add apart from PLEASE READ THIS.
I think most anyone would be well-served by reading E.P. Thompson’s Witness Against The Beast: William Blake And The Moral Law. I have a well-worn and very marked-up copy within arm’s reach right now. I say that to say this: I’ve only communicated with one other person I’m almost certain has a well-worn and very marked-up copy of Witness Against The Beast within arm’s reach. I speak of Michael Robbins.
I like his writing so much I can hardly stand it. I think I have a clever, funny, and realistic take on things…a knack for the candid, courageous, and conscientious. And then I read him and I see he’s a long ways down roads I’ve only just begun to spy out. I like surprising people with how seriously I take the witness of various authors of scripture. Then Michael shows me, through the course of his written thought, that I have yet to think a lot of these matters through. It’s exhilarating.
I’ve never met Michael, but I read everything he publishes the moment I find it.
I will resist the urge to cut and paste his assessment of news concerning the Uvalde massacre, the White House, Matthew McConaughey, and the sale of green Converse sneakers. But I will offer this sentence that I’ll be keeping in front of me for a long time: “The crisis cannot be resolved from within the institutions that gave rise to the crisis.”
Needless to say, this sentence is helping me nuance robot soft exorcism most sweetly.
Here’s “Apocalypse Nowish: The sense of an ending.” Thank you, Michael Robbins.
Wow.... thanks, David. Now, I like Michael Robbins, too! Especially, his quoting: "No, 'I always wanted this world ended,'" as the communist Franco Fortini said.
The nniddle and last part are best.