The Infinite Anguish of Free Souls

On Essays and LettersIn Albert Camus’ Lyrical and Critical Essays (Vintage, 1968), I found a 1940 essay entitled, “The Almond Trees.” This collection has long been a favorite of mine. It bears much of the somberness of the then up-coming War. Camus himself was from...

Returning to the Real

On Essays and LettersHenri de Lubac, the great French Jesuit theologian, had a collection of nineteen letters that he had received from the French historian of philosophy Étienne Gilson (Letters of Étienne Gilson to Henri de Lubac [Ignatius, 1988]). After Gilson’s...

Are Fish Good for the Brain?

On Essays and LettersWe used to have an ethics teacher in Spokane who, when he wanted to give an example of some intricate moral point, would pull out his dog-eared copy of Will Cuppy’s book, How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes. No doubt today he would be...

Many a Touching Story

On Essays and Letters A young friend sent me a rather ancient looking book entitled, Tales of Old New England. The book was actually published by Castle in Secaucus, New Jersey, of all places, in 1986. It was, however, a compilation of essays directly taken from the...

Old China

On Essays and Letters On December 31, 2003, I chanced to come across the essay of Charles Lamb (1775–1834) entitled, “Old China.” Naturally, I thought it was about Ancient China. “China,” however, new or old, turned out to be...