Compatible Voices

Andrew Taylor on Charles Montagu Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888):

 

“He appealed instinctively to the past, against what he saw as the corruption of language, manners and morality of his own time, but Travels in Arabia Deserta is not backward-looking for its own sake. The achievement of the book lies in the way that language, style, rhythm and structure are all directed towards the end of accuracy in presenting landscape, characters, mood and atmosphere.”

  

Timothy Fuller in his introduction to Michael Oakeshott on the Human Condition (Liberty Fund, 2024): 

 

“He had minimal regard for any features of modern life. The computer did not exist for him. He thought most modern inventions had done the human race little good. He wrote everything by hand. From his cottage one looked out on the country of Hardy. One felt oneself transported back before World War I, even to the nineteenth century, to a world where one might meet Jude the Obscure coming down the path. This is exactly how Oakeshott wanted to feel. Life was, to him, sweeter then.” 

 

The Taylor passage is taken from his God’s Fugitive: The Life of C.M. Doughty (Dorset Press, 1999). 

 

During an electrical storm Wednesday morning we lost our internet connection and it hasn’t been restored. Possibly tonight. Please ignore the irregularities. Blogger is even more intractable on a smartphone.