My friend Anthony Galluzzo, who I first met in Brooklyn a few years ago, wrote an interesting essay on Paul Kingsnorth’s novels and about green politics and the left’s obsession with eco-modernism.
Hey Yasha, this is Matt in Moscow. We met to talk about Ukraine and the Orthodox Church near Yandex a long time ago. If you want to to get a taste of Paul Kingsnorth's writing without having the time to read an entire book of his, I'd recommend a short piece he recently wrote for First Things:
I think the article is good writing, and more importantly in the context of this post, it provides his answer to the question "Where the hell do we go from here?" One could say his answer is "inward," and I personally agree with him, though I'm biased.
I also listened to a really fascinating interview with Kingsnorth and an icon carver in Canada, where Kingsworth was describing the essential root cause of both environmental degradation and colonialism as a spiritual problem. Again, he's preaching to the choir, but I totally agree with him.
I keep burning out those around me with "obvious negativity". I know we need solutions to these centruries length issues but celebrating the now and calling it hope is so hard. What else do we have but ice cream and gallows humor? Exploring abstract futures until they become our history?
PS: All my substacks forever get filtered to my spam no matter what label I give it on gmail. Conspaircy?
yeah it's hard not to be negative and down on everything but as i'm realizing rather late, that negativity can only take us so far. ps: fuck google. also maybe add my email yasha @ substack.com to your address book?
Historically it seems the negative nellys were often right then lost hope during their life times. It’s best not to lose oneself in nihilism. This is my struggle. I wish there was more on offer than personal ambition.
That’s a good idea regarding google and really I should stop using it. I just can’t give up my email from 2002.
Excellent work as usual from Galluzzo… brilliant scholar & it says a lot about the uselessness of the media left that scholars like this aren't taken more seriously. Of course, Galluzzo's work remains relevant while Leigh Phillips & Peter Grass & neck beard star trek social liberalism die away.
I read Blumenberg's Legitimacy of the Modern Age several years back on Galluzzo's recommendation & without a solid understanding in 19th century German philosophy it took me some time to get through… but after I struggled through that book so much more became clear & I felt more capable of addressing conditions & contradictions as they exist and developing a political response within the associations I belong to.
I think that Kingsnorth might be less of a drop-out refusenik if he read & understood Blumenberg… I see Kingsnorth & fundamentalist traditionalism as representing one pole in the dialectic producing modernity — and the progressive character of capital accumulation promised by social liberalism/technological domination representing the other. And Galluzzo's right to recognize the challenge that both poles present to an anti-systemic politics.
Hey Yasha, this is Matt in Moscow. We met to talk about Ukraine and the Orthodox Church near Yandex a long time ago. If you want to to get a taste of Paul Kingsnorth's writing without having the time to read an entire book of his, I'd recommend a short piece he recently wrote for First Things:
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine
I think the article is good writing, and more importantly in the context of this post, it provides his answer to the question "Where the hell do we go from here?" One could say his answer is "inward," and I personally agree with him, though I'm biased.
I also listened to a really fascinating interview with Kingsnorth and an icon carver in Canada, where Kingsworth was describing the essential root cause of both environmental degradation and colonialism as a spiritual problem. Again, he's preaching to the choir, but I totally agree with him.
Hope you enjoy the FT piece.
Much respect from Moscow,
Matt
hey, matt, how've you been? that's right, i forgot that kingsnorth converted to russian orthodoxy! i'll check it out.
Thanks — read your link which should have been titled “How I become a Christian”.
Childishly written — Wica episode fantasy.
I keep burning out those around me with "obvious negativity". I know we need solutions to these centruries length issues but celebrating the now and calling it hope is so hard. What else do we have but ice cream and gallows humor? Exploring abstract futures until they become our history?
PS: All my substacks forever get filtered to my spam no matter what label I give it on gmail. Conspaircy?
yeah it's hard not to be negative and down on everything but as i'm realizing rather late, that negativity can only take us so far. ps: fuck google. also maybe add my email yasha @ substack.com to your address book?
Historically it seems the negative nellys were often right then lost hope during their life times. It’s best not to lose oneself in nihilism. This is my struggle. I wish there was more on offer than personal ambition.
That’s a good idea regarding google and really I should stop using it. I just can’t give up my email from 2002.
Lol…Gmail - where one has to google how to access and add contacts to contact list. Can’t do it in app, have to from desktop.
Thank you for this, and please continue to explore this topic.
Thanks. I will.
Yes, more exploration, please.
I can’t figure out how to leave a simple comment of “a great read”.
Many thanks for this suggested reading
Many thanks for sending this link.
Excellent work as usual from Galluzzo… brilliant scholar & it says a lot about the uselessness of the media left that scholars like this aren't taken more seriously. Of course, Galluzzo's work remains relevant while Leigh Phillips & Peter Grass & neck beard star trek social liberalism die away.
I read Blumenberg's Legitimacy of the Modern Age several years back on Galluzzo's recommendation & without a solid understanding in 19th century German philosophy it took me some time to get through… but after I struggled through that book so much more became clear & I felt more capable of addressing conditions & contradictions as they exist and developing a political response within the associations I belong to.
I think that Kingsnorth might be less of a drop-out refusenik if he read & understood Blumenberg… I see Kingsnorth & fundamentalist traditionalism as representing one pole in the dialectic producing modernity — and the progressive character of capital accumulation promised by social liberalism/technological domination representing the other. And Galluzzo's right to recognize the challenge that both poles present to an anti-systemic politics.
Thanks — statistically we will all go out in an (probably accidentally triggered) nuclear annihilation