Steaming to Bamboola

...Here is Buckley on his ship's plumbing: She still had her original plumbing...

...But it is all extra...

...But Buckley is j u s t getting started when he gives it his g r a c e f u l a t t e n t i o n . I f y o u ' v e e v e r wondered a b o u t how ships were named, you will learn from this book in one of the single funniest chapters of prose you are likely to read...

...Shils argues that some p a t t e r n s of thought strongly opposed to what he calls substantive tradition are themselves traditions...

...Deploring the scientistic, rationalistic, and individualistic strains of modern society, many of these writers looked back in nostalgia to pre-industrial societies, which they assumed lived " i n a condition of unbroken t r a d i t i o n a l i t y . " Not so, Shils argues...

...one can be a biophysicist (or a hardnosed businessman for that matter) as well as, say, a devout Roman Catholic...

...She's your wife...

...And you are reminded of just how appealing and frightening and sad the humanity in all of us is...

...It can also be a deadly boring subject...

...Bloomington, Indiana II I I There are a dozen good characters in this book and, while you probably w o u l d n ' t want to run into most of them in a bar, you are g r a t e f u l to Buckley for letting you get to know 32 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1982 them...

...And I look forward to his next book as much as I cherish this one...

...I worked for a typewriter factory, sold encyclopedias, drove a truck, worked on farms-which I hated with a passion...

...He said he had thought about that but he still felt he could write a good book...

...Lewis A. Tambs, Ph.D...

...He visits a place called Snug Harbor in North Carolina...

...Worked in an insane asylum...

...Essays, properly documented, of not more than 5,000 words may be submitted by all interested persons...

...All relatively complex societies are shot through with different traditions...

...John Lukacs, Ph.D...

...few have quoted him to b e t t e r effect...

...Deadline for submission is August l, 1982...

...Sarkes Tarzian Inc...

...Essays on the political, economic, cultural, national security or social implications of continued large-scale'Third World immigration to the United States are invited...

...A novice in science must master a body of established knowledge which is his tradition just as a novice in training for a religious profession has to do...

...Insane asylum...

...Shils's notion of a n t i t r a d i t i o n a l traditions enables him to question those who make absolute distinctions between scientific and humanistic forms of inquiry...

...The Impact of Uncontrolled Immigration Awards will be made f o r t h e best two essays...

...James P. McClellan, Ph.D...

...We were working for a magazine in New York, going all over the world to write s t o r i e s . He wrote a b o u t the King of Spain and about Alexander Haig when he was still a mere f o u r - s t a r g e n e r a l . I wrote a b o u t Rhodesia and other matters...

...Not everyone in society wishes to live according to the emancipatory i d e a l , " Shils says...

...Washington got the message and the admiral was not asked for further suggestions . . . The book is full of a p p r o p r i a t e l e a r n i n g and erudition...

...They figured I had to be defective mentally because why would I want to run away from a nice orphanage ? " I ' m very fatalistic about it...

...Winning essays will become the property of the Center and may be published by the Center...

...he listened to his muse and obeyed his heart...

...I mean--it's been good to me...

...Each toilet was possessed by a different daemon...

...I said t h a t sounded like a good idea...

...For its argument goes against the grain of modern social thought, especially modern sociology...

...I would have advised against that job too if I had been asked...

...Far from being locked into traditionality, such societies continually modified t h e i r traditions, since questions continually arose for which tradition had no answer...

...Buckley listened politely to all of them--he n e v e r listens any o t h e r way--then went out and signed up for his cruise...

...The body of traditions prevailing in a differentiated society," Shils says, "is a very heterogeneous thing...

...They knew what makes great books...

...nor do they feel an urgent need to think up something new when there is already a pattern at hand...

...The strenuous defense of tradition, Shils observes, is a modern phenomen o n - t h e work of the counter-Enlightenment...

...Rather, many writers have argued against the dominance of a particular canon of literamre--a canon that included Alexander Pope yet left out William Blake...

...I t ' s a marriage of convenience...

...He knows about c a p t a i n s who are good at sinking ships for the insurance money...

...are a l l - - w h e t h e r we realize it or not--in the grip of the past...

...Like the humanist, the scientist never begins from the beginning, since no new knowledge is possible without a grounding in old knowledge...

...I decided not to insist...

...But on the evidence of this book, Buckley might even be able to make the Vice President of the United States fresh and interesting...

...And you know, Chris, the thing with the sea...

...But how can that be, bearing in mind that many regard themselves as resolutely opposed to tradition, which they equate with oppression, ignorance, and superstition...

...Forrest M. McDonald, Ph.D...

...A whole book...

...He wanted an ordinary ship on an ordinary cruise...

...He wanted to sign on a merchant ship and write about it...

...It was as though anything out of the ordinary would have distracted him, caught his relentlessly observant eye, and taken it off the proper object of his study--ordinary men and ordinary ships...

...What Buckley does with remarkable grace and sensitivity is reveal the men on the ship...

...20002 The Center is a project of the American Policy Institute, a non-profit organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code...

...Few people, I think, are strongly opposed to substantive tradition-preferring traditions that are antitraditional...

...there is a scientific tradition, a Marxist tradition, a progressivistic t r a d i t i o n . When someone chooses to embrace one of these he e n t e r s into " a n already charted territory with its own already established rules, demands, and exigencies...

...Well, he said, he had this idea...

...A l l of this is first-rate stuff, done with great care and enough to make the book diverting and even memorable by itself...

...Except for two or t h r e e genuine psychos, they have no illusions about themselves...

...Buckley merely did what great writers must do...

...Does Shils make too much of the notion of tradition, asking it to do too much explanatory work...

...He wired back two pr?posals: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vermont Normal College for Women...

...I don't have enough brains to do anything else...

...Nobody would want to read it in the e i g h t i e s . What Chris needed, they all said, was something " h o t . " Not, for God's sake, the journal of a young man's voyage to nowhere on some tramp steamer...

...As Shils nicely puts it, we Stephen Miller is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute...

...Then he went out and wrote a great book...

...The army...

...one that had been brewing with him for a long time...

...I' would put it another way: Very few people are strongly opposed to traditional ways of doing things...

...Edward Shils does defend tradition, but his defense is far from boring--mainly because he complicates the notion of tradition in ways that make his argument far more interesting than those of most staunch traditionalists...

...that it could not be done again...

...One made an exploding sound when flushed, followed by a raucous sucking noise...

...What was this book going to be "about...

...Buckley lets them talk: "In the merchant marine you're married to the ship...

...Charles A. Moser, Ph.D...

...Buckley was ruthless in his selection...

...I will never presume to advise Buckley on anything again...

...Everyone chalked it up to youth and went on looking for the right society murder or Washington scandal...

...After Admiral Dewey captured the Spanish I ]. I There opportun " Ameri 111 C...

...Further information is available from: The Center for lmmigratiot~ Research and Education 227 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Suite 320 Washington, D.C...

...Buckley would probably be qualified to teach Melville...

...he asks...

...Then suddenly one day, it ceased gurgling, and let the Chief Mate alone...

...I don't have too much of a future...

...I said something like: "Ah . . . yes, well, er, don't you think it might be a little, uh . . . dull...

...Not only are societies permeated by d i f f e r e n t traditions, but so too are individuals...

...All contributions are tax deductible...

...Stefan A. Possony, Ph.D...

...i ~q.JO fleet in the Battle of Manila, he received orders to give the ships collegiate names...

...In fact, no imagination is so free as to be able to contrive something wholly new, comprehensive, and detailed...

...Shils, in fact, exaggerams the extent to which writers of the past 200 years have subscribed to a tradition of genius whereby the author feels compelled to "do what has not been done before by others . . . . " No significant writer of the last 200 years has been so antitraditional...

...The men from the engine room went at it but could do nothing...

...At times I find Shils's distinctions somewhat unclear, but generally his approach is appropriate...

...Shils hims e l f acknowledges his debt to T.S...

...Then, you begin to feel a little of both for t/~is ship...

...First prize award $1,000 Second prize award $500 Editorial Advisory Board Samuel T. Francis, Ph.D., Chairman M. E. Bradford, Ph.D...

...At the very least, tradition is a convenience, something the individual can fall back upon because the idea of continually inventing new ways of doing--or thinking about-things is a terrible burden...

...If traditional societies were not as wedded to tradition as their defenders have suggested, modern societies are far from being completely devoid of traditional elements...

...Most human beings do not have enough imagination to think up an alternative to what is given...

...it has been done...

...Where could the totally new come from...

...All traditions of inquiry --scientific, humanistic, religious-begin with a study of old knowledge, begin, t h a t is, with a study of the tradition...

...You're born, you live, you die...

...Another needed seven or eight flushes before it would swallow even a cottonball...

...But this one r e a l l y is g r e a t simply because it makes you feel a world and care about it i n t e n s e l y when you thought that world had passed into the realm of cliche...

...David S. Chamberlain, Ph.D...

...They are tough drinkers and dopers, most of them, bitter and fatalistic...

...I reflect back...

...The s u b j e c t , he said, had a special resonance for him...

...You can't Geoffrey Norman is contributing editor at Esquire_9 tell a friend not to marry the woman even when you know he shouldn't...

...James B. Whisker, Ph.D...

...TRADITION Edward Shils / University of Chicago Press / $20.00 Stephen Miller T r a d i t i o n , as Edward Shils says in the preface to his new book, is a "bewildering subject...

...Buckley is writing speeches for George Bush these days...

...Now, t h e r e are by rough count some f i f t e e n or twenty thousand " g r e a t books" published every year _9 . . if you believe the publishers...

...When I was thirteen, I think it was, they had me down as a mental defective in the orphanage because of running away...

...They all agreed: You j u s t c o u l d n ' t make t h a t book sing...

...They are every bit as forlorn as the seamen of Melville or Conrad's time but still as admirable, in an odd way, for their ability to endure...

...One item: During the Spanish-American War, the navy got the idea to honor American colleges and so two ships were rechristened the Yale and the Harvard...

...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1982 33...

...By dwelling on what we might call the varieties of traditional experience, Shils highlights the absurdity of assuming that we can escape totally from tradition...

...According to Shils, Weber was wrong to assume that traditional beliefs and patterns of thought could not resist The Center for Immigration Research and Education announces the 1982 Essay Competition on the subject of America in 2030 A.D...

...Another emitted two bangs, three seconds apart, every time it was flushed...

...One thinks of the solemn defenses of tradition heard at commencement exercises and other ceremonial occasions or the humorless attacks against tradition by those who preach the gospel of liberation...

...Thomas Fleming, Ph.D...

...You begin, as you find yourself absorbed by this narrative, to understand the affection and the loathing that sailors often feel for their ships...

...He also knows the history of the American Merchant Marine and tells it with touching economy in a sketch of the late Paul Hall, p r e s i d e n t of the S e a f a r e r s International Union...

...The name--most names-are i n v e n t i o n s . ) I t sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to Bremerhaven...

...Eliot's writings on tradition, yet Eliot attempted to revise dramatically the traditional canon of English literature...

...The essays will be judged by a panel of members of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Center...

...But I happen to know t h a t people with far more experience in publishing than I, did insist...

...A good eye finds personality-character--where others see only the ordinary...

...One day when we were having a drink at one of those mid-town places t h a t we went to, Buckley told me that he was thinking about a book...

...Everyone, not only those who engage in scholarly inquiry, must rely on tradition...

...Shils strongly questions the views of a seminal modern thinker whom Shils himself did much to introduce to the American scholarly public: Max Weber...

...we are all creatures of tradition...

...You couldn't write magazine stories forever...

...It is a gem of an old folks home, full of r e t i r e d seamen living on memories and calling each o t h e r " C a p t a i n . " This section is nearly h e a r t b r e a k i n g . . , and very funny...

...Those that have no past have a very limited future...

...Buckley calls his ship the Columbianna...

...I f Shils makes too much of the antitraditional animus of the tradition of literary creation, this is nonetheless a minor flaw in a book whose importance cannot be overestimated...

...Maybe it is what time at sea does to a man, but they all seem to see themselves plainly...

...At one time the Chief Mate's did not stop flushing for a month and two days...

...Worked in a rest home...

...But a lot of marriages are not too romantic...