THE LEGION OF SLOWLY BOILING FROGS

by Daniel Barge

France has pulled out the stops to honour Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame for his heroism in exchanging his own life for that of a hostage in the latest terrorist incident in France. Here's the Independent:

"ON THE MARBLE CLIFFS" BY ERNST JUNGER

This is a chapter from Ernst Jünger — A Portrait, a biography of the great German writer, written for the non-academic type, and a personal portrait by an avid Jünger reader. Available at Amazon.com.

by Lennart Svensson

On the Marble Cliffs is a complex work, existing on many levels. To be precise I don’t hold it above the rest of Jünger’s books. But of course it’s among the top five, if I should express it like that. First of all the title is very apt, combining as it does beauty with danger. Jünger himself had that ambition with the title and I must say he succeeded. As for novel titles in general On the Marble Cliffs is especially rich in connotations, the marble part symbolizing tradition and beauty, the cliff part symbolizing danger and then some.

RUSSIAN HOLIDAY

A lust for adventure.

by Ave Maria

Most Audrey Hepburn fans today are blissfully ignorant of the hidden edge in the title of Roman Holiday. When the ancient Romans wanted to take a holiday, it usually involved snacking on some peanuts at the Colosseum while watching slaves fight each other to the death or being eaten by lions. The phrase “Roman holiday,” current in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, referred to unusually cruel or scandalous entertainment; in the film, it refers to the scandal of Hepburn eloping with Gregory Peck.

We moderns have very little appreciation for the Roman sense of fun. Protestants and Marxists have preferred to take the side of the slaves. But at least on the abstract level, there is something to be gained from walking a mile in Roman sandals.