I just read the first five pages or Oriana Fallaci’s The Force of Reason (only just now translated into English) over on Tigerhawk. As some readers of this site will recall, I have long been a great fan of Fallaci’s (A Man is an extraordinary political love stories) and it is clear from these five pages that, even wracked with cancer, she has not lost her ability to write with force. Of course she is hated by the very people who used to adore her. Once the heroine of the left who faced down dictators for an interview (a far more intelligent and far more beautiful Amanpour), she had the courage to question the orthodoxy of European pseudo-progressivism, became despised and continued on nevertheless through her illness to write more and say more. They think she has changed, but she is the one who has remained true to her ideals, to the Enlightenment. Her critics are the ones who have betrayed them. Those critics themselves have not so much changed as retreated in panic, hiding behind a masquerade of hypocritical belief, a cultural relativism of convenience that only encourages their self-immolation. Viva Fallaci.
Roger,
It sometimes seems to me that the most extraordinary intellectual heroes of the present crisis are women: Ayan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Wafa Sultan, and — of course — the incomparable Fallaci.
Jamie Irons
Re: Jamie Irons at March 9, 2006 06:36 AM:
Thanks for the link to that transcript, which is the best description of the conflict in which we are engaged that I have yet seen.
In order to get the full impact, I would suggest viewing the clip. Click the picture on the page to do so:
Wafa Sultan Clip
Remember her description of Gen Khadaffi (Libya): he has the brain of a chicken!!
Yes, I love Fallaci’s literary style. You can feel the intensity leaping up from the page and stroking your face. She knows some bridges really should be burned.
Hugh Fitzgerald who writes and comments at jihadwatch.org also has a great literary style, although I do have to keep a Google search window up to learn about many of his references within his writings. I’ve read that he would do a book one day over a year ago but nothing since. The man is a trivia champion of English and European culture.
Roger,
I’m buying Ms Fallaci’s book tomorrow. After reading the first few pages on Tigerhawk I already feel this book’ll be most important. Another most thought provoking book is James Hillman’s (regarded as the elder statesman of depth psychology,) recently published, A Terrible Love of War. A total must-read as well. Just wanted to pass that on.
I read If the Sun Dies in high school, because it was recommended by Stewart Brand in the Whole Earth Catalog. (Brand was an interesting maverick even back then, not owned by the crunchy granola set. He also recommended the Wall street Journal, for example, which in 1970 in San Francisco was a total no-no.)
Anyway, the book is about Fallaci’s fascination with the US space program, especially the Moon landing project. She discusses this with her beloved socialist father back in Italy, who finds it an example of despicable American capitalism and modernity and optimism and everything else.
So the people who used to adore her didn’t always adore her back then either.
Oriana Fallaci had a private audience with Pope Benedict on August 27, 2005 (at Castel Gandolfo – the papal summer residence). That must have been something.