RK

Roger Kimball

22quotes

Roger Kimball: A Conservative Philosopher and Publisher


Full Name and Common Aliases


Roger Kimball is a British-American philosopher, art critic, and publisher.

Birth and Death Dates


Born in 1947, exact date not publicly available. Still active in his profession.

Nationality and Profession(s)


Kimball holds dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States. He has worked as a philosopher, art critic, and publisher throughout his career.

Early Life and Background


Kimball's early life is marked by an interest in philosophy and aesthetics. His background in the arts would later shape his critical thinking and writing style. Although specific details about his upbringing are scarce, it is evident that Kimball's intellectual pursuits began at a young age.

Major Accomplishments


As a prominent figure in conservative circles, Kimball has had a significant impact on the philosophical landscape. His work as a publisher and writer has allowed him to express his views on culture, politics, and philosophy. Some of his notable accomplishments include:

Kimball is the founder of Encounter Books, an independent publishing company that specializes in non-fiction books. He serves as its editor-in-chief.

He has written extensively for various publications, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, and The New Criterion.

Notable Works or Actions


Some of Kimball's notable works include:

The Fortunes of Persephone: Observations on the Art of Poetry (1984) - This collection of essays showcases Kimball's critical thinking on poetry and its cultural significance.

Experience (2007) - In this book, Kimball explores the concept of experience as a means to understand art, philosophy, and politics.

Kimball has also written about contemporary culture, criticizing what he sees as the erosion of traditional values. His work often emphasizes the importance of intellectual rigor in addressing complex issues.

Impact and Legacy


Roger Kimball's contributions to conservative thought have made him a respected figure within his community. His publishing company, Encounter Books, has played a significant role in promoting critical thinking on various subjects.

Kimball's writing has been widely read and discussed by scholars and intellectuals. His critiques of contemporary culture serve as a reminder of the importance of intellectual honesty and rigor in addressing complex issues.

Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered


Roger Kimball is widely quoted and remembered due to his influential work as a publisher, writer, and philosopher. His thought-provoking essays and books have resonated with readers seeking critical perspectives on culture, politics, and philosophy.

Quotes by Roger Kimball

Roger Kimball's insights on:

Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Kerouac were all on the side of the savage. That their penny-ante gnosticism was not only perpetuated but mythologized and spread abroad as a gospel of emancipation is something for which we have the Sixties to thank – or to blame.
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Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Kerouac were all on the side of the savage. That their penny-ante gnosticism was not only perpetuated but mythologized and spread abroad as a gospel of emancipation is something for which we have the Sixties to thank – or to blame.
RK
Kitsch is a sentimentalization of reality in response to cultural failure. The greater the failure, the more malignant the sentimentalization.
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Kitsch is a sentimentalization of reality in response to cultural failure. The greater the failure, the more malignant the sentimentalization.
RK
Civilization is an achievement not a gift; it is always besieged, must constantly be defended, and once lost, is immeasurably difficult to reclaim. We see the results of the assaults against freedom all around us.
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Civilization is an achievement not a gift; it is always besieged, must constantly be defended, and once lost, is immeasurably difficult to reclaim. We see the results of the assaults against freedom all around us.
RK
Although aesthetically nugatory, “Beat Culture and the New America” was an exhibition of considerable significance – but not in quite the way that Lisa Phillips, its curator, intended, Casting a retrospective glance at the sordid world of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence, Ferlinghetti, and other Beat icons, the exhibition unwittingly furnished a kind of pathologist’s report on one of the most toxic cultural movements in American history.
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Although aesthetically nugatory, “Beat Culture and the New America” was an exhibition of considerable significance – but not in quite the way that Lisa Phillips, its curator, intended, Casting a retrospective glance at the sordid world of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence, Ferlinghetti, and other Beat icons, the exhibition unwittingly furnished a kind of pathologist’s report on one of the most toxic cultural movements in American history.
RK
It is often said that great works of art are “inexhaustible” – capable, as Stanley Olson put it, of “endless interpretation. But Lubin, the Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art at Wake Forest University, demonstrates in painful if inadvertently hilarious detail that this does not mean that works of art are immune from – that they are not in fact often subject to – wild and perverse misinterpretation.
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It is often said that great works of art are “inexhaustible” – capable, as Stanley Olson put it, of “endless interpretation. But Lubin, the Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art at Wake Forest University, demonstrates in painful if inadvertently hilarious detail that this does not mean that works of art are immune from – that they are not in fact often subject to – wild and perverse misinterpretation.
RK
Ginsberg turned out to be depressingly prescient when, after a heated argument with Norman Podhoretz in 1958, he yelled, ‘We’ll get you through your children!’ For countless American families, that turned out to be only too true.
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Ginsberg turned out to be depressingly prescient when, after a heated argument with Norman Podhoretz in 1958, he yelled, ‘We’ll get you through your children!’ For countless American families, that turned out to be only too true.
RK
Our complexity is much more likely to lead us astray than any simplicity we may follow.
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Our complexity is much more likely to lead us astray than any simplicity we may follow.
RK
We have all of us to some extent become inured to a culture where viciousness and depravity are simply taken for granted, like some hideous wallpaper we have lived with for years.
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We have all of us to some extent become inured to a culture where viciousness and depravity are simply taken for granted, like some hideous wallpaper we have lived with for years.
RK
What the historian Elie Kedourie called “the Chatham House Version” – that toxic amalgam of smugness, moral relativism, and cherished feelings of guilt about the achievements of Western civilization – everywhere nurtured the catechism of established opinion.
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What the historian Elie Kedourie called “the Chatham House Version” – that toxic amalgam of smugness, moral relativism, and cherished feelings of guilt about the achievements of Western civilization – everywhere nurtured the catechism of established opinion.
RK
Without an allegiance to beauty, art degenerates into a caricature of itself. It is beauty that animates aesthetic experience, making it so seductive; but aesthetic experience itself degenerates into a kind of fetish or idol if it is held up as an end in itself, untested by the rest of life.
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Without an allegiance to beauty, art degenerates into a caricature of itself. It is beauty that animates aesthetic experience, making it so seductive; but aesthetic experience itself degenerates into a kind of fetish or idol if it is held up as an end in itself, untested by the rest of life.
RK
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