Life On Venus: Europe’s Last Man (Three Novels highlight Europe's Death Throes)

There are not many moments in history when it is possible to worry that the world has become too happy for its own good. One such moment came in Europe during the late nineteenth century, when the Napoleonic Wars had receded into the distance and the First World War was still hidden over the horizon. For a brief period, it became possible to believe that the West was headed for a condition of permanent peace; that technology, democracy, and globalization were driving a virtuous circle that no atavistic violence could disrupt.

This vision never came very close to becoming a reality; the late nineteenth century was, after all, the era of communism and anarchism, imperialism and scientific racism. It is remarkable, then, to consider how many of the greatest writers of the period were exercised by the possibility that reason, progress, and material well-being—in short, the bourgeois order—might destroy the human spirit.

Thank you for this thoughtful article. May I recommend to you a book by Jacques Barzun called “From Dawn to Decadence,” which is an overview of Western civilization.

I teach world history to high school students, and it is a sad reality that cultures and civilizations rise and vanish. I would hate to see American culture go the way of the Byzantines, but there’s also this truth - once a worthy idea has emerged, it endures. In the same way that our founding fathers learned about direct democracy and republican government from the Athenians and Cicero, there will be those in the future who will learn about liberty, inalienable rights, and checks and balances from Madison and Hamilton and Jefferson. For humanity, in the long run, I think we’ll do all right.

Sometimes I feel like I’m a Roman watching the Goths coming over the hill. But there are other times when I think what I’m really looking at is our moment crossing the Rubicon, when the standards of the old Republic have fallen away, the masses have been emasulated with the Corn Laws and circuses, and ambitious men plot to establish imperial power. This would mean that, sadly, following the Big O and his socialist dreams, the next person in line will be a traditional conservative using that unlimited power whose first act will be the restoration of the Republic, much like Augustus, and like Augustus, he might, unfortunately, be supported and appreciated. A century of rulers like that, people forget what liberty and a republic really means, and the real American empire establishes itself.

The Romans lasted until 1457 (I think, in Byzantium), or about 2,100 years. Not a bad run. Maybe that’s the path taken by successful representative republics.

OK, time to get a cup of coffee and start the morning. Thanks again for that article.

Post-Christian, Post-Cold War Europe doesn't know what it believes in anymore. Until there is a resurgence of the ancient faith, it will continue its downward spiral. These novels sound somewhat similar in tone to the novels of Milan Kundera. Of course when Kundera was writing his first works, he could hope for the overthrow of the Soviet empire. As a socialist, however, he didn't know what to do once that happened. He has no religion.

Interesting, I doubt that the reader would know that there was once a John Paul II in the world, or a Mother Theresa. Secularized Europe has one hope, in the long run: a re-embrace of the ancient faith that made her "Europe." Failing that, history will shift its axis definitively elsewhere (if it hasn't already).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.