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Category Archives: Isabel Paterson

ISABEL PATERSON Final Post Post #5

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Waldo "Wally" Tomosky in Isabel Paterson

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

America, American Literary History, Ayn Rand, Canada, conscription, Conservative, Herald Tribune, I.M.P., income taxes, Isabel Paterson the critic, Liberal, Libertarian, Madison, New Deal, phony liberals, psuedo-liberals, Rose Wilder Lane, Russel Kirk, social security, soi disant liberals, state regulation, Steven Cox, The God of the Machine, Turns with a Bookworm, William Buckley Jr.

This is not what I expected to run into; AMBIGUITY. I hate AMBIGUITY.

The more I look into Isabel Paterson the more confused I become.

Isabel Paterson is either a brilliant observer of the progress of our world or an egomaniac. In fact, the more I think about it, she may be both. She sure isn’t a timid wallflower.

Therefore, while wallowing in my own ambiguity, I think it best to suspend any farther posts, regarding Paterson, after this one. I have purchased Cox’s biography of Paterson in hopes of clearing up my confusion.

If I find any information in Cox’s book that makes me more comfortable about what I am reading then I will post it. However, as well written as Cox’s book is, in the few chapters I have read, my concerns remain.

In lieu of my posting anything that may be politically leaning one way or the other, or just plain incorrect and damaging to Paterson’s reputation, I give you another person’s blog that lists links to several Paterson items. You can follow his links and see what sense you make of Isabel Paterson:

http://anthonyhennen.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/isabel-paterson-link-aggregation/

I apologize for leaving this work semi-completed.

*************************************

As  final examples of the differing points of view on Paterson I refer you back to my previous postings and the obvious skew that a cartoon gives to her life.

The final viewpoint of a cartoonist.

A link to the final cartoon strip (#3)

ISABEL PATERSON Post #4

25 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Waldo "Wally" Tomosky in Isabel Paterson

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Tags

America, American Literary History, Ayn Rand, Canada, conscription, Conservative, Herald Tribune, I.M.P., income taxes, Isabel Paterson the critic, Liberal, Libertarian, Madison, New Deal, phony liberals, psuedo-liberals, Rose Wilder Lane, Russel Kirk, social security, soi disant liberals, state regulation, Steven Cox, The God of the Machine, Turns with a Bookworm, William Buckley Jr.

Many people have many different views of Isabel Paterson. Some appear before her death and many after. Some appear before Stephen Cox’s biography of Paterson and many more appear afterwards.

Let’s look at a few to determine what they may tell us.

As I have restated on several occasions this blog is not meant to dwell on politics. However, Isabel Paterson had many viewpoints; as an author, a literary critic, a US Citizen, an editor and as a person.

Stephen Cox, I am sure, has been asked to review Paterson’s  life by many separate organizations. Therefore much of the information about Isabel Paterson rests within Stephen Cox’s book and in his mind.

I do not list conservative, libertarian or liberal print material to influence you. I simply list them as a matter of citation and information for anyone who wishes to know the source.

NOTE:  I have heavily edited this piece by Cox to help you understand the individuality and uniqueness of Isabel Paterson, not her politics.

FINDING ATLAS  

Before Ayn Rand there was Isabel Paterson.

By Stephen Cox

The Economist recently reported that Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957, is back on the bestseller lists.

————————

For the uninitiated, Atlas explores a future world in which the nation’s economy is collapsing because of government interference.

—————————-

Rand’s disciples are a devoted lot.

—————————

[However] Mention the name Isabel Paterson in such a gathering, and you’re likely to draw blank looks. For all the fervor that Rand inspires, little notice is paid to the woman who most inspired her.

——————————

Paterson (1886-1961) was a novelist and literary critic. She was slight, just over five feet tall, with a delicate taste in food and drink, a deep love of nature, and a nationally famous sense of humor. Stubborn and sharp-witted, she was also one of the New Deal’s fiercest foes.

———————————

Paterson’s Golden Vanity, one of the few good novels about the Depression, focuses on reputed experts’ outrageous failures of foresight. Its climactic scene is a confrontation between an investor and the financier she entrusted with her money—a man who worked, with the government’s assistance, to create a baffling maze of bad investments. When she hears him admit, “We could not foresee…,” she has finally had enough. “Why couldn’t you foresee?” she demands. “If you can’t foresee, what are you paid for?” She is wrathful, and there is dignity in her wrath.

————————————-

Her idea was simply to leave people alone to make their own investments, to earn profits and keep them, and to liquidate unprofitable enterprises.

—————————————–

In Rand’s opinion, The God of the Machine, Paterson’s great work of economic and historical theory, “does for capitalism what Das Kapital did for the Reds” and “what the Bible did for Christianity.” In her book, Paterson conceptualized capitalism as an enormous circuit connecting producers and consumers throughout the world, using real money and real profits to generate new efficiencies and larger amounts of energy.

——————————————

Paterson’s relationship with Rand also fared badly. In 1948, an argument ended their friendship. As Paterson had written, “one genius is about all a house will hold,” and each of these geniuses had a very considerable temper. But there was an even more important reason for the break-up: Paterson’s belief in God.

—————————————-

Russell Kirk, the philosopher of American conservatism, had his own quarrelsome relationship with Paterson. Yet, he said, she “stood out courageously, in defiance of the Lonely Crowd. I thought that everyone must be reading her … and could never forget her.”

—————————————————–

Probably no one who encountered Isabel Paterson easily forgot her. Now a new generation needs an introduction. In this moment when, under stress, basic ideas are being recovered, Atlas is surging in popularity, and the historic failures of the New Deal are being re-examined, it is time to revisit her wit and learning. “The principle of the lever remains the same.”                        
__________________________________________

Stephen Cox is professor of literature at UC San Diego. His two latest books are The New Testament and Literature and The Woman and the Dynamo, a biography of Isabel Paterson.

*************************************

And now another view of Isabel Paterson; this time from a New York City blog. Once again I have edited some of the politics out of the piece.

************************

I believe a third viewpoint is warranted. Also heavily edited.

 

 

Our Forgotten Goddess: Isabel Paterson and the Origins of Libertarianism.
Reason Online ^ | Feb 2005 | Brian Doherty

Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 9:55:52 PM by gobucks

[Commentary on the book, “The Woman and the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America”, by S. Cox]

—————————————

Paterson swam against a mighty tide with The God of the Machine. Old Right journalist Albert Jay Nock believed, with much evidence, that individualists were “superfluous men” in Roosevelt’s America. Libertarian ideas, he thought, were like a delicate candle flame ever threatening to gutter; they could only be tended to monkishly by a tiny and obscure remnant. These three books published in 1943 tried to bring the philosophy to a wide, popular audience that the authors hoped was ready for it.

Nock declared that Lane’s [Rose Wilder Lane] and Paterson’s works were “the only intelligible books on the philosophy of individualism that have been written in America this century.” The two female journalists had “shown the male world of this period how to think fundamentally.…They don’t fumble and fiddle around—every shot goes straight to the centre.”

——————————

In The God of the Machine, her one work of political philosophy, Paterson tried to explain American exceptionalism. But she herself was a native Canadian, born Isabel Bowler (or possibly Mary Isabel Bowler; Cox was unable to ascertain her birth name) on an island in the middle of Lake Huron on January 22, 1886, one of nine children. Her family moved to the U.S. shortly thereafter, roughing it in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Utah territory. She spent her girlhood farming, ranching, and communing with Indians in the American West.

“She would never regard the frontier as the breeding ground of puritan virtues,” writes Cox. “She was aware that other people did. Those people, she could only suppose, had ‘never lived on the frontier,’ where freedom to loaf was more highly prized than hard work and stern ambition.” Paterson did recognize that “frontier society offered ‘the most civilized type of association’…because it had ‘the absolute minimum of external regulation’ and therefore ‘the maximum of voluntary civility and morality.’”

While she was aware of the popular theory that “America’s chief inheritance from its frontier past is ‘aggressiveness,’” Cox writes, she considered that theory “‘nonsense.…On the frontier you have to be polite to your fellow men, and it won’t get you anywhere to be aggressive to a blizzard.’ What worked out West wasn’t aggressiveness but ‘a peculiarly individual, mind-your-own-business confidence.’” Paterson cultivated that ethic in herself. Her libertarian vision, then, was not based on atomistic individualism or notions of markets as enforcing sternly puritan virtues of unremitting hard work (though she recognized, as she feared many did not, that the physical benefits of modern market culture did require someone, somewhere to innovate and labor).

*************************************

And finally the viewpoint of a cartoonist.

A link to cartoon series #2

 

 

ISABEL PATERSON Post #3

23 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by Waldo "Wally" Tomosky in Isabel Paterson

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Tags

America, American Literary History, Ayn Rand, Canada, conscription, Conservative, Elinor Wylie, Girl's Flight, Herald Tribune, I.M.P., income taxes, Isabel Paterson the critic, John Chamberlain, Liberal, Libertarian, Madison, New Deal, phony liberals, psuedo-liberals, Rose Wilder Lane, Russel Kirk, social security, soi disant liberals, state regulation, Steven Cox, Swineburne, The God of the Machine, The Tale of Genji, Turns with a Bookworm, Whittaker Chambers, William Buckley Jr., Woolf

We, once again, follow Stephen Cox’s research on Isabel Paterson.

Cox writes of his own uncomfortable feelings rearding his attempt to construct Paterson’s biography. He knows that she was a pointed critic and wonders what she might say about his efforts. He, like others, grows fond of Paterson who is the ultimate critic.

Cox wishes to point out that Isabel Paterson was not simply a political idealist but none the less an idealist of her own making. She followed no one’s lead except that of her own which had been born on the frontier of America.

Even those who wished to use her terse and concise views and words were not immune from her clear views. She exasperated both the conservatives and the liberals.

Once again I must state that these are not meant as political comments but only to point out Isabel Paterson’s strong belief in her own ideas of independence

Cox allows examples of Paterson’s actions to define her. Here he tells of one “crashing” of a meeting that she was not invited to.

Note:  “Turns” 29 Sept. 1935, below, refers to one of Paterson’s weekly articles in the New York Herald-Tribune titled “Turns with a Bookworm.”

Cox points out that Isabel Paterson realized that she was taking personal risk with her views and the way she stated them. He then goes on to use her world-record airplane flight to 5,000 feet as an example of how she felt about freedom and her views of America.

ISABEL PATERSON Post #2

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by Waldo "Wally" Tomosky in Isabel Paterson

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

America, American Literary History, autodidact, Ayn Rand, A[horist, Bildungsroman, Canada, Conservative, I.M.P., Lake Huron, Liberal, Libertarian, Manitoulin Island, Never Ask the End, Ontario, Sinclair Lewis, Steven Cox, The God of the Machine, Turns of a Bookworm

Most of today’s post will contain extracts from a literary paper. That paper was written by the young boy who accidentally picked up a dusty old copy of Isabel Paterson’s “Never Ask the End” (1933); his name is Stephen Cox.

Stephen Cox is a man that speaks straight forward without spin or hyperbole. Possibly he picked that quality up from Isabel Paterson. I include a quote from him that shows his respect for Paterson’s clarity and style

 

Cox finds a clear and concise way to describe Paterson that I could not; “One of America’s great aphorists”, one who can state an original thought, spoken or written, in a concise and memorable form.

I continue on with extracts from Cox’s paper that originally appeared in a literary journal.

From Wikipedia: A Bildungsroman tells about the growing up or coming of age of a sensitive person who is looking for answers and experience. The genre evolved from folklore tales of a dunce or youngest son going out in the world to seek his fortune. Usually in the beginning of the story there is an emotional loss which makes the protagonist leave on his journey. In a Bildungsroman, the goal is maturity, and the protagonist achieves it gradually and with difficulty. The genre often features a main conflict between the main character and society. Typically, the values of society are gradually accepted by the protagonist and he is ultimately accepted into society – the protagonist’s mistakes and disappointments are over. In some works, the protagonist is able to reach out and help others after having achieved maturity.

I believe this lists enough of Paterson’s early years to establish a rough image of her personality.

However there are others who have a quite different view of her early growth and experiences.

I post the link below if you wish to see what that view. This is the first of a series of cartoons that, to me, tarnish Paterson’s individualism and self-confidence.

 Cartoon 1

An Introduction: ISABEL MARY PATERSON Post #1

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Waldo "Wally" Tomosky in Isabel Paterson

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

America, autodidact, Ayn Rand, Canada, Conservative, I.M.P., iconoclast, Lake Huron, Liberal, Libertarian, Manitoulin Island, Never Ask the End, Ontario, Sinclair Lewis, Stephan Cox, The God of the Machine

In this blog we have read about several men;

Henry Birdsall

Jean Guilliame Bessac

Lt. Col. Birdsall

and now – – – we are in the middle of the Poetry of Paul Hamilton Hayne.

It is time to introduce a woman to this blog.

To a few people Isabel Paterson needs no introduction. However, to most of us, she needs to be introduced. Like the others that have appeared in this blog, Isabel Mary Paterson was almost lost to us; and that would have been a shame.

As I said, a few people have resurrected “I.M.P” as she sometimes liked to refer to herself.

She has been adopted by people who have the Libertarian political bent. This is not much different than Ayn Rand who has been adopted by people who have the Conservative political leanings. Or any different than Sinclair Lewis who has been adopted by today’s Liberals who favor government intervention as opposed to today’s Libertarians who prefer government not interfere with daily life.

I must hasten to say that this series of posts will remain clear of politics. Politics have ruined Facebook and I am not about to do the same to this blog.

So soon, I must amend that last paragraph.

Isabel Paterson did not wish to be political, she wished to be logical; and straight forward. But her views on her adopted country, America, were straight forward and logical; therefore, she invited political commentary to be aimed at her.

Isabel Paterson’s writings were “life and purpose” as she saw it; clearly and succinctly. It was her philosophy, her viewpoint. These viewpoints were so clear-cut that others, who did not know how to clearly explain their thoughts, grasped on to it. Therefore her writings resulted in the adoption of her thoughts by the others.

Isabel Mary Paterson was born Isabel Mary Bowler on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. She was self-taught and worked at several clerical jobs, became a stenographer, book keeper, journalist, author, editorial writer and aide to a future Prime Minister of Canada.

Needless to say she was a voracious reader and learner; or as some people have called her, an autodidact.

{From Wikipedia: Autodidacticism is self-directed learning that is related to but different from informal learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is “learning on your own” or “by yourself”, and an autodidact is a self-teacher. Autodidacticism is a contemplative, absorptive procession. Some autodidacts spend a great deal of time reviewing the resources of libraries and educational websites.}

Isabel Mary Paterson was born on January 22, 1886 and died on January 10, 1961.

She had been a thoughtful and prolific writer before her 30’s; however, the majority of her public work was done between the mid 1930’s and 1950.

Her work had been ridiculed by various book reviewers such as those in the Times Magazine. On the other hand her work has been resurrected in the last fifteen years.

This introduction is a very short overview of I.M.P.

In future posts we will look at some of her work, her travels and those that she influenced.

For a frail girl born on an island in the middle of Lake Huron, she has left an indelible mark on the thinking of her America; particularly on the United States.

Some may call her an iconoclast. To me, it seems, she just had a wish to be clear on her thoughts and – – – was confident enough to have a desire to share them. Possibly that could be the reason she was, and continues to be, a target for so many people; her self-confidence.

When she passed away, in 1961, she had almost been forgotten.

However, through an ironic twist, a woman she mentored, a woman who wanted to out-do her, a woman who had to use Isabel’s master work “The God of the Machine” to explain her own views, may have been the very person that kept I.M.P.’s work alive.

This unexpected consequence may have been what kept Isabel Paterson visible from her death in January, 1961 until the mid-1990’s.

A young boy’s discovery of a dusty old copy of  I.M.P.’s 1933 “Never Ask the End” followed by the discovery of her “The God of the Machine” inspired Stephen Cox to carry her story forward from her death until today.

I hope you enjoy her story and thoughts as much as I have.

 

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