Friday Links
September 18, 2026
Our Sts. Peter and Paul issue is available now: keep an eye on your inboxes and mailboxes.
St. Thomas Aquinas on Funny Novels
Ernst Junger’s War as an Inner Experience
Paul Kingsnorth: How HUMANITY beats the MACHINE
Annie Dillard Dies at 81
Award-Winning Author Phil Klay Named President of PEN America
St. Thomas Aquinas on Funny Novels
Who knew??
A previously unknown treatise by St. Thomas Aquinas on comic stories, De fabula comica, was unearthed recently by workmen conducting repairs to a sewer pipe underneath the Cluny-La Sorbonne metro station. Through contacts in the French National Archives I have managed to get my hands on a copy of the treatise and have translated an excerpt from the second part here:
You’ll have to read the rest for yourself!
Ernst Junger’s War as an Inner Experience
A very thoughtful review of Junger’s War as an Inner Experience from Lucas Smith.
Paul Kingsnorth: How HUMANITY beats the MACHINE
A somewhat less pessimistic conversation with Kingsnorth and Mahon McCann
In this episode, acclaimed writer and thinker Paul Kingsnorth discusses the concept of the machine as a system of thought and technology, its spiritual and historical roots, and the importance of returning to a life rooted in Christian values and tradition to counteract the dehumanising effects of the machine.
Annie Dillard Dies at 81
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord.
Award-Winning Author Phil Klay Named President of PEN America
Well, this is surprising and good news. Phil Klay has this to say:
“As a writer, free expression is the lifeblood of what we do, and that means not simply a narrow legalistic view of the First Amendment, but a broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square,” he said.
