My wife and I watched a movie last evening, called Winter’s Tale. The screenplay was adapted from the 2010 book by Mark Helprin (If you look him up, watch the spelling; there are many similar names spelled slightly differently). He’s described as an “American - Israeli author”, poet and conservative commentator associated with the Claremont Institute; served in the Israeli army, air force and as a merchant seaman on British vessels. He’s the author of numerous books, several with significant magical/metaphysical elements, which nonetheless reveal eternal human nature with stunning and moving clarity. His writing style is unique, powerful and, actually, magical. He is indeed an eclectic, gifted human being.
Finding him forced me to see one way I have been successfully - though marginally - propgandized by the MSM, which has poisoned the very intellectual air we breathe. Thus, my inital reflex thought: “gee, a conservative who can describe the underlying hopeful warmth of human beings, their capacity to love one another - especially as they struggle with life’s eternal dilemma of choosing between good and evil; conservatives can’t do that”, we’re told ad infinitum.
Merely knowing Mark Helprin exists and expresses a clear and persuasive worldview, bouyed me greatly. Her joins numerous other writers of whom I am most fond (in no particular order, with likely omissions):
- Douglas Murray
- Victor Davis Hanson
- Robert Malone
- Matt Taibbi
- Jordan Peterson
- Mark Helperin
- Roger Kimball
- Glenn Greenwald