this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
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I've been meaning to read him. From his biography, he really seems like the kind of lost person who would get sucked into far-right bullshit today. Which is saddening.
It reminds me of an article during early WW2 period speculating on what 'kind' of person would become a fascist, and going around a (theoretical?) party examining different figures and why they might or might not go fascist. I remember disagreeing strongly with several of the examples, but one always stuck with me as striking and true: "He is the product of a democracy hypocritically preaching social equality and practicing a carelessly brutal snobbery. He is a sensitive, gifted man who has been humiliated into nihilism."
Ah, „Who goes Nazi?“ by Dorothy Thompson!
I don’t agree with everything but it’s pretty good imo.
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
That sounds like a very fair way of looking at him. He was clearly a troubled person and he was a beautiful writer. You can't write the way he did without sensitivity and thoughtfulness. I should go back and reread something of his. It's been ages.
His mentor is one of my all-time favorite writers (and was not fascist!): Kawabata Yasunari. Truly the most beautiful writing that I have read, so much so that it led me to learn Japanese (reasonably well) and spend time living in the country.