Tag Archives: Marie Antoinette

Encore Marie Antoinette

This week, Abbie revisits the unforgettable story of Marie Antoinette. First shared in an earlier column, Encore Marie Antoinette reflects on what made the Queen of France so captivating—and so condemned. Was she a symbol, a scapegoat, or simply herself? … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, class, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, seduction, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the problematic of woman, war, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Landscapes of the Heart

Landscapes of the Heart I hadn’t been to Manhattan (my home town) in over two years. But last week I went into town to meet my life-long friends, Frank and Ada, at the Neue Gallerie on 86th and Fifth. That’s … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, childhood, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, memory, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, peace, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Gossip”

“Gossip”  One of Abigail’s Adages – though I have yet to post it – is this: Slander is always believed. Even more so if it’s in print. Jurgen Habermas wrote a book called (forgive me, it’s his title, not mine) … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, mind control, nineteenth-century, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Encore Marie Antoinette”

“Encore Marie Antoinette” Last night, I read to its sad finale Stefan Zweig’s can’t-be-more-definitive biography of Marie Antoinette, the unluckiest Queen of France. She got a passing mention in “My Inner French Girl,” not a very respectful notice, but now … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, class, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, seduction, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the problematic of woman, war, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments