We continue our voyage through the anarchism of the years before the Great War in our latest Tale for Our Time: my reading of The Man Who Was Thursday, G K Chesterton's bestselling metaphysical thriller from 1908.
In tonight's episode, our merry band marvel at the mob:
"Even if the police do come now," said the Professor mournfully, "they can do nothing with this mob..." Then he added in his dreamy voice, "What is all that at the end of the 'Dunciad'?
'Nor public flame; nor private, dares to shine;
Nor human light is left, nor glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread Empire, Chaos, is restored;
Light dies before thine uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.'"
Those are the concluding lines of the Dunciad, Alexander Pope's mock-heroic poem, completed in 1743, about the goddess Dulness and her ruination of Britain. But, if you're in Seattle three centuries later, where universal darkness does indeed seem to be descending, they may ring oddly topical.
If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club you can hear my reading of Part Fourteen of our serialization of The Man Who Was Thursday simply by clicking here and logging-in. All previous episodes can be found here - so you can choose whether to listen each night twenty minutes before you lower your lamp, or save them up for a weekend binge-listen now that Netflix et al are banning all the watchable telly.
Oh, and don't forget our nocturnal adventures now have a morning sibling in the new audio editions of The Mark Steyn Show with news, songs, poetry, elegies and more.
~Membership in The Mark Steyn Club is not for everyone, but it helps support all our content - whether in print, audio or video - and keeps it available for everyone, around the world. And, aside from Tales for Our Time, being a Steyn Club member does come with a few other benefits:
~Exclusive member pricing on over 40 books, CDs and our Steynamite specials in the Steyn store;
~The opportunity to engage in live Q&A sessions with yours truly;
~Transcript and audio versions of our video content, such as Mark's Mailbox and The Mark Steyn Show;
~Comment Club privileges;
~Our weekend series of video poetry and other specials;
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, should I ever again have any, as well as our annual Mark Steyn Cruise, which will be touring the apocalypse as soon as freedom of movement is restored by our masters;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the world.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership. Please join me tomorrow for Part Fifteen of The Man Who Was Thursday.
