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About ArmaVirumque ( AHR-mah wih-ROOM-kweh) In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil sang of "arms and a man" (Arma virumque cano). Month in and month out, The New Criterion expounds with great clarity and wit on the art, culture, and political controversies of our times. With postings of reviews, essays, links, recs, and news, Armavirumque seeks to continue this mission in accordance with the timetable of the digital age. Recent posts
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May 25, 2005 10:12 AM by Stefan Beck
In 2002, Oriana Fallaci, the Italian writer and journalist, wrote what was surely one of the strangest, most frustrating, and also most authentic responses to 9/11--and to the West’s responses to 9/11. The book is angry, as its title indicates, but just how angry was a surprise to everyone: the splenetic, obscenity-laden tract made her a few friends but many, many more enemies. I don’t suppose either consequence particularly concerned her, as she is returning this summer with The Force of Reason: The genesis for The Force of Reason was a postscript entitled Due Anni Dopo (Two Years Later), which was intended as a brief appendix to the thirtieth edition of The Rage and the Pride (2002). . . . In The Force of Reason Fallaci takes aim at the many attacks and death threats she received after the publication of The Rage and the Pride. Ms. Fallaci begins by identifying herself with one Master Cecco, the author of a heretical book who was burnt at the stake during the Inquisition seven centuries ago on account of his beliefs, and proceeds with a rigorous analysis of the burning of Troy and the creation of a Europe that, to her judgment, is no longer her familiar homeland but rather a place best called Eurabia, a soon-to-be colony of Islam (with Italy as its stronghold).Now she has reason to be concerned: Fallaci is being forced to stand trial in Italy for "defaming Islam," thanks to a law that prohibits "outrage to religion." Is Fallaci’s book offensive to Islam? I haven’t read it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Should it be a crime to "defame" a religion? I don’t think I even need to answer that. Besides, if we had laws like this in the United States (we don’t, do we?), every Manhattan cocktail party would become a "speakeasy"--literally.
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