The Southern Essays of Richard M. Weaver

by Richard M. Weaver, George Munson Curtis (Editor), James J. Thompson (Editor)

Richard M. Weaver (1910–1963), one of the leading figures in the post-World War II development of an intellectual, self-conscious conservatism, believed that Southern values of religion, work ethic, and family could provide a defense against the totalitarian nihilism of fascist and communist statism. George M. Curtis, III, is a Professor of American History at Hanover College. James J. Thompson, Jr., is the author of three books.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Cultural, Southern, Philosophy, American History, Essays

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Richard Malcolm Weaver, Jr was an American scholar who taught English at the University of Chicago. He is primarily known as an intellectual historian, political philosopher, and a mid-20th century conservative and as an authority on modern rhetoric. Weaver was briefly a socialist during his youth, a lapsed leftist intellectual (conservative by the time he was in graduate school), a teacher of composition, a Platonist philosopher, cultural critic, and a theorist of human nature and society.
Described by biographer Fred Young as a "radical and original thinker", Weaver's books Ideas Have Consequences (1948) and The Ethics of Rhetoric (1953) remain influential among conservative theorists and scholars of the American South. Weaver was also associated with a group of scholars who in the 1940s and 1950s promoted traditionalist conservatism.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel strange, almost guilty, giving a book by Richard Weaver only three stars. But for a few reasons, some outside of his control, this collection of essays does not represent Weaver's strongest showing. For instance, there is a lot of overlap, both between the essays in the book and between the essays in the book and other of Weaver's writings. Having read these Southern Essays immediately after reading his The Southern Tradition at Bay, the similarity, to the point of being identical in spots, between some of the essays and his longer treatise are striking. As the editors point out in the introduction, this is to be expected because the essays were published over the period of about two decades, some at a time when Weaver was trying and failing to find a publisher for The Southern Tradition at Bay, his PhD dissertation. Still, reading the two books back to back definitely shows the superiority of the more cohesive work.

There is also overlap between some essays and other, not specifically Southern writings. For instance, "Southern Chivalry and Total War," probably my favorite essay in the book, is simultaneously a recapitulation of a section on chivalry from The Southern Tradition at Bay and an argument in embryo that Weaver would develop in a chapter of Visions of Order. It's interesting to see the consistency of Weaver's thought across the three different works on such an interesting and important topic. However, his essay "Two Orators" also has parallels to an argument Weaver makes in The Ethics of Rhetoric, and on this score Weaver is less consistent. In "Two Orators," Weaver contrasts the arguments of northerner Daniel Webster and southerner Robert Hayne in 1830, with Weaver's approval clearly tilting towards the latter. This despite the fact that Weaver admits that Webster was the one arguing from abstract principle while Hayne was arguing more from historical circumstance. This becomes more intriguing when the reader remembers that Weaver argued in The Ethics of Rhetoric that it was the argument from principle, or "definition," that constituted the highest form - and the conservative one - of argumentation, and that arguing from circumstance was comparatively inferior. The fact that Webster is the more principled orator from this perspective does not prove that Weaver was wrong to prefer Hayne's arguments. Rather, it suggests that Russell Kirk was correct to note in a review of Ethics that Weaver's suggestion could be carried too far, and in fact that he did carry it too far in his criticisms of Edmund Burke as a rhetorician.

All of this, of course, is more applicable to those who have read much of Richard Weaver (and I encourage everyone to reach much of him). To those new to Weaver, or to his writings on the South, this book will explain a great deal of the southern mind, to the reader's benefit. One sometimes wonders if Weaver does not occasionally draw too fine a distinction between northerners and southerners, or in revealing the South's virtues too often covers its vices. But, then again, the very idea that the South has virtues is almost unutterable today, which works to the impoverishment of us all. The ideals of chivalry and distinction, the subjugation of the profit motive to manners and customs, the rootedness in place and nature that Weaver sees as characterizing the South, all these are important and even necessary correctives to the errors of modernity and the idol of progress. Weaver wrote eloquently on these topics over the course of his abbreviated life, and the fact that he did so more eloquently in other works does not diminish the value of his arguments as found here. This is a worthwhile example of Weaver's writing, even if it's not the finest on offer.

[Drew Norwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything Weaver wrote is gold (even though there are several repeated points throughout the collection and points of overlap with his other writings), and his writings seem to increase in value as the years continue to pass. The best essays, to me, were: Contemporary Southern Literature, Two Types of American Individualism, Southern Chivalry and Total War, Lee the Philosopher, Aspects of the Southern Philosophy, and The Southern Tradition.

The epigraph chosen for this collection of essays captures the essence of the collection brilliantly: "So face with calm that heritage And earn contempt before the age" (Allen Tate, "Brief Message").

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demonstrates the old South as the last remnant of Christendom, as exemplified in her heroes. Attempts to vindicate the Vanderbilt Agrarians by foiling them against the Industrial World.

Weaver's writing style is utterly magnificent and the opening essays have a poignant and haunting beauty that few can match. That being said, I think the Vanderbilt Agrarians generally failed in what they were trying to do.

[Syed Emir Ashman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quality of language in this series of essays is nothing short of remarkable. Weaver is clearly a master of the written word, which he uses to great purpose in defense of the Southern tradition of the United States.

His old-fashioned defense of the South and the Confederacy’s lost cause is necessarily antiquated. Yet he presents a solid case, especially when arguing on the basis of first principles rather than base politics. The notion that the conservative agrarian’s outlook on life is more noble and natural than his industrialist neighbour need not be in contention with the repugnance of racial segregation - as far as I am concerned.

Weaver’s characterization of the South as the traditional and medieval section in the style of the Old World within the United States was interesting to me - insofar as it can be transposed to other multicultural countries as well. I was reminded of my fellow Malays in Malaysia for example, who like the South, are known for their feudalism, courtesy, martial valor, provincialism, unmoving religiosity, sentimentality, and addiction to politics.

Excellent first read of the new year. Definitely keen to read Weaver’s other works in the future - in sha Allah.

[EJ Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

This small but dense foray into the mind of Richard Weaver offers, in one place, a full accounting of his essays and speeches which dealt explicitly with the American South. With Weaver's typical incisive and circumspect commentary, it represents one of the most instructive and informed portraits of the region.

Weaver approaches the American South from multiple perspectives: as a historical force, as a foil to America at large, as a unique cultural and geographic unit. He tackles these subjects both generally and precisely, as in his essays focusing on John Randolph, Robert E. Lee. and Albert Taylor Bledsoe. He ruminates over speeches and histories and lives, and produces a full and remarkable synthesis of the South.

Naturally, the fact that this collection is a compendium creates some issues. Weaver sometimes appears to be redundant when emphasizing a point made in a previous essay, but of course Weaver had not intended for all of these works to appear together in one volume.

I would recommend this essay collection to any fans of Weaver's writings in general and to anyone interested in a more philosophical portrait of the American South.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conservatism today has identified itself with industrial powers, but it was not always so. The Southern tradition holds that industrialism with its obsession for progress and higher profits was anti-conservative. This Southern conception of conservatism is much more to my taste. There is a pious acceptance that nature is not to be conquered and exploited, but to be husbanded and accepted as God's creation. Though Weaver's writing is not as eloquent, or as explicit, as Wendell Berry's, there is still much here to admire. He reveals the shameful hypocrisy of New England in agitating for their own succession from 1803-1815, then deriding the south for breaking the union in the 1860s. He explains why the south was anti-socialist as well as anti-capitalist. He shows why the south's reverence for the word explains their consummate skill in oratory and in literature, as well as their respect for the Bible. He gives us the mind of the south, which is salutary in an age when the masses have become too indoctrinated in northern ways of thought.

[Cole Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays published posthumously provides readers with a sincere glimpse into the mind of the South and its conservative principles through one of its seminal proponents. Richard Weaver was a student of famed southern agrarian Donald Davidson and inheritor of the literary and political-cultural tradition of the Vanderbilt Agrarians of the 1930s. Readers will discover an array of timeless and principled reflections on an often overlooked tradition in American political thought: the southern tradition. This book is a must read for devotees of Weaver or those interested in a scholarly look at the American South. It provides unvarnished clarity on many of the region's peculiarities and characteristics. Weaver is at his best in this series of essays and presents the reader with a serious discussion of principles that will challenge the mind of modernity and question much of the preconceived notions of southern history and existence.

[Juan Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Tom Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written set of essays that illuminate the often overlooked virtues of the American south. I didn’t agree with all the ideas in here, but I appreciate Weaver’s efforts in bringing a not often heard narrative to the fore.

[Gregory Knapp]

Weaver's essays show deep insight into the South from the founding of our country to present. He compliments other authors while adding his own deep insights. Well worthwhile reading.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something well worth reading and considering. Weaver exemplifies the difference between a trained person and an educated person.

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book helped me to understand a lot more the cultural, or collective mindset, of the South. Weaver had a lot of very interesting insights into why the South thinks the way that it does, and how different historical events have changed it. In particular, his point that the South is arguably the only part of the country that has suffered defeat (a fact which has strengthened its literature) was particularly noteworthy. I didn't agree with all of Weaver's points, being decidedly on the Union's side of the civil war. However, it really helped me to understand a lot of different facets of Southern culture. As a result, it was a thoughtful and intriguing read.

3-3.5 Stars. (Good)

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weaver studied under some of the Agrarians at Vanderbuilt, and this collection of essays represent his neo-Agrarian work. Weaver wrote most of these while he was teaching at Chicago, and they are truly timely, now that we see so many issues in the news regarding state vs. federal authority and the 10th ammendment.

[Peter Bringe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for the first time in 2009 and I continue to reread the essays on an individual basis. In these short essays Weaver is very insightful in his study of the culture, philosophy, and tradition of the South and applying it to our current struggles against modernity and the like.

[Craig Bolton]

The southern essays of Richard M. Weaver by Richard M. Weaver (1987)

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent as ever. Nobody can beat Weaver for insightful, erudite reflections on the Southern tradition.