The Devil's Pleasure Palace

by Michael Walsh

  Of wisdom; hope no higher

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  . . . Only add

  Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add Faith,

  Add virtue, Patience, Temperance, add Love,

  By name to come called Charity, the soul

  Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath

  To leave this Paradise, but shall possess

  A Paradise within thee, happier far.”

  — Paradise Lost, Book Twelve

  Thus does the Unholy Left return to its crumbling Teufels Lustschloss and take up residence within—like Wotan in Valhalla, impotently watching the flames leap and the walls tumble, in silent vigil for the end it has so long awaited, so long feared, so devoutly desired. A philosophy of nihilism, according to the ur-Narrative, must and will end nihilistically.

  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, Lef
t’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

  Felix culpa (Fortunate Fall), 35

  Fence, Chesterton’s parable of, 86–87, 103, 104–105, 146

  Ferguson, Missouri, 54

  Fidelio (Beethoven), 85

  First Amendment, 69, 111, 134, 165

  Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich, 29

  Flying Dutchman (Wagner), 10, 12, 85, 103

  Forbidden Planet (film), 92

  Foreman, Carl, 131

  Four Last Songs (Strauss), 21

  Francis, pope, 1, 183

  Frankfurt School, generally, 1–2, 16, 18; founders and philosophy of, 23, 42–49, 82; promise versus reality of, 95–96

  Freedom of speech, 7, 19; First Amendment, 69, 111, 134, 165; political correctness and, 68–69; pornography and, 165–167

  Free will, 27, 138, 160, 170; and fallen humans’ superiority to angels, 19, 22; God’s gift of, 6–7; knowledge of Good and Evil and, 35

  Freischütz, Der (Weber), 11, 12, 53, 103

  Freudianism, 44, 57, 72, 81, 92, 143

  Fromm, Erich, 42, 81–82, 96

  Function of the Orgasm, The (Reich), 143–145

  Fundamental transformation of U.S., as goal of Left, 4, 32, 58, 60, 62, 155, 190, 192, 205; use of language and compromise, 175–181

  Furet, François, 40

  Gender, as Marxist tool, 193–194

  General Will, of Rousseau, 135, 139

  Genesis, Book of, 7, 17–30, 91–92

  Geyer, Ludwig, 124

  Ginsberg, Allen, 77

  Gladstone, William, 108, 117, 167–169

  God: gift of free will, 6–7; principles established by, 179–180; qualities of, 157–158

  Godfather (film), 31–32, 113

  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 11, 53. See also Faust (Goethe)

  Goethe University, 43, 105

  Goldberg Variations (Bach), 127–128

  Goldman, David, 125–126

  Good-Bye to All That (Graves), 201

  Gopnik, Adam, 192

  Gordon, George “Chinese,” 108, 167–169, 208

  Gordon, Thomas, 68

  Goya, Francisco, 53–54

  Gramsci, Antonio, 16, 23, 61, 70, 88, 106, 165, 184, 189, 206

  Grass, Günther, 178

  Graves, Robert von Ranke, 201, 208

  Gulf War, 177

  Haeckel, Ernst, 13

  Hamlet (Shakespeare), 36

  Hans Heiling (Marschner), 12

  Hanson, Victor Davis, 54

  Hayek, Friedrich, 133

  Hellman, Lillian, 180

  Hemmings, David, 129–130

  Henze, Hans Werner, 75

  Heroism, 5–6, 26; America’s need for, 190–195; as concept outside of literature and entertainment, 178–179; Good versus Evil and action required of hero, 31–37; and lack of need for the state, 141–142; light and darkness and, 104; quests and, 14–16; self-sacrifice and, 9–14, 104, 108; versions of, 140–141

  Hero with a Thousand Faces, The (Campbell), 14–15, 31, 102–103, 131

  Heydrich, Reinhard, 124

  High Noon (film), 77, 131, 140, 142, 191

  Hitchens, Christopher, 145

  Hitler, Adolf, 43, 54–56, 71, 124, 189. See also National Socialism

  Hoffer, Eric, 44

  Hoover, Herbert, 35

  Horkheimer, Max, 42–43, 88

  How the Irish Became White (Ignatiev), 154

  Huxley, T.H., 48

  I Am Charlotte Simmons (Wolfe), 86

  Ignatiev, Noel, 154

  Immigration, 87, 95, 153–155, 199

  Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), 87, 154

  Independence Day (film), 50–51, 191

  Innovation, decline in American, 204–205

  Institut für Sozialforschung, 43, 44

  Intellectuals (Johnson), 82–83, 133–134

  Iraq, 95, 104, 106, 177

  Islamic extremism, 37, 47, 94–96, 103–104, 109, 113, 169, 175, 177

  “January 22nd, Missolonghi” (Byron), 55

  Jensen, Robert, 153–154

  Jesus Christ: crucifixion of, 107–108; defeat of Satan, 127; descent into Hell, 65–66; as self-sacrificing hero, 5–6; three-act structure of passion of, 15

  Johnson, Paul, 82–83, 133–134, 135

  Junge Lord, Der (Henze), 75

  Kafka, Franz, 140–141

  Kampf (fight or struggle): of Left, 2–4, 17–30

  Kennedy, Edward, 87, 104–105, 154, 202–203, 206

  Kennedy, John F., 107, 154, 171, 199–200

  Kennedy, Joseph P., 154

  Khartoum, 108–109, 167–169

  King, Martin Luther Jr., 52

  Kitchener, Horatio Herbert, 108–109, 208

  Korean War, 104, 176

  Kotzebue, August von, 9–10

  Krupskaya, Nadezhda, 84

  Kunstwerk der Zukunft, Das (Wagner), 84

  Kyj Incident (1945), 176

  Language and vocabulary, used to deceive, 6, 20–21, 56–57, 157–159, 175–181, 205. See also Political correctness

  Last of the Mohicans, The (film), 159

  Lenin, V.I., 25, 113, 135. See also Marxism-Leninism

  Lessing, Doris, 101–102

  Lessing, Gottfried, 101

  Lewis, C.S., 103, 159

  Lewis, Sinclair, 198

  Lies. See Deception and lies

  Lies, Passions, and Illusions (Furet), 40

  Light and darkness, struggle between, 91–110; Enlightenment and, 96–99; heroic spirit and, 103–104; militant Islam and, 94–96; nihilism’s hold on human imagination, 91–110; power of myth and legend, 102–103; rache (revenge) and, 105–106; Western guilt and lack of cultural confidence, 99–102, 104–110

  Lincoln, Abraham, 161, 186

  Lind, William S., 165

  Liszt, Franz, 63, 85, 118, 165

  Little Dorrit (Dickens), 177

  Long, Frank Belknap, 68

  Lovecraft, H.P., 68, 92–93, 138

  Lucifer. See Satan

  Lueger, Karl, 152

  Lukács, Georg, 16, 23, 61, 70–72, 88, 122, 164–165, 178, 192, 204, 206

  Luther, Martin, 150

  Maddow, Ben, 77–78, 131

  Magic Flute, The (Mozart), 12, 97–101, 118

  Magic Mountain, The (Mann), 46, 62–63, 164

  Mahler, Gustave, 152

  Mann, Thomas, 46, 54, 62–63, 115, 164

  Mao Zedong, 68, 88, 135

  Marcus Aurelius, 95, 102, 128

  Marcuse, Herbert, 42, 44–46, 61, 81, 88, 152, 171, 172

  Marlowe, Christopher, 165, 184

  Marschner, Heinrich, 12

  Marx, Karl, 25, 43, 57, 58, 118, 135–136, 194, 206; critique of religion, 39–40, 47–48; Johnson on, 82–83. See also Marxism-Leninism

  Marx
ism-Leninism, 23, 108, 143, 176, 190; Christian allegory and, 83–84; cultural Marxism, 2–3, 7, 48–49, 70–71; death toll of, 46–47; Frankfort School and, 42–48, 57; as new religion, 24–25; sexuality and, 143

  Mascagni, Pietro, 112–113

  Mauve Gloves and Madmen, Clutter and Vine (Wolfe), 178

  McAuliffe, Anthony, 207

  McCarthy, Mary, 180

  Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), 95, 102, 128

  Mefistofele (Boito), 20, 165

  Meistersinger, Die (Wagner), 125, 128

  Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), 50

  Metamorphosis, The (Kafka), 140

  Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler (Viereck), 56

  Metapolitics: The Roots of the Nazi Mind (Viereck), 54, 55

  Mexico, 154, 193

  Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 10–11, 12, 85, 105, 124

  Miles, Jack, 5

  Miller’s Crossing (film), 141

  Milton, John: Areopagitica, 7, 9; optimism of, 158–159. See also Paradise Lost (Milton)

  Milton’s God (Empson), 27

  Mimesis, Aristotle’s doctrine of, 12–13

  Mockery, Left’s inability to tolerate, 149–161

  “Moln labe,” 206–207

  Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (1939), 188

  Moore, Barrington Jr., 44–45

  Morozov, Pavlik, 33

  Moyers, Bill, 102

  Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 12, 97–101, 112, 114, 118, 127, 153

  Murray, Charles, 74–75

  Music, 61–63; context and subtext as message of, 111–119; twelve-tone system, 57, 62, 113–119. See also specific works

  “Music and Language: A Fragment” (Adorno), 114

  National Socialism, 23, 33, 56, 59, 71, 72, 108, 122, 198, 205

  New Deal, 35, 198

  Nietzsche, Friedrich, 124–126

  Nihilism, 1, 6, 50–51, 77, 129–130, 209; hold on darkness of human imagination, 93–96

  1984 (Orwell), 52, 95, 119, 141–142

  Nivelle, Robert, 206

  Nobel savage, Rousseau and cult of, 133–142

  Nosferatu (film), 100

  Oedipus, 22, 116

  Oikophobia and xenophilia, of Left, 183–195

  One-Dimensional Man (Marcuse), 171

  Op. 2 (Chopin), 114–115

  Opera, primal conflicts and quests in, 9–16. See also specific works

  Operation Barbarossa, 43, 56, 188

  Orgone, Reich and, 143–145

  Orwell, George, 52, 119

  Oswald, Lee Harvey, 107, 199–200

  Other Journal (blog), 48

  Paglia, Camille, 166

  Paradise Lost (Milton), 7, 17, 24, 26–29, 32–35, 67–68, 79, 89, 97, 128, 137–138, 164, 170, 183, 203–204, 209

  Parker, Theodore, 52

  Parsifal (Wagner), 11, 13–14, 66, 92, 124, 126