The Ironist
Differing Perspectives
The Banality of Evil
Irony, #1 – Hannah Arendt, the Refugee from Königsberg - Nigel writes about a stateless thinker who made irony her weapon against totalitarianism. Hannah Arendt, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture Königsberg was a jewel on the coast of the Baltic. For...
In Defence of Leisure
Forget "live-to-work". The ancients believed leisure—not work—was the highest purpose of human life. In this essay, Jonathan defends self-cultivation through art, conversation, and exploration. “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem,...
The Reading Chair Backstory : On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith has called On Beauty an “homage” to E.M. Forster’s Howards End, though not in a plot-by-plot sense.
The Reading Chair : On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith’s On Beauty is a novel about family, art, and class but mostly, it’s about the exquisite awkwardness of believing in ideas that no longer seem to work. “The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.” — On Beauty, Zadie Smith Have you ever...
Ramblings #7 : Passing the Torch
A warm, observant paean to the spirit of Port Elgin, capturing the rhythms of slow living and the Canadian summer – with touches of nostalgia and humour. This summer we had a family reunion at Port Elgin. Our daughter rented a cottage near the main beach, in an older...
Some Marginalia from Somerset Maugham II: The Double Life
Trying to uncover how Maugham wove himself into his fiction, be it through The Razor’s Edge, Of Human Bondage or The Moon and Sixpence “The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.” — W. Somerset Maugham The primary reason I admire Somerset Maugham is because I...
Some Marginalia from Somerset Maugham: What Counts as a Successful Life?
So many years have passed since I read The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham and yet his words seem more relevant today than ever. “He had a feeling that he was on the threshold of a discovery which he must make for himself.” - W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge My...
Unique Places #3 – Canada’s Last Frontier Town
Jonathan Bennett makes an unplanned trip beyond the Arctic Circle to Iqaluit, a city on the margins—equal parts capital, construction site, and reluctant frontier outpost. There are few places left in the world that still feel like frontiers—real ones, not the type...
Ramblings #6 – Acknowledging the Inexplicable: The Plaque on the Wall
Nigel Scotchmer describes how two towns in Hesse, Germany, do not hide their times of trouble. They can be seen both as symbols of the horrifying depths of evil to which humankind can sink, and, at the same time, the resilience of the majority of people to try to be...