Sublime

Four hundred and thirty-five Congressional districts: among them districts represented by Congressmen of long seniority whose favor even a President had to court; among them districts represented by Congressmen who chaired powerful committees; among them districts represented by Congressmen who were allies of the New Deal; among them districts

truculent

In the United States and the United Kingdom, the new right has broken with the old-fashioned, Burkean small-c conservatism that is suspicious of rapid change in all its forms. Although they hate the phrase, the new right is more Bolshevik than Burkean: these are men and women who want to overthrow, bypass, or undermine existing institutions, to

Updike’s “A&P”

All have very clear first and last acts – a call to action and a final judgement – but between them too, within the constraints of reality they’re derived from, the same structure as Shakespeare, as Terence and as Horace.

He read Machiavelli at thirteen. He’s fascinated by power and knows that Peter is a means by which he can wield it.

Kelleher was a hero-worshiper and a reader of history and literature who could reel off couplets from Wordsworth, aphorisms from Clausewitz, and exchanges from Nixon’s 1950 debates with Helen Gahagan Douglas.

scenes in which a protagonist (say, Electra) debates with an antagonist (Clytemnestra).