The Glass Bees by Ernst Jünger / Patron-Only Early Access + Ad-Free

Awesome review - “A happy century does not exist, but there are moments of happiness…and there is freedom in the moment.”

Ernst Jünger is one of my favourite writers. He's not easy to pin down. He was described by the people who've met him as a small man with thin lips and a beak-like nose but unsuspected bodily strength. As Grayfoot said, he passed beyond the militarism and nationalism of his youth, yet still remained a warrior at heart until the day of his death. Even at 100 years old he managed to stir up a little scandal here in Germany. A journalist asked him what to him was the worst thing about World War I. He replied: "That we lost it."

Cheers to a thoughtful, nuanced, and considerate review, Cliff. In my view, Junger embodies Integrity and Discipline. Beginning with his "Paris Journals" and on through the "Forest Passage" and "Eumeswil", we see him advocate the development of an inner sanctum for the Soul. His non-participation in the assassination plot is more in keeping with the germination of the "Anarch" concept than with cowardice - though this appears to have weighed on him for years, as you mentioned. Something I appreciate about Junger is that his lifespan allowed him to actualize/manifest (in his writing and his lived decisions) the elemental and ethereal core of his Discipline. He acknowledged that stratification and suffering are the Truths of human life, and voluntarily entered arenas and institutions (war, military, science, art) which engage with this reality. He had the fortune of surviving them, the gifts to capture their essence, and the humanity to see his own Self reflected in and impacted by their cruelties. I believe this is what makes Junger a nobleman, of which there are very few, and it is also responsible for the way in which his conservatism and fascist sympathies unfolded so differently than that of Mishima. Junger passed through and beyond those fields. Mishima did not escape them.