Comments on Nixon’s Three Essays

Abstract

Nixon does indicate that all may not be well in our much vaunted leap into analytical self-consciousness, but this seems to be missed by most commentators. The dimming shadow of self hangs over all our technological successes. Have we become largely physically and even spiritually impotent by the self construction that controls our emotions and our world? Are we so controlled that our lives "end not with a bang but a whimper"? Eliot seems to think so, and it appears Nixon is in full agreement. In fact, there are plenty of indications that he, Nixon, feels a nostalgia for untamed, uninhibited life in Nature. His explanation how we became "symbol-mongers" is most impressive and the literary manner in which he pulls it off really demonstrates his point more than his artificial use of scholarship or reason.