Dear  John,

Russell Kirk was a thinker and a writer. We usually emphasize the former, but the latter is every bit as important. In fact, Kirk’s very style of writing was a form imbued with the spirit of the Permanent Things. Orwell famously showed how the use and abuse of language can lead to tragic consequences. And C. S. Lewis warned about the dangerous drift toward a reductionist view of the human person and reality in thought and writing. All of which is one reason I have long wanted to introduce a writing workshop to the Kirk Center program that will anchor talented young writers in the virtues and alert them to Orwell’s and Lewis’ warnings. 

To that end, I am happy to tell you about our new “Writing & the Moral Imagination” workshop and seminar that brings together two themes central to the life and work of Russell Kirk: character and composition. Participants will deepen their acquaintance with the chief habits of moral excellence, both the cardinal virtues (prudence, courage, temperance, and justice) and the theological virtues (faith, hope, and love). They will explore these virtues in direct relation to American education and effective, ethical prose. 

The conference will be guided by the Kirk Center’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow and Senior Fellow at the George C. Marshall Foundation, David Hein. Over the course of three days, David will focus participants not only on concepts but also on practical cases—both in our own writing and in the lives of influential leaders who have enacted key virtues in their careers. Daily writing workshops are essential to gaining an apprehension and deeper understanding of the moral imagination as a process that expresses what Pico della Mirandola called the “dignity of man.”

Upon completion of the “Writing and the Moral Imagination” workshop, participants will earn certification and be eligible to receive a Gerald J. Russello Fellowship from the Kirk Center. The Russello Fellowship will provide writing and educational opportunities over the 2023-2024 academic year. Gerald J. Russello (1971-2021) was a noted lawyer, writer, longtime editor of The University Bookman, and scholar of Russell Kirk’s thought. 

The conference will be held on July 20 - 23 and space is limited to between 10-12 participants, awarded on a competitive basis. To express interest in participating in this program, email a curriculum vitae and statement of interest to Emily Corwin, Director of Events and Program Outreach, at [email protected].

Students Seek Resources for Cultural Renewal Through Literature

This past weekend, the Kirk Center welcomed campus group leaders from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute to a round-table seminar on “The Conservative Spirit of the High Modernists.” James Matthew Wilson, a former Wilbur Fellow at the Kirk Center and current Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and Founding Director of the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, guided the students through a series of readings and critical conversations about perennial truths and insights into the human condition in the works of James Joyce and T. S. Eliot. 

One student observed that, “It’s a unique experience to be able to engage with people/an organization that is so deeply connected with such a relevant and useful part of our recent literary/political culture, particularly in the discussion-based way we’ve done today.” Another noted, “It was lovely! Thoughtful…with good texts and good conversation.” Finally: “11/10. Very personalized and incredibly insightful.” Considering today’s cultural and political conditions from the perspective of important literature is a pathway less traveled by college students these days but found by those who seek it at the Kirk Center.

A Kirk Center program participant in last fall’s Fund for American Studies Public Policy Fellows’ retreat, Michael Lucchese, recently published a thoughtful essay on conservatives and 1950s nostalgia in the Public Discourse. He drew much of his inspiration from Kirk, as you can read below or link through to the full article.
 
“Kirk was concerned that the twentieth century was ‘proletarianizing’ the great mass of Americans. Economic centralization was uprooting Americans from the social fabric that gave their lives and labor meaning. Political centralization was sapping communities’ ability to fight back against harmful policies. Cultural centralization was isolating the masses from the spiritual treasures of Western civilization. So, in The Conservative Mind, Kirk says that one of the great tasks of conservatives is to combat alienation by reminding America of an older, more traditional social organization than the New Deal liberalism of the ’50s establishment.”

As always, thank you for your support and good wishes for the Russell Kirk Center and its important educational mission.

Regards,