Ages of Empire

This article surveys connections between usually crumbling empires, ancient and modern, with the barbarians almost at the gates, and manifestations of cultural or individual decadence. Greek and Roman historians usually disapproved, developing a decadence narrative to explain historical eclipse. But the luxury and wayward behaviors of once mighty empires and narcissistic emperors, ranging from Sardanapalus in ancient Assyria and Xerxes in Persia to Nero and Elagabalus in ancient Rome, sent interestingly mixed messages to modern empires (British, French, German, and Russian), encouraged escapist dreams, and intrigued and stimulated writers such as Byron, Verlaine, Stefan George, Alexander Blok, and Gore Vidal. Was decadence a cause or consequence of imperial weakening? Was it even a perverse consequence of multicultural empire-building in the first instance?

Dominion without End

The first of three chapters on specific popular genres, it considers the intimacies of religion and empire through a cluster of key texts that engage with retellings of the ancient Christian story. The chapter begins with Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, taking the compound of Romanized spectacle and Christianized moral economy as the basis of American imperial politics. Closer consideration of three texts, separated by 130 years—by Lew Wallace, Gore Vidal, and William Ware—generates not just local case studies of how assertions of ahistorical Christian moralism have been aligned with politically contingent American sovereignty, but forms an initial claim about how “Christian fiction” more generally theorizes a specific historical temporality both inimical to conventional ideas of progress and yet wedded to American civilizational superiority.

The Athenaeum

When it was founded in 1824, the Athenæum broke the mold. Unlike in other preeminent clubs, its members were chosen on the basis of their achievements rather than on their background or political affiliation. Public rather than private life dominated the agenda. The club, with its tradition of hospitality to conflicting views, has attracted leading scientists, writers, artists, and intellectuals throughout its history, including Charles Darwin and Matthew Arnold, Edward Burne-Jones and Yehudi Menuhin, Winston Churchill and Gore Vidal. This book is not presented in the traditional, insular style of club histories, but devotes attention to the influence of Athenians on the scientific, creative, and official life of the nation. From the unwitting recruitment of a Cold War spy to the welcome admittance of women, this lively and original account explores the corridors and characters of the club; its wider political, intellectual, and cultural influence; and its recent reinvention.

Mindscapes in Contemporary Architecture - Colors of Creativity

“Style is knowing what you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn”-Gore Vidal The paper attempts to define the various mindscapes in Contemporary architecture and design. What is style? Who are the icons who patronized it? This paper aims to create a chronological journey using the visual medium to establish the position of color in design. Color has subtly played an essential role in defining style by the use of it; the absence of it; or simply by its inherent existence in the material usage. A journey through Contemporary Architecture and design highlights moments of hi-style, where icons created fashion statements, sometimes colorful, sometimes colorless, but nonetheless of impact. The following aims to inspire and initiate some creative cycles that endorse more Style Statements.

Touche’s Salon

During his final years, Latouche faced some discrimination and censure as a result of his inclusion in a 1950 handbook entitled Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. For all his malaise during these years, he continued to kick up his heels with friends and maintain his reputation as one of the city’s brightest wits and raconteurs. His eclectic assortment of friends durisng this period included composer Ned Rorem; writers Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Jack Kerouac; ghost hunter Hans Holzer; and poet Frank O’Hara. He also became romantically involved with the heiress Alice Bouverie (of the Astor dynasty) as well as with painter Harry Martin and poet Kenward Elmslie, with whom he purchased a country home in Vermont.