The Essential Russell Kirk.(The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays)(Book review)

• Author: Stove, R.J.
• Position: 164548226
• Pages: 68(5)

THE ESSENTIAL RUSSELL KIRK: Selected Essays

By Russell Kirk

Edited by George A. Panichas

(Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2007).

Hardback/paperback: 640 pages.

Reviewed by R.J. Stove

The case of Russell Amos Kirk (1918-1994) forces upon America's foreign well-wishers an all too urgent question: why does the United States export so diligently, and take such pride in, its very worst modern literature? There is a whole alternative canon of worthwhile recent American authors--including Kirk himself--whose names mean virtually nothing abroad; whereas every deadbeat psychopath, deadbeat drunk, deadbeat drug-fiend, deadbeat thug, deadbeat adulterer, deadbeat homosexual, deadbeat communist, and deadbeat plagiarist who ever drew breath on American soil appears assured not only of reverential Hollywood treatment but (if he does not commit suicide first) of the Nobel Literature Prize.

Is it that the concept of a recognisably adult American writer perplexes foreigners? Is it--more regrettable still--that this concept perplexes Americans (surely not)? At any rate, the nature of Kirk's reputation is instructive. Here is an American writer who gives the impression of having been born fully mature, and who has always attracted a devoted following within his homeland, while being largely unknown elsewhere. Today the number of Australians familiar with his output could comfortably be fitted into a broom cupboard, and still leave space for several brooms.

Given a modicum of justice, this will now change. The Essential Russell Kirk is a godsend for anyone who cares about post-war American intellectual history, a far more intrinsically interesting and varied subject than the post-war intellectual history of anywhere else in the English-speaking world. One can accord this volume no higher compliment than to say that Kirk himself would have approved of it. From the editorial comments and the strong binding, to the main text's handsome typeface (Perpetua) and superlatively designed index, everything possible has been done to ensure that the book can win for Kirk a fresh, loyal and repeated readership.

Those who, to some extent, already know Kirk's writing will find their knowledge dramatically enriched. With enrichment, moreover, will come increased admiration towards Kirk himself, an admiration that will shade into genuine devotion, because Kirk may well be the most deeply lovable of recent American thinkers. (Someone at ISI Books has managed to unearth, for the frontispiece, a rare photograph of Kirk smiling. All other portraits of Kirk which this reviewer has seen are decidedly on the stern side, as if Kirk were an old-fashioned, bespectacled...